$600 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 4:  200/300 with a 300 ante
Flight E Entries:  810

Flight E players were sent on the first break of the day and it will be a long one. To accommodate the huge crowd and get them in and out in an orderly fashion, the break was extended to 25 minutes.

$600 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 3:  100/200 with a 200 ante
Flight E Entries:  630

Another level and another big chunk of players joined the packed Event Center. More than 600 entries after an hour and we are chasing a thousand possible before we close registration at 2:30 pm.

A few recent arrivals include David Albertson, John Magneta, Claris Blakely, Nicole Diaz, Solange Lucas, mother/daughter combo Ok and Jennifer Haselton, and September Super Stacks Main Event champ Thomas Elder.

$600 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 2:  100/100 with a 100 ante
Flight E Entries:  560

The entry count climbed to 560 after the first level and we have our next significant milestone. With 2,886 combined entries, the Event 1 prize pool is now over $1.5 million and on its way to $2 million for the opening tournament.

A few early friendly faces include Karl Manouchakian, Andra Zachow, Marcus Gurley, Frank Russo, Nancy Birnbaum, Errol Massey, and Nashaat Antonious.

Manouchakian holds a special spot in the record books for our room; he has the most tournament cashes with 91 putting him at the top of the leaderboard. He also sits fifth on the all-time cash list behind reigning Winter Poker Open Main Event champ T.K. Miles, WPT Tampa winner Brian Altman, WPT Tampa runner-up Gabe Abusada, and Peter Walsworth.

$600 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 1:  100/100
Flight E Entries:  370

Cards are in the air for Flight E of WPT Tampa Event 1. The Event Center is filling in and we had 370 entries at the start to push the prize pool over $1.4 million.

The next milestone will hit when we have 3,000 combined entries with a $2,000,000 prize pool in play later this evening.

$600 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 1:  100/100

The first Saturday of the series is here and we expect a packed Event Center throughout the day. Flight E of Event 1 starts at 10 am and the $600 buy-in tournament already turned its $1,000,000 into a prize pool worth $1.2 million.

With two huge flights today. It’s going to be big.

Players start with 20,000 in their stacks and 30-minute levels on Day 1, going up to 40 on Day 2. Late registration and unlimited re-entries are available until the start of Level 9 at 2:30 pm. They will continue to shrink the field at that point until down to 10%. Those players will bag their chips for a Day 2 return tomorrow at 1 pm in the money.

• $1,000,000 Guaranteed Prize Pool
• Players begin with 20,000 in chips
• Day 1 levels last 30 minutes; Day 2 levels last 40 minutes
• Late registration/re-entry available until start of Level 9 (2:30pm)
• Day 1 will end when 10% of field remains
• Event 1 Structure Sheet

Chip counts through Flight D

Primary Event Schedule

10AM: Event 1 Flight E – $600 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)

• $1,000,000 Guaranteed Prize Pool
• Players begin with 20,000 in chips
• Day 1 levels last 30 minutes; Day 2 levels last 40 minutes
• Late registration/re-entry available until start of Level 9 (2:30pm)
• Day 1 will end when 10% of field remains
• Event 1 Structure Sheet

5PM: Event 1 Flight F – $600 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)

• $1,000,000 Guaranteed Prize Pool
• Players begin with 20,000 in chips
• Day 1 levels last 30 minutes; Day 2 levels last 40 minutes
• Late registration/re-entry available until start of Level 9 (9:30pm)
• Day 1 will end when 10% of field remains
• Event 1 Structure Sheet

7PM: Event 6 – $400 Turbo No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)

• Players begin with 20,000 in chips
• Levels last 15 minutes
• Late registration available until start of Level 9 (9:15pm)
• This is a one-day tournament and plays to completion
• Event 6 Structure Sheet

Secondary and Satellite Schedule

3PM: $1,120 Multi-Event Satellite (1-in-7)

• 1-in-7 win a $7,400 package; seats in $3,500 Championship, $2,200 Event 19 and $1,700 Event 17
• Players begin with 10,000 in chips
• Levels 1-7 last 20 minutes; Levels 8+ last 30 minutes
• Late registration until start of Level 9 (5:35pm)
• Structure Sheet

2022 WPT Tampa
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
Tampa, Florida
Event 5
$1,100 Eight-Handed NLH (Re-Entry)
$50,000 Guaranteed
Entries:  119
Prize Pool:  $115,430
August 26, 2022

Clyde Maliauka topped the field in Event 5 to take home the fourth trophy of the tournament series early on Saturday. He was awarded the top prize worth $30,730, along with the WPT trophy that was the first trophy he has earned in a tournament win.

Maliauka was the big stack at the final table, and he used that to his advantage to bully his opponents on his journey to the win. “There were just so many short stacks, so my job as the big stack was to just bully everybody, and I think I did a good job of that today,” said Mailauka.

Here is a what he had to say shortly after his victory: “It means a lot, I’ve worked hard, I’ve studied a lot, and the results have shown. I’m really happy to bring home the win today.”

The local player Maliauka had many supporters on the rail at the final table, and he said he definitely uses that to his advantage. “I always run hands with all the friends I know in the poker community. I think that the best way to learn about poker is just talking about it with other people, so it’s helped a lot,” said Maliauka.

“For sure, I’m a Tampa local, I live here in Clearwater, and I definitely have my sights set on a lot of events here. I’m happy that it’s so close,” said Maliauka about his plans for the rest of the tournament series (including possibly setting his sights on the Player of the Series gold trophy).

He also had this to say about playing tournaments here at Seminole Hard Rock Tampa: “I love that the way you guys run events is really clean, you guys are clearly a step ahead of everybody else as far as tournament organization. I think the staff is fantastic, and I think you guys do an awesome job of running the tournaments, and that’s why I keep coming back.”

Here is a look at the full results from the tournament:

$600 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Return to Level 17:  3,000/6,000 with a 6,000 ante
Players Remaining:  234 of 2,326

Flight A: 511 Entries; 52 Advanced
Flight B: 437 Entries; 44 Advanced
Flight C: 729 Entries; 73 Advanced
Flight D: 649 Entries; 65 Advanced
Flight E: Saturday at 10 am
Flight F: Saturday at 5 pm
Day 2: Sunday at 1 pm

$1,100 Eight-Handed NLH (Re-Entry)
$50,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 22:  10,000/20,000 with a 20,000 ante
Remaining Players: 1 of 119 entries

Jesse Greer was all in with in the hole from the button for a short stack, and Clyde Maliauka had him covered holding .

The final board read , and Greer was eliminated in second place, good for $20,490. That made Maliauka the champion of the tournament, and he took home the top prize worth $30,730 along with the WPT trophy.

Stay tuned for a winner photo, an interview with the champion, and final results for the tournament.

2022 WPT Tampa
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
Tampa, Florida
Event 4
$250 Ladies Event (Re-Entry)
Entries:  123
Prize Pool:  $25,830
August 26, 2022

Nikita Patalinghug won Event 4 tonight at a fun final table that saw her take home the top prize worth $6,566 along with the WPT Trophy thanks to a three-way chop right around midnight. Here is what she had to say after the victory: “Unbelievable, I tried to really push it, I almost didn’t come today.”

“The ladies are very competitive, it’s just a good feeling because sometimes when you play with the guys you feel like you’re being bullied. Maybe it’s just my imagination, but it’s like I’m home when I’m playing with the ladies,” said Patalinghug when she was asked what makes playing in the ladies event special.

“I tried my best and switched it up a little bit and went into trapping mode, so I was just folding big hands, and I just tried to play my A-game and trap somebody,” said Patalinghug about her approach at the final table.

“I love playing tournaments because I can take myself out of the cash tables and still get my fix. I just want to play, I just like to play, and play as long as I can. I don’t care if I’m the bubble, that means I played as long as I could for the buy-in,” said Patalinghug about her love of poker at the end of the interview.

Here is a look at the final results for the tournament:

*: Denotes payouts decided by the three-way chop at the end of play.