$300 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$50,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 27:  30,000/60,000 with a 60,000 ante
Players Remaining:  4 of 335

Action folded around to Carlos Aranda and he moved all in from the button for ~320,000. Irfan Khairi folded his small blind and Ken O’Donnell called in the big.

O’Donnell:
Aranda:

Aranda had two live, suited cards, missed the flop, but picked up an open-ended straight flush draw. Most of those outs went out the door when the hit the turn to give O’Donnell a full house. Aranda could not hit one of his two outs on the river to go out in fifth place.

Ken O’Donnell – 1,900,000 (32 bb)
Carlos Aranda – Eliminated in 5th place ($3,936)

$300 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$50,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 27:  30,000/60,000 with a 60,000 ante
Players Remaining:  5 of 335

Ken O’Donnell opened the action from under the gun to 125,000 and Patrick Hamilton moved all in from the button. The blinds folded and O’Donnell called with the bigger stack.

O’Donnell:
Hamilton:

Hamilton’s pair was dominated and he couldn’t find a miracle on the board to exit in sixth place.

Ken O’Donnell – 1,650,000 (28 bb)
Patrick Hamilton – Eliminated in 6th place ($3,059)

$300 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$50,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 26:  25,000/50,000 with a 50,000 ante
Players Remaining:  6 of 335

There was a cooldown after Justin Howard was eliminated but Jeremy Zides heated it back up. He moved all in for 425,000 from the small blind after Ken O’Donnell raised to 125,000 from the button. O’Donnell called with a chance to send Zides out.

Zides:
O’Donnell:

Zides was ahead but had to dodge two live cards to double. The board ran out board and Zides pair of aces was good enough to double.

Jeremy Zides – 950,000 (19 bb)
Ken O’Donnell – 950,000 (19 bb)

$300 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$50,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 24:  15,000/30,000 with a 30,000 ante
Players Remaining:  6 of 335

Irfan Khairi opened the action from the cutoff and Justin Howard moved all in from the small blind. Jeremy Zides tanked several minutes but folded his big blind, later mentioning he folded pocket jacks in a tough spot. Khairi called and the hands were tabled.

Khairi:
Howard:

Both players had similar stacks and Khairi took the lead in the race on the flop. The turn and river were no help for Howard and they counted down the stacks. Khairi was all in for 585,000 and Howard had 595,000 to leave him with only 10K to play. He made it through a few hands but exited in seventh place for $2,596.

Irfan Khairi – 1,230,000 (41 bb)
Justin Howard – Eliminated in 7th place ($2,596)

The remaining players decided to forgo the next break to continue their march towards a champion.

$300 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$50,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 24:  15,000/30,000 with a 30,000 ante
Players Remaining:  7 of 335

On one of the first hands at the final table, Dan Hanselman put his last ~320,000 in the middle and Carlos Aranda called to put him at risk.

Aranda:
Hanselman:

Hanselman needed to catch his ace or some magic to double up but Aranda locked up the hand when he flopped top set on the board. The turn and river completed the action and Hanselman collect $2,178 for his eighth place finish.

Carlos Aranda – 1,100,000 (37 bb)
Dan Hanselman – Eliminated in 8th place ($2,178)

$300 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$50,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 24:  15,000/30,000 with a 30,000 ante
Players Remaining:  8 of 335

With the elimination of Mario De La Puente in ninth place, tournament staff paused the clock and redrew the last eight players for the final table.

Below is the lineup and we will grab counts when they go on a break after this level.

Seat 1: Justin Howard
Seat 2: Jeremy Zides
Seat 3: Austin Reilly
Seat 4: Dan Hanselman
Seat 5: Patrick Hamilton
Seat 6: Carlos Aranda
Seat 7: Irfan Khairi
Seat 8: Ken O’Donnell

Remaining payouts:

1st: $18,063 + Guitar Trophy
2nd: $11,390
3rd: $7,349
4th: $5,025
5th: $3,936
6th: $3,059
7th: $2,596
8th: $2,178

9th: Mario De La Puente – $1,851
10th: Anthony Askey – $1,591
11th: Vanessa Waich – $1,591

$300 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$50,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 23:  15,000/25,000 with a 25,000 ante
Players Remaining:  11 of 335

Multiple-Tampa champ David Dibernardi’s run came crashing to an end. The leader after the previous break was unable to make a final table run and had to settle for 13th place.

Only 11 players remain and they will redraw to the final table when seven are left in contention.

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

$300 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$50,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 22:  10,000/20,000 with a 20,000 ante
Players Remaining:  16 of 335

There was a bit of a slowdown as the next level came into play with only five more players sent to the rail.

With the average stack at 420,000 (21 big blinds), they are being very patient at this stage.

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

$300 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$50,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 21:  10,000/15,000 with a 15,000 ante
Players Remaining:  20 of 335

Another break has come and gone and we have another set of big stacks. Gone is a lot of former leader Vaughn Wagner’s stack, down to 490,000 while Mario De La Puente seems to have been on the receiving end of some of those chips and returned from break to a stack worth 615,000.

But that was only good enough for the second spot with David Dibernardi stacking 635,000 on another table for the lead.

After hearing this news, De La Puente quickly won the first hand after the break to take the blinds.

“There!” De La Puente laughed. “Now I’m the leader.”

$300 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$50,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 20:  6,000/12,000 with a 12,000 ante
Players Remaining:  21 of 335

Event 1 is down to its last three tables of the day with six more players hitting the payout desk including former big stacks Christina Read and Karl Manouchakian.

The average stack sits at 319,000 (27 big blinds) with blinds at 6,000/12,000 and a 12,000. We expect the bust outs to continue at a regular interval until the final table bubble nears.

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

Remaining payouts:

1st: $18,063 + Guitar Trophy
2nd: $11,390
3rd: $7,349
4th: $5,025
5th: $3,936
6th: $3,059
7th: $2,596
8th: $2,178
9th: $1,851
10th-12th: $1,591
13th-15th: $1,382
16th-18th: $1,214
19th-21st: – $1,131