$400 Deep Stack NLH (Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 16:  5,000/10,000 with a 10,000 ante
Flight G Players Remaining:  117 of 886

Michael Laake was all in with preflop from the button, and Danny Nocco had him covered holding UTG+1.

The final board read , and Laake was eliminated from the tournament. He still has a chance to re-enter over at Flight 1H as will most likely be the case. Nocco stacked up 300,000 after collecting the pot.

Danny Nocco – 300,000 (30 bb)
Michael Laake – Eliminated

$400 Deep Stack NLH (Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 1:  100/200 with a 200 ante

The last flight of Tampa Signature Poker Series Event 1 starts at 5 pm and they’ll be adding icing on top of a prize pool already over $1,000,000. The $400 Deep Stack surpassed its guarantee this afternoon and we expect another big crowd this evening.

Players start with 30K deep stacks and all Day 1 levels last 30 minutes. Late registration and unlimited re-entries are available until the start of Level 9 at 9:30 pm. Flight H will end when 10% of the field remains and they will advance to Day 2 tomorrow at 1 pm in the money.

• $1,000,000 Guaranteed Prize Pool
• Players begin with 30,000 in chips
• Day 1 levels last 30 minutes; Day 2 levels last 40 minutes
• Late registration/re-entry available until start of Level 9 (9:30pm)
• Day 1 will end when 10% of field remains
• Event 1 Structure Sheet

$400 Deep Stack NLH (Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 11:  1,500/2,500 with a 2,500 ante
Flight G Players Remaining:  288 of 886

The Flight G field is quickly shrinking down and now occupies only half of the Event Center with 288 players remaining at 32 tables. The other half will fill back up when Flight H gets underway at 5 pm.

Among those still in contention, we found Colby Covington, Karl Manouchakian, Black Whittington, Michael Laake, Michael Newman, and Carlos Loving.

Known primarily as an MMA champ, Covington also has some nice scores at the poker table. Last summer in Hollywood, he finished seventh out of 7,703 entries in their opening SHRPO event (the biggest field in state history) and followed that up with a win in the $1,100 Pot Limit Omaha 8 tournament.

$400 Deep Stack NLH (Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 10:  1,000/2,000 with a 2,000 ante
Flight G Entries:  886

Registration closed with 886 entries, officially putting the Event 1 prize pool over the $1,000,000 guarantee. There’s one more flight to go at 5 pm and they will aim to crush that number before they shut the doors on the tournament at 9:30 pm.

Flight G will continue until 89 players remain and survivors will advance to Day 2 tomorrow at 1 pm in the money. Players must bag chips to make the money.

Chip counts through Flight F

$400 Deep Stack NLH (Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 9:  1,000/1,500 with a 1,500 ante
Flight G Entries:  887

Players returned from the second break, and registration closed for the penultimate flight of Event 1. The tournament officially topped the $1,000,000 guarantee over the last few minutes of Level 8 and the break, but not exactly sure by how much yet.

We needed 883 to surpass the guarantee, and we have 887 on the clock. Tournament staff are double-checking the numbers, and we will post the official count when it is available.

But that leaves Flight H with one job; push the prize pool even higher.

$400 Deep Stack NLH (Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 8:  600/1,200 with a 1,200 ante
Flight G Entries:  820

$400 Deep Stack NLH (Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 6:  400/800 with a 800 ante
Flight G Entries:  713

Another milestone for the tournament as the Flight G field quickly topped 700 after the break, and we’ll tease hitting the $1,000,000 guarantee before the last flight tonight at 5 pm.

More friends in the crowd include Tony March, Johnny Bromberg, Rafael Reis, Nicole Diaz, Nancy Birnbaum, Bryce McVay, Rodney Turvin, and Charlemagne Benjamin.

Bromberg and Reis have some experience winning huge opening events. Both in Hollywood, Reis topped a 5,018-entry field in the opening event of the Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open in 2016 and Bromberg won Event 1 of the recent SHRPO series over 6,253 entrants. Both are two of the biggest fields in state history.

$400 Deep Stack NLH (Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 5:  300/600 with a 600 ante
Flight G Entries:  665

We quickly walked around the empty tables in the Event Center while players were on break and found two stacks above the rest.

Our chip leader looks like Herbert Nairn with 163,000. We cannot confirm that because he has so many chips, he is in no rush to return from break. But he saw him there earlier and think it’s him.

Harmeet Singh is the other big stack we found and he sits in second with 157,800 with a lot of time to go.

$400 Deep Stack NLH (Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 4:  300/500 with a 500 ante
Flight G Entries:  611

Level 4 is about to end and the packed Event Center will be sent on the first break. More than 600 entries so far with late registration and re-entries available until 2:30 pm.

$400 Deep Stack NLH (Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 4:  300/500 with a 500 ante
Flight G Entries:  541

There’s a steady line at the registration desk but the wait is short and the seats are available. There are more than 500 entries at the 90-minute mark of the flight and we have plenty of space to fit more.

More friendly faces in today’s crowd include mother/daughter pair Ok and Jennifer Haselton, Mitch Mitchell, Scott Woodring, and Mansoor Kader.