$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.

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

Erik Christensen was facing an early exit from the Championship when he caught someone fishing but still had to hit big to stay alive. One player moved all-in with and Christensen tried to isolate with .

“I knew he was weak,” he told the table afterward. “I just hoped no one woke up with a big hand behind me.”

That’s exactly what happened when both moves were called by the 1-seat with . It was a tough hand and there was no chance to get back in this flight if he didn’t hit.

Christensen didn’t have to wait long and nailed the flop. The turn left the shortest stack drawing dead and the 1-seat with one out. Christensen faded the case when the dealer put out the river.

They knocked the field down another player while Christensen moved up to 64,200.

$1,650 Winter Poker Open Championship (Re-Entry)
Level 9: 400/800/100 Ante

Brandon Byars came back from the break and asked for a rough guess off the leaders. He was told he was in the top two at the dinner break and went to work.

On one of the first hands back from dinner, Byars had the 9-seat all-in and in trouble with his dominating . The board was drama free to send another pot to Byars and get the field one person shorter. He’s over 130,000 midway through Level 9 and trying to chase down leader Maroun Akiki.

$1,650 Winter Poker Open Championship (Re-Entry)
Level 9: 400/800/100 Ante

Players are back in their seats after the 45-minute dinner. Registration closed once the clock started rolling for Level 9 and the final count is 105 entrants from the opening flight.

A headcount shows 59 players remaining and they will continue for six more levels before calling it a night.

$1,650 Winter Poker Open Championship (Re-Entry)
Start of Level 9: 400/800/100 Ante

Players still have a few minutes left to relax on their dinner break before they return to grind it down to the end of the day.

Maroun Akiki is the clear leader after eight levels with Brandon Byars joining him over the 100K mark. There are still plenty of tough spots in the tournament, we expect to see a lot of action over the last six levels.

Notable counts:

Maroun Akiki – 160,000 (200 bb)
Brandon Byars – 111,200 (139 bb)
Jerry Silva – 90,500 (113 bb)
Michael Newman – 89,000 (111 bb)
Sheddy Siddiqui – 78,900 (99 bb)
Tony March – 76,000 (95 bb)
Raymond Ruszkowski – 76,000 (95 bb)
Ory Hen – 74,400 (93 bb)
Cory Waaland – 66,500 (83 bb)
Ryan Dunn – 46,600 (58 bb)
Sean Shah – 38,200 (48 bb)
Peter Vitantonio – 34,500 (43 bb)
AJ Kelsall – 34,000 (43 bb)
Jeffrey Trudeau Jr. – 22,500 (28 bb)
Kane Kalas – 8,200 (10 bb)

$1,650 Winter Poker Open Championship (Re-Entry)
End of Level 8: 300/600/75 Ante

The remaining players are on a 45-minute dinner break. Cards go back in the air at 6:25 p.m. ET. Registration closes when play resumes.

Notable chip stacks will be posted shortly.

$1,650 Winter Poker Open Championship (Re-Entry)
Level 8: 300/600/75 Ante

Flight A is ten minutes away from hitting the dinner break with 104 entrants showing up so far. Two of those entries belong to Steven Bennett and he’ll need a third if he wants to win the Championship. We caught him walking away from the tournament area with no chips in his former seat next to Jerry Silva.

Players are heading out a steady clip and we’re under 70 players with less than an hour to jump in.

$1,650 Winter Poker Open Championship (Re-Entry)
Level 8: 300/600/75 Ante

We had to do a double take walking by Table 47, Seat 6.

“I bet you thought I busted,” Steven Bennett laughed.

Turns out, he did. As we reported earlier, Bennett hit the rail at the hands of tablemate Jerry Silva. As the structure permits, Bennett rebought, played a few hands at a new table, then lo and behold, was moved to the exact same seat he previously occupied.

“I have a feel things guy’s going to bust me twice,” Bennett said pointing to Silva.

Maybe so, but it hasn’t happened as of yet. Bennett’s stack totals 28,000.

$1,650 Winter Poker Open Championship (Re-Entry)
Level 7: 250/500/75 Ante

Brandon Byars is one of our 100+ entrants in the Championship today and looking to close out a successful series. He made back-to-back final tables in Events 3 and 4 but Byars biggest result came a few weeks ago with a deep run in the Seminole Hard Rock “Rock ‘n’ Roll Poker Open”.

He’s been camped out next to Tony March all day but he’s doing well  for being out of position on the big stack. Byars has run his 30,000 starting stack near 85,000 in Level 7.

$1,650 Winter Poker Open Championship (Re-Entry)
Level 7: 250/500/50 Ante

Steven Bennett is the most recent preliminary event winner to hit the rail. We found Bennett all in from middle position on a board. An early-position player had bet 5,400 and Bennett’s shove was for 14,225. Jerry Silva called in the position and the early-position player folded. Bennett casually flipped over for top pair. Silva was best with and nothing changed on the turn or the river.

With that, Bennett busted joining fellow Winter Poker Open prelim winner Dean Morris on the rail.