$1,650 Buy-In Championship No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)

Level 7: Blinds 250/500/50 ante
Entries: 78

Players are back from break and Tom Nguyen (Tampa, FL) is still leading the field; he’s up to 146k.

Defending Champion Stephen Diamantas (Tampa, FL) hit a big hand at the end of the last level.  Diamantas and his opponent are all in on a three heart board of Q-J-T-4.

“It didn’t work,” says Diamantas of his opponent’s all-in bluff, “he had Queen-Eight, no heart.”

Diamantas has for the winning flush in a 60k pot. He’s up to 102k.

Chip Leaders

Tom Nguyen 146k
Stephen Diamantas 102k
Chris Conrad 101k
Angel Vu 85k
Brian Arbaugh 81k

$1,650 Buy-In Championship No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)

Level 6: Blinds 200/400/50 ante
Entries: 73

As Day 1B is quickly closing in on the Day 1A total of 75 entries, it’s worth mentioning two of the key figures who are making sure the Tampa Winter Poker Open runs smoothly.

Director of Poker Tommy Bates is thrilled with how the Championship and the entire 18 day series is going.  “Living the dream,” says Bates, “we do this for the players. We’ve gotten a lot of good feedback and want to keep growing Tampa poker.”

Bates’ right hand man is Tournament Director Byron Rodriguez who oversees everything from event structures to tournament rulings.  “I want to mention all my floor guys and dealers. Without them, things wouldn’t run as smoothly as they’ve been.”

Bates and Rodriguez are in the Poker Room everyday and encourage players to continue giving their feedback. They want to thank everyone for making poker at the Seminole Hard Rock Tampa a big success.

$1,650 Buy-In Championship No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)

Level 5: Blinds 150/300/25 ante
Entries: 68

Players are back from their second break of the day with Tom Nguyen (Tampa, FL) the chip leader at 113k.

A couple of stacks are in the 80k range including Yong Wolfer (Rochester, NY) who returns to South Florida after chopping Event 1 for $39,273. Wolfer earned the custom Hard Rock guitar trophy and entry into the Championship Event.

“I’m glad to come back,” says Wolfer, “it’s cold in New York.”

Players will play two levels, break, and then two more levels before a 45 minute dinner break at ~6:00 pm.

Chip Leaders

Tom Nguyen 113k
Yong Wolfer 85k
Chris Conrad 83k

$1,650 Buy-In Championship No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)

Level 4: Blinds 100/200/25 ante
Entries: 60

South Florida pro Darryll Fish (Fort Lauderdale, FL) is back for another shot at the $300,000 Guaranteed prize pool after busting Day 1A.

Got the practice round out of the way yesterday, firing again in day 1b #WPO @SHRTPoker

— Darryll Fish (@DarryllFish) December 19, 2014

Today’s action has been pretty loose as we’ve seen several players bust and re-enter.

Here’s one hand that epitomizes how play is going; we’ll keep the players anonymous to protect both the innocent and offenders.

Blinds 100/200 – all players with between 20k and 30k in chips.

EP position limps, cutoff makes it 1100. The button and limper both call.

Flop:

Check, c-bet to 2200, button and EP call.

Turn:

check, aggressor bets 6k, button and EP fold.

Just an average hand here in the Seminole Hard Rock Tampa Poker Room.

$1,650 Buy-In Championship No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)

Level 3: Blinds 100/200
Entries: 58

We’ve seen an influx of Brazilian players in Tampa this series, many of them know each other and are currently living in Orlando.

Today’s Brazilian invasion landed three of them on the same table. Josias Santos finished 8th in Event 7 for $1,451 (1 of 4 series’ cashes), he’s next to Ricardo Rodriguez (9th in Event 4 for $1,125).

Across the table from her countrymen is Daiane Mendes, who was 22nd in Event 4.

Other Brazilians seen here in Tampa include Claudemir Osorio who was part of a final chop in Event 4 for $10,000, Rafael Reis, two event cashes and Paulo Castro who final tabled Event 7 with Santos finishing one spot higher in 7th place.

$1,650 Buy-In Championship No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)

Level 3: Blinds 100/200
Entries: 56

Stephen Diamantas (Tampa, FL), who won the Championship Event here a year ago for $122,000, is in the field.

He has a tough table draw that features Event 7 winner Manny Minaya (Tampa, FL) and John Holley (Destin, FL), fourth in the same event. Douglas Chan (Orlando, FL) is also here, he was the final table and 11th place finisher in the $250 buy-in.

Diamantas has position on all three players who are side-by-side on his right. Holley ($950,000), Minaya ($1.4 million) & Diamantas ($310,000) have combined recorded tournament earnings of $2.65 million.

$1,650 Buy-In Championship No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)

Level 2: Blinds 75/150
Entries: 44

A lot of familiar faces are in the field and the list includes:

Manny Minaya
Angel Vu
John Holley
Tony March
Wade Whidden
Tom Nguyen
Rick Clayton
Fernando Diaz

$1,650 Buy-In Championship No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)

Level 1 Blinds 50/100

Day 1B of the Championship Event of the Seminole Hard Rock Tampa Winter Poker Open is underway in the Poker Room.

This is the second of three starting flights for this $300,0000 Guaranteed prize pool.

Players start with 30k in chips 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.

Players bagging chips in more than one flight may take their best stack into Day 2.

The Flight A overwhelming chip leader was Michael Laake (Punta Gorda, FL) with 373k (187 bb), 136k ahead of second place. 20 players bagged an average stack of 113k (57 bb).

Flight A Chip Leaders

Michael Laake 372,900
Robert Gill 236,900
Tony Tran 215,000

Championship Schedule

Day 1A: 75 Entries/20 Players Remaining
Day 1B: Underway
Day 1C: 11 am Saturday
Day 2: 12 pm Sunday

$1,650 Buy-In Championship No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)

$1,650 Buy-In Championship No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)

End of Level 12: Blinds 800/1,600/200 ante

Out of 75 entries in this flight, 20 of them survived 12 levels of play to bag chips.  Average stack is 112,500.  These players will return Sunday at 12 noon for Day 2.

Chip counts:

Michael Laake 372,900
Robert Gill 236,900
Tony Tran 215,000
Gabriel Tudorache 161,900
A. Nonymous 154,900
Herbert Woodbery 148,000
John Pappas 133,800
Amelio Amato 124,400
Al Krux 113,000
Kyle Peck 110,600
Andre Smith 108,500
Derek Bowers 95,400
Kevin Blewitt 93,300
Marsha Wolak 90,100
Michael Cole 78,300
Carlos Loving 53,800
Francisco Gomez 52,200
Eddie Kofler 35,800
Martin Welch 34,100
David Eller 19,200