$1,650 Winter Poker Open Championship (Re-Entry)
Level 1: 50/100

Event 13 at 11am Day 1B $1,650 WPO Championship NLH. $300K GTD. 30K SS, 45min levels. Reg open until approx 6:10pm @SHRTPoker @HardRockTommy

— Byron Rodriguez (@HardRockByron) December 18, 2015

The clock strikes 11 a.m. and cards are in the air for the second of three starting flights in the $1,650 Winter Poker Open Championship. Today’s schedule mirrors yesterday’s with players taking their seats to deep stacks of 30,000. They’ll log 14, 45-minute levels with registration closing following Level 8.

Yesterday’s opener saw a field of 105 entries play down to 30 remaining following 14 levels of play. Leading the way with a stack of 197,000 is Sean Shah. With that, Torres is the man to catch with today’s field expected to surpass yesterday’s.

Good luck, players!

11AM: Event 13 Day 1B – $1,650 Championship (Re-Entry)

• $300,000 Guaranteed Prize Pool
• Players begin with 30,000 in tournament chips and 45-minute levels
• Late registration/re-entry available until start of Level 9
• Day 1 will end after Level 14 or Tournament Director discretion
• Championship Structure Sheet

3PM: Event 25 – $190 Qualifier into $1,650 Championship (1-in-10)

• 5 seats guaranteed into the $1,650 Championship
• Players begin with 10,000 in tournament chips and 25-minute levels
• Late registration/re-entry available until start of Level 9
• This is a one-day tournament and plays until completion
• Event 23 Structure Sheet

7PM: Event 26 – $190 Qualifier into $1,650 Championship (1-in-10)

• 5 seats guaranteed into the $1,650 Championship
• Players begin with 10,000 in tournament chips and 25-minute levels
• Late registration/re-entry available until start of Level 9
• This is a one-day tournament and plays until completion
• Event 24 Structure Sheet

$1,650 Winter Poker Open Championship (Re-Entry)
End of Level 14: 1,200/2,400/400 Ante

Play is complete for the first flight of the $300,000 Guarantee Championship with 30 players returning from the starting 105 entrants.

The chip lead was held by several players throughout the day but it was Sean Shah locking up the end-of-day lead with 197,000. Luis Torres, Michael Newman, Erik Christensen,  and Dimitry Agrachov round out the top five.

Players return to blinds at 1,500/3,000 with a 500 ante and average stack of 105,000 (35 big blinds).

Sean Shah – 197,000 (66 bb)
Luis Torres – 190,000 (63 bb)
Michael Newman – 180,000 (60 bb)
Erik Christensen – 175,500 (59 bb)
Dimitry Agrachov – 161,000 (54 bb)
Amie Martini – 140,500 (47 bb)
Keith Oakley – 139,500 (47 bb)
Ory Hen – 131,500 (44 bb)
Brandon Byars – 130,000 (43 bb)
Cory Waaland – 128,500 (43 bb)
Sheddy Siddiqui – 127,000 (42 bb)
Maroun Akiki – 118,500 (40 bb)
Sascha Walter – 118,500 (40 bb)
David DiBernardi – 105,000 (35 bb)
Scott Bobier – 104,000 (35 bb)
William Burdick – 96,500 (32 bb)
Vitor Coelho – 91,000 (30 bb)
James Smith III – 87,500 (29 bb)
Chang Youn – 84,500 (28 bb)
Raymond Ruszkowski – 81,000 (27 bb)
Jimmy Dowda – 80,000 (27 bb)
Eric Wilkinson – 77,000 (26 bb)
Tony March – 72,500 (24 bb)
Filipp Khavin – 70,000 (23 bb)
Aric Pluskat – 66,000 (22 bb)
Oliver Agostini – 50,000 (17 bb)
Martin Carnero – 47,000 (16 bb)
Mitchell Gottlieb – 40,000 (13 bb)
John Redlitz – 35,000 (12 bb)
Joshua Miller – 30,500 (10 bb)

$1,650 Winter Poker Open Championship (Re-Entry)
Level 14: 1,200/2,400/400 Ante

Tournament staff paused the clock with ten minutes remaining and announced three more hands would be played before they color off the black chips and put the rest in a bag.

It was a slow and steady 30 minutes with only one more short stack hitting the rail.

Back with chip leaders and counts.

$1,650 Winter Poker Open Championship (Re-Entry)
Level 14: 1,200/2,400/400 Ante

Flight A has reached the last level of the evening with 32 players hanging around trying to put chips in a bag.

Erik Christensen continues to lead the field with another half dozen sticking in the 200K area.

$1,650 Winter Poker Open Championship (Re-Entry)
Level 13: 1,000/2,000/300 Ante

There was very little exciting action over the last level. We were about to report that only one person was sent to the rail until we noticed the former big stack of Tom Nguyen significantly decreased.

“I didn’t get any of it,” Sheddy Siddiqui quipped.

His dust off was finished by newest big stack Erik Christensen. We caught the action as Christensen was deciding whether to call a shove by Nguyen, and just in time to see him toss in the calling chips.

Christensen was ahead with and flipping against . He added an open-ended straight draw on the flop to take away Nguyen’s Queen outs. Then spiked the Nguyen-drawing-dead card on the turn.

Nguyen made a quick, dramatic exit from the last break penthouse while Christensen has moved up to 287,000.

$1,650 Winter Poker Open Championship (Re-Entry)
Level 12: 800/1,600/200 Ante

Players are back in their seats and Maroun Akiki continues to lead with 216,900 but we have new player joining him over 200K. Tom Nguyen is a familiar face this series and he moves into second spot courtesy of his 210,600 stack.

Nguyen has cashed three times this series including a fourth place finish in the $560 Deep Stack tournament.

Erik Christensen is also making moves, pushing his stack (that was endangered a few hours ago) up to 186,300 at the last break.

They’ll play three more levels before bagging up. Action should slow down for awhile with the average stack sitting right around 50 big blinds with 39 remaining.

$1,650 Winter Poker Open Championship (Re-Entry)
End of Level 11: 600/1,200/200 Ante

Flight A is on its final break of the evening with 40 players remaining. They will return and play three more 45-minute levels before calling it a night.

$1,650 Winter Poker Open Championship (Re-Entry)
Level 11: 600/1,200/200 Ante

There are few soft spots in the field as it gets down to five tables, but the one at the front holds three of the top stacks in the room.

Maroun Akiki, Michael Newman, and Brandon Byars are stacked deeper than most but they have to deal with each other now. In back-to-back-to-back seats.

Akiki has retaken the lead with 178,000 while Michael Newman has moved up to 155,700. From the looks coming from Byars, it’s safe to say some of those came from him with him down to “only” 134,000 with a little over four levels remaining.

$1,650 Winter Poker Open Championship (Re-Entry)
Level 10: 500/1,000/100 Ante

We have a new leader as Brandon Byars continues to move higher and Maroun Akiki dropped a bit from his high point. Byars is now sitting on 170,000 while Akiki is looking at 130,000 up front.

We’ve also lost a handful of notable players in the last level including Kane Kalas, Jeffrey Trudeau Jr., and defending champ AJ Kelsall.