$570 Deep Stack NLH Re-Entry $300,000 Guaranteed | Structure Level 8: 500/1,000 with a 1,000 ante Flight A Entries: 97
Al Krux
Al Krux started hot and stayed that way here in the $570 buy-in, $300,000 guaranteed Winter Poker Open event. He’s come out on the winning side of play thus far and claims about 150,000 chips.
Krux is an accomplished player with a World Series of Poker gold bracelet as well as a final table appearance in the $10,000 buy-in Main Event and more than $1,470,000 in career earnings. He’s made a few deep runs in Tampa, but never scored anything over $8,900. With six starting flights, a $570 buy-in and $300,000 guaranteed, a win in this Winter Poker Opener would easily mark Krux’s largest Tampa score.
He’s in the field here in Flight A of the property’s other yearly major, the Winter Poker Open. Well above starting stack, it’s a good start for Gallo as Level 7 is about to expire.
$570 Deep Stack NLH Re-Entry $300,000 Guaranteed | Structure Level 6: 300/600 with a 600 ante Flight A Entries: 88
AJ Kelsall
AJ Kelsall is a Tampa native now spending a good lot of his time in Las Vegas. The Winter Poker Open came calling, though, and Kelsall hopped a flight back to his hometown. He’s one of the most recent entries in a growing field that now sits at 88 midway through Level 6.
Kelsall’s first recorded cash came in 2001 and he’s amassed more than $1,280,000 in earnings since then. Most notably, he took a win in the 2014 Winter Poker Open Main Event scoring nearly $125,000.
$570 Deep Stack NLH Re-Entry $300,000 Guaranteed | Structure Level 5: 200/400 with a 400 ante Flight A Entries: 84
Herbert Woodbery
After beginning the event with 30,000 chips, Tampa regular Herbert Woodbery is pushing 90,000 with the first break right around the corner.
Woodbery has a laundry list of Seminole poker accomplishments including a victory in the 2016 Seminole Immokalee Poker Challenge Main Event. With $298,983 in reported earnings, Woodbery is a reasonably deep run away from crossing into the $300,000s.
$570 Deep Stack NLH Re-Entry $300,000 Guaranteed | Structure Level 3: 100/200 with a 200 ante Flight A Entries: 74
As expected in a Seminole Hard Rock Tampa event, the entry count has shot up at a quick clip early. After beginning with 31 just 90 minutes ago, the field has more than doubled as the clock now shows 74 late in Level 3.
Tony March, Marie Harrell, Anthony Dianaty, Tom Nguyen and Brandon Byars are some of the familiar faces in the early action. We’ll take a closer look at the standouts as the early stages of play fade into the middle stages.
$570 Deep Stack NLH Re-Entry $300,000 Guaranteed | Structure Level 1: 100/100 Flight A Entries: 31
The clock hits 11am in South Florida and cards are in the air for Flight A of the Winter Poker Open kickoff event. The $570 buy-in, $300,000 guaranteed no limit hold’em tournament sees players begin with 30,000 chips and they’re set to log 30-minute levels on Day 1. Registration and re-entry are available until about 4pm while play wraps at roughly 6:45pm.
Here are the details:
11am: $570 Deep Stack NLH Re-Entry, Flight A
$570 buy-in and $300,000 guaranteed
First place receives added $1,650 seat
30,000 chips and 30-minute levels on Day 1
Registration and unlimited re-entry available until the start of Level 10 (~4pm)
2018 WPTDeepStacks Tampa Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tampa, Florida Event 1 $200,000 Guaranteed $570 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry) Entries: 797 Prize Pool: $398,500 June 7-10, 2018
Andrew Pacifico
The 2018 Seminole Hard Rock Tampa WPTDeepStacks series kicked off with a multi-day tournament that hit big marks along the way. Event 1 crushed the $200,000 Guarantee and Andrew Pacifico took home the biggest piece of the prize pool after going from short stack to final table domination. He earned more than $60,000 along with a seat in the $1,100 WPTDeepStacks Main Event.
Pacifico was down to only a half dozen big blinds late in the day but ran it up, hit the final table with the chip lead, and rode it to the victory.
“When you’re down to that short of a stack it’s very easy to play,” he commented after his win. “The first all-in I was behind but the next four all-ins I was ahead.”
“It put me in a position to kind of chill out and pick my spots.”
Event 1 featured six starting flights over the first three days of the series and they combined to put 797 entries into the game. The players generated a prize pool just shy of $400,000 and the last 100 players shared some of that money.
Day 2 saw 152 players return and each had a shot at the title. Pacifico held a top ten stack for the return after bagging the Flight E chip lead but there were plenty of tough players trying to chase him down. Wally Maddah, Vitor Coelho, Carlos Loving, Derek Bowers, and 2016 WPTDeepStacks Tampa Main Event champion Anthony Astarita were among those vying for the title.
The tournament quickly made into the money before the first Day 2 break and there was a steady parade to the payout desk. Event 1 was down to 16 players at the dinner break and the final table not long after they returned.
Pacifico had the lead to start the final table but Yong Liu was not far behind. One big hand swung even more chips to Pacifico while it was a shocking end for Liu. His turned set ran into Pacifico’s turned straight sending Pacifico further out in front. He held 6.6 million of the 16 million in play with eight players still in contention.
“I had to recheck my cards,” Pacifico said of the hand. “I had to make sure I had the nuts. And I did.”
“I was actually pretty shocked that he had out. I thought he was drawing dead, I’m glad the board didn’t pair.”
Liu wasn’t drawing dead but he was out in ninth and Pacifico held 6.6 million of the 16 million in play with eight players remaining.
Paul Lenkeit saw his aces get cracked with seven players remaining and that set the table for some negotiations. Pacifico earned the title along with the lion’s share of the prize pool courtesy of his huge lead. His official payout was $60,395 plus his WPTDeepStacks Main Event seat.
“I guess I have to drive back down,” Pacifico laughed.
Pacifico transitioned from playing Magic the Gathering into poker after meeting some players who were involved with both. He’s been playing for two decades and was a professional for six years. Now he does real estate and poker training when he’s not at the tables.
It was a great start to the WPTDeepStacks series and we expect to maintain the momentum as we head into the three remaining tournaments.
Congratulations to Pacifico on his biggest career win and thanks to our players for kicking things off with a bang.
Final table results:
1st: Andrew Pacifico – $60,395 + $1,100 Main Event seat* 2nd: Nick Avena – $35,255 * 3rd: Charlie Kapetanakos – $34,111 * 4th: Juan Rodriguez – $30,779 * 5th: Oscar Lindo – $29,811 * 6th: Nick Luczyk – $18,755 * 7th: Paul Lenkeit – $11,902 8th: Ahmad Hamoush – $9,466 9th: Yong Liu – $7,098 10th: Robert Urspruch – $5,842 * – denotes results of a six-way deal
$570 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry) $200,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts Level 28: 50,000/100,000 with a 10,000 ante Players Remaining: 6 of 797
Andrew Pacifico
After Paul Lenkeit was eliminated in seventh place, the six remaining players went into serious negotiations to divide up the remaining prize pool. They took a few minutes to work out the deal with Andrew Pacifico holding a huge chip lead.
An agreement was reached with Pacifico earning $60,395 for the title along with the $1,100 WPTDeepStacks Main Event seat and the Seminole Hard Rock Tampa guitar trophy.
Tournament report to come later this evening.
1st: Andrew Pacifico – $60,395 + $1,100 Main Event seat 2nd: Nick Avena – $35,255 3rd: Charlies Kapetanakos – $34,111 4th: Juan Rodriguez – $30,779 5th: Oscar Lindo – $29,811 6th: Nick Luczyk – $18,755
