Day 1A $350 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 6: Blinds 200/400/50
90 Entries

“I couldn’t miss this,” says Stephen Diamantas (Tampa, FL), who won the Championship Event here a year ago for $122,000.

Diamantas is a full time pro who loves playing here at the Seminole Hard Rock Tampa casino, especially after earning another six-figure score in the June Championship Event, finishing third for an additional $102,000.

“I need to grind more,” says Diamantas, who hasn’t played as much poker as he should. “I need to be a better boss.”

So far, so good as last year’s winner is up to 35k.

Day 1A $350 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 4: Blinds 100/200
85 Entries

After two hours of play, the field is heading to the first break of the day.

There’s still plenty of time to jump in this event as registration and re-entry is open until ~3:30 pm (start of Level 9).

Day 1A $350 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 3: Blinds 75/150
72 Entries

“Table change,” are the first words out of Robert Melo’s mouth, this after seeing cousin Frank Gomez already at the table; both are from Lakeland, FL.

Melo, originally from New York, has been an East Coast grinder for many years with nearly $100,000 in tournament earnings, while Gomez is new to the game.

Gomez made a splash earlier this year at the Coconut Creek Lucky Hearts poker open when he took home $10,000 for his third place finish. Melo was on the rail for Gomez’s second career recorded tournament cash.

“No fireworks,” in this event says Melo who check-raised his cuz a couple of times.

“I had to fold,” adds Gomez, “I had nothing.”

Both players are above the 20k starting stack with Melo up to 31k.

“Final table,” Gomez says is the only table that matters when the two play head-to-head.

Day 1A $350 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 2: Blinds 50/100
61 Entries

We’re only 35 minutes into the opening event of the Seminole Hard Rock Tampa Winter Poker Open and we’ve doubled the number of entries since play began.

61 entries are in the field as we’ve already seen one elimination and a re-entry.

Chadrick Thomasson (Warner Robins, GA) says he based a Tampa trip around Event 1.

“Nice getaway,” says Thomasson who plans to be here four days, including for Sunday’s Day 2.

That’s a long way away as we have six flights to navigate.