“I’m incognito,” says Calderaro who’s hiding under a stylish hat. Disappointing many, there’s no sign of his girl friend Lily Kiletto who is also well known on the tournament circuit.
Calderaro is a 48-year old investor originally from New York who has $2 million in career recorded tournament earnings.
$1,650 Buy-In Championship No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 5: Blinds 150/300/25 ante Entries: 102
TK Miles
There’s always debate on who should be designated the “defending champion.” Based on the calendar, Stephen Diamantas (Tampa, FL) is the defending champ after winning this Championship Event in December 2013.
But Timothy “TK” Miles (Tallahassee, FL) can stake a claim as a defending champion as he’s the most recent winner after shipping the June Championship Event.
“It’s a good room, a good time,” says Miles who’s a few seats away from Diamantas, but on a different table. “I like it here.”
Miles is a big Florida State football fan and is extremely confident in his poker game and in the Seminoles repeating as national champions.
“I need to do win this,” says Miles, “we’re both going to do it,” he says about winning back-to-back titles.
Miles won the June Championship for $295,000 in a 346 entry field ($3,500 buy-in), while Diamantas earned $122,000 against 301 entries ($1,650 buy-in) last December.
$1,650 Buy-In Championship No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 4: Blinds 100/200/25 ante Entries: 92
David Levi & Allen Kessler
Allen Kessler and David Levi have combined for dozens of wins and each have earned millions of dollars in their tournament careers. And they both made it a point to travel from Las Vegas to play in the Winter Poker Open Championship Event.
“I have friends in Florida and wanted to play one more event before the end of the year, so this is it,” says Levi, who just won a big pot to take his stack to 80k.
“It’s a good structure, really good structure,” says Kessler, who’s been a Seminole Hard Rock Tampa supporter on Twitter.
@JeremyJagoda@SHRTPoker yes I’m flying all the way from vegas to play it. Great event, structure and staff.
“It’s a nice room, I’m glad to be here,” Kessler says adding, “they don’t skip any levels. The structure is the main thing.”
Levi’s big hand today comes against Carlo Rodriguez (Weston, FL) with Levi hitting bottom set against Rodriguez’s top two pairs on a J-9-3 flop. They’re all in on the turn and Rodriguez ships his 30k starting stack when he doesn’t boat up.
“There’s definitely good value,” says Levi. “It’s a nice room, I’m glad to be here. I hope they’ll have a lot more of these in the future.”
Tale of the Tape
Levi vs Kessler
Levi
Stats*
Kessler
$3.3 Million
Career Earnings
$3.15 Million
28
Wins
15
279
Total Cashes
217
$230,000
Best Cash
$276,000
*Recorded Tournament Results from TheHendonMob.com
$1,650 Buy-In Championship No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 3: Blinds 100/200 Entries: 84
Kessler (red shirt) & Levi (left) Join the Field
“That’s a fun table to cover,” says Stephen Diamantas (Tampa, FL), who is glad he’s simply a Table 9 spectator.
The table features two Las Vegas pros in Allen Kessler and David Levi. The two each have more than $3 million in career recorded tournament earnings and 43 combined wins.
Diamantas, the 2013 winner of this event, has a good view of the action from his seat on Table 8. He busted late last night, tweeting this summary of his title defense to date:
Made a horrible call getting caught up in trying to bag a big stack.Then added to my mistake by not valuing my remaining chips. Bring on 1C
$1,650 Buy-In Championship No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 1: Blinds 50/100 Entries: 49
Crystal Brittany, Dale & Sonia
Calendar girls Crystal Brittany & Sonia are here waiting to deal you in as we’re more than halfway through the opening level. But you have to hurry as they’ll only be here until noon.
Lots of familiar faces already in the field including:
Tony March Douglas Chan Hristos Tsironis Elliott “Comrade” Zaydman Jeff “Flicka” Coutroulis
$1,650 Buy-In Championship No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 1 Blinds 50/100
It’s a picture perfect day for the Day 1C of Championship Event, the last chance to enter this $300,0000 Guaranteed prize pool tournament.
Players are taking their seats and waiting for the official “shuffle up and deal.”
Starting stacks are 30k and Day 1 levels are 45 minutes, with time to 60 minutes on Day 2. Registration and re-entry is open until the start of Level 9, approximately 6:30 pm.
Flight B big stack Matt Rose is the overwhelming chip leader with 484k (242 bb). 44 players remain from the first two flights.
Overall Chip Leaers
Matt Rose 483,700 Michael Laake 372,900 David DiBernardi 255,400 Robert Gill 236,900 Tony Tran 215,000
Championship Schedule
Day 1A: 75 Entries/20 Players Remaining Day 1B: 90 Entries/24 Players Remaining Day 1C: Starts in Minutes Day 2: 12 pm Sunday
Totals: 165 Entries/44 Players Remaining 113k Avg (57 bb) Day 2 Blinds: 1k/2k/200 ante
