$500 Double Stack NLH (Single Re-Entry) $1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure Level 2: 100/100 with a 100 ante Flight A Entries: 290
Jeremy Becker
The entry count is already closing on 300 before the first hour is in the books and players continue to parade through the Event Center doors. Early indicators for topping the $1,000,000 guarantee heading into the weekend.
Tampa regular Jeremy Becker was here early and trying to build a stack from the start. He has a half dozen final table finishes since the beginning of May but none bigger than his Tampa Poker Classic Main Event eighth-place finish for $31,692 in February.
Go time @SHRTPoker let me win some big flips these next two weeks 🙏
After player instructions, tournament staff put cards in the air for Event 1 of our first-ever WPT main tour series. We had 235 entries when action got underway for a great start to the tournament.
They will play four levels before taking their first break.
The much-anticipated WPT Tampa festival gets underway in the Event Center. with the first flight of the first tournament of our first WPT main tour series. We are kicking things off with a bang by putting a $1,000,000 guarantee on the opener. Event 1 has a $500 buy-in with seven starting flights between now and Saturday evening with Flight A starting at 5 pm.
Players sit down to 20,000 double stacks and all levels last 30 minutes on Day 1. Late registration is available until the start of Level 9 at 9:30pm with a single re-entry available per flight.
The last 12.5% of each starting flight will make the money and play will halt when 7% of the field remains to advance to Day 2 on Sunday.
We expect a huge crowd on the opening weekend and welcome our friends back to the Event Center.
$1,000,000 Guaranteed Prize Pool
Players begin with 20,000 in chips and 30-minute levels
Late registration/re-entry until the start of Level 9 (9:30pm)
Single re-entry per flight
Tournament will pay top 12.5% of starting field
Day 1 will end at 7% of the field or Tournament Director discretion
2021 Tampa Poker Classic Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tampa, Florida Event 1 $400 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry) $50,000 Guaranteed Entries: 411 Prize Pool: $135,630 February 17, 2021
2020 Winter Poker Open Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tampa, Florida Event 1 $300 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry) $50,000 Guaranteed Entries: 335 Prize Pool: $83,750 December 2, 2020
Irfan Khairi, Event 1 Champion
The Winter Poker Open returned to Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tampa on December 2 and it had a great kickoff. Event 1 of the series had a $300 buy-in with a $50,000 guaranteed prize pool and it attracted an incredible 335 entries on the first day of the series.
Those entries combined to push the prize pool up to $83,750 with more than $18,000 set aside for the champion. The tournament drew a slew of our local regulars and past champions including David Dibernardi, Mario De La Puente, Peter Walsworth, Bryce McVay, Josias Santos, Karl Manouchakian, and Wally Maddah.
The last 34 players were set to take home some cash and they made the money soon after the dinner break. The field steadily dropped until they formed the final table with everyone eyeing the big money and guitar trophy.
Dan Hanselman and Justin Howard were quickly eliminated from the final table and the last five settled in for a long grind with deep stacks. Ken O’Donnell, Carlos Aranda, and Jeremy Zides all took turns with the chip lead but it came down to a heads-up match between Austin Reilly and Irfan Khairi.
Reilly, a two-time WSOP Circuit winner, held nearly a 2-to-1 chip lead at the start of heads-up play but that changed when Khairi turned a full house to best Reilly’s flopped trip sixes. Soon after, Khairi made another full house to take the rest of Reilly’s chips for the win.
Reilly took home $11,390 for his runner-up finish while Khairi earned $18,063 and the Hard Rock Guitar Trophy. The Orlando resident had several close calls in the past but booked his first career tournament win with his victory.
Congrats to Irfan and thanks again to all of our players who came out to support the Poker Room in our first event of the series.
Event 1 results:
1st: Irfan Khairi – $18,063 + Guitar Trophy 2nd: Austin Reilly – $11,390 3rd: Ken O’Donnell – $7,349 4th: Jeremy Zides – $5,025 5th: Carlos Aranda – $3,936 6th: Patrick Hamilton – $3,059 7th: Justin Howard – $2,596 8th: Dan Hanselman – $2,178 9th: Mario De La Puente – $1,851 10th: Anthony Askey – $1,591 11th: Vanessa Waich – $1,591 12th: Vaughn Wagner – $1,591 13th: David Dibernardi – $1,382 14th: Rickey Evans – $1,382 15th: Josias Santos – $1,382 16th: Daniel Chandler – $1,214 17th: Jonmikel MacNichols – $1,214 18th: Jeremy Becker – $1,214 19th: Czeslaw Szerszen – $1,131 20th: Kevin Rodriguez – $1,131 21st: Judes Chenet – $1,131 22nd: Christina Read – $1,047 23rd: Tracy Allen – $1,047 24th: Karl Manouchakian – $1,047 25th: Derrick Cutler – $984 26th: Julie McCrary – $984 27th: Jerome Hall Jr – $984 28th: Alexander Chiang – $888 29th: David Edwards – $888 30th: Ryan Luker – $888 31st: Thomas Koscak – $888 32nd: David McElroy – $888 33rd: Wilfor Marentes Pinto – $888 34th: Jason Javino – $888
$300 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry) $50,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts Level 28: 40,000/80,000 with a 80,000 ante
Irfan Khairi
Irfan Khairi began heads-up play with Austin Reilly looking to double back into contention. That chance came early.
With the board reading , Reilly checked and Khairi bet 275,000. Reilly raised to 550,000 and Khairi called after a short think.
The river came and Reilly announced all in. Khairi called for 1,895,000 and showed for the turned full house. Reilly showed for flopped trip sixes, not good enough to prevent him sending the lead across the table.
, Reilly checked and Khairi bet 275,000. Reilly raised to 550,000 and Khairi called after a short think.
and Reilly announced all in. Khairi called for 1,895,000 and showed 
for the turned full house. Reilly showed 
for flopped trip sixes, not good enough to prevent him sending the lead across the table.
flop for trip nines. The 
turn and 
river completed the board and we had our first 2020 WPO champion.
board to exit in fourth place.