$2,500 SPS Championship (Re-Entry)
$500,000 Guaranteed  |  Structure
Level 8:  600/1,200 with a 1,200 ante
Day 1A Entries:  135

The fourth and final break is almost upon us and players will take a 15-minute break from the action while tournament staff pull the black chips out of play. They’ll return to play one more level and survivors will bag up for a return on Sunday at 11 am.

$2,500 SPS Championship (Re-Entry)
$500,000 Guaranteed  |  Structure
Level 7:  500/1,000 with a 1,000 ante
Day 1A Entries:  125

The third break is over and we can see the end of the day on the horizon. They have three hours, plus one last break, before we call it a night and survivors bag up their chips.

Nick Raio’s stack is bouncing around but always near the top, like it is now. He is up to 212,700 to lead the field while former big stack Carlos Bermudez dropped. It looks like some of his chips went to Shawn Cunix who moved up to 127,100.

Michael Cole sits in second with 179,800 with Gabe Fuller’s 149,800 doing very nicely for him.

$2,500 SPS Championship (Re-Entry)
$500,000 Guaranteed  |  Structure
Level 6:  400/800 with a 800 ante
Day 1A Entries:  121

We are quickly heading toward the third break with 121 entries in the game, well more than halfway to the $500,000 guarantee, and we still have a few more hours to add to that total.

We’ll take another quick walk among the empty tables to see if anyone caught up to Carlos Bermudez and Nick Raio.

$2,500 SPS Championship (Re-Entry)
$500,000 Guaranteed  |  Structure
Level 6:  400/800 with a 800 ante
Day 1A Entries:  115

We are flying through the day and the 115 entries so far already topped the first flight of the previous SPS Championship. Our players are building something special this afternoon with a lot of time to grow.

They will play out this level and take another 15-minute break.

$2,500 SPS Championship (Re-Entry)
$500,000 Guaranteed  |  Structure
Level 5:  300/600 with a 600 ante
Day 1A Entries:  100

Nick Raio was the big stack at the first break and he’s still riding high after two more levels, but not the top stack in the room. That belongs to Carlos Bermudez at the other end of his table, he leads with 158,600 while Raio is still right there with 140,700.

Players are schedule to work through two more levels before another break rolls around.

$2,500 SPS Championship (Re-Entry)
$500,000 Guaranteed  |  Structure
Level 4:  300/500 with a500 ante
Day 1A Entries:  94

The second break is coming up as the field nears triple digits and a great start to the Championship. They are nearly halfway to the $500,000 guarantee with half of today left and a full, busy Saturday tomorrow.

We found James Casement and Jeremy Becker seated side-by-side only a few hours after they finished first and second in the $1,100 SPS tournament. Casement won the heads-up match, earning $27,980 plus a seat in today’s flight, while Becker took second for $18,650 and had to pay his way today.

$2,500 SPS Championship (Re-Entry)
$500,000 Guaranteed  |  Structure
Level 3:  200/400 with a 400 ante
Day 1A Entries:  69

Michael Silva opened the action from early position and Shawn Cunix moved all in from middle position. It folded around to Nathan Papp in the big blind, he called at risk for 39,600 and Silva folded ace-jack face up.

“I don’t know if that’s good for me or not,” Papp said before tabling . He was flipping against Cunix with and the flop was safe for his hand.

Papp found the case jack on the turn to leave Cunix drawing dead to the river.

Nathan Papp – 81,000 (162 bb)
Shawn Cunix – 11,900 (24 bb)

$2,500 SPS Championship (Re-Entry)
$500,000 Guaranteed  |  Structure
Level 3:  200/400 with a 400 ante
Day 1A Entries:  69

It was real easy to find the big stack after two levels; Nick Raio had bunches more than the rest. Per the dealer at his table, Raio’s jacks held against ace-king and ace-queen and he sits with 177,800 to lead the field.

Michael Silva is second with 92,900 followed by Elizabeth McKane’s 83,800 and Jeremy Herauf’s 79,700.

$2,500 SPS Championship (Re-Entry)
$500,000 Guaranteed  |  Structure
Level 2:  200/300 with a 300 ante
Day 1A Entries:  60

Day 1A players are about ready to take their first break with 60 in the game and a long time to build it higher.

They’ll enjoy 15 minutes away from the action and we’ll scope out the stacks to see who’s having a good start to their Championship.

2025 Tampa Signature Poker Series
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
Tampa, Florida
Event 8
$1,100 No-Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$50,000 Guaranteed
Entries: 104
Prize Pool:  $99,840
July 24, 2025

SPS Event 8 was the last warmup before the Championship and the $1,100 buy-in tournament drew 104 entries, pushing the $50,000 guarantee into a prize pool worth $99,840. After a tough battle, James Casement defeated Jeremy Becker heads-up for the outright title and $27,980.

Congrats!