2021 Tampa Poker Classic

Main Event: Al Khan Takes a Turn at the Top

$1,700 TPC Main Event (Re-Entry)
$300,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 22:  10,000/20,000 with a 20,000 ante
Players Remaining:  38 of 959

Al Khan

The TPC Main Event is down to its last five tables and it looks like we have a new leader. At this rate, things are changing in a hurry.

Al Khan is sitting behind a big castled of chips worth 1,525,000 while Gary Bowker is still comfy with 1,465,000 and James Kerr is surging with his 1,225,000 stack.

While they are building, here’s the next round of results, among them high roller specialist Byron Kaverman. Interesting note on Kaverman; if he won this tournament, the $286K first place prize would only rank as the 14th biggest of his career.

48th: Byron Kaverman – $5,607
49th: Jesse Mull – $5,132
50th: Jacob Baumgartner – $5,132
51st: Steven Snyder – $5,132
52nd: Joshua Garber – $5,132
53rd: Lu Yu – $5,132
54th: Michael Scott – $5,132
55th: Brian Arbaugh – $5,132

Main Event: More Results

$1,700 TPC Main Event (Re-Entry)
$300,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 22:  10,000/20,000 with a 20,000 ante
Players Remaining:  44 of 959

Casey Carroll

Eliminations are slowing down as the field thins and the money grows. Casey Carroll, 12th place finisher in the recent WPO Main Event, was among the recent knockouts along with Ryan Luker, Mark Scacewater, Filipp Khavin, Jacob Naumann, Michael Tait, John O’Neal, and Tony March.

Blinds are up to 10,000/20,000 with a 20,000 ante and the average stack is 655,000 (33 bb).

56th: Ryan Luker – $5,132
57th: Greg Koutelidakis – $4,776
58th: Michael Kassem – $4,776
59th: Casey Carroll – $4,776
60th: Rody Mamo – $4,776
61st: Mark Scacewater – $4,776
62nd: Christopher Perry – $4,776
63rd: Michael McCray – $4,776
64th: Filipp Khavin – $4,776
65th: Tony March – $4,519
67th: John O’Neal – $4,519
68th: Brent Ballentine – $4,519
69th: Jason Giles – $4,519
70th: Michael Tait – $4,519
71st: Samuel Blankenship – $4,519
72nd: Jacob Naumann – $4,519
73rd: Alban Frasheri – $4,349

Main Event: Back from Break

$1,700 TPC Main Event (Re-Entry)
$300,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 21:  10,000/15,000 with a 15,000 ante
Players Remaining:  52 of 959

The second break has come to an end which also meant there was a pause in the eliminations. More than 40 players earned a payout after the bubble to leave only 52 still in the game.

Gary Bowker started the payout process when he burst the bubble and he now leads the field with 1,635,000.

There’s still some paperwork to get done but we caught up on the first round of results with a few players opting to get paid out later so they could join the big Black Chip Bounty field.

Blinds are now 10,000/15,000 with a 15,000 ante and the average stack is 555,000 (37 bb).

75th: David Stacy – $4,349
76th: David Dibernardi – $4,349
77th: Mohamad Alhalwani – $4,349
78th: James Poole – $4,349
79th: Kenneth Stacy – $4,349
80th: Jon Hoellein – $4,349
81st: Joshua Maskell – $4,258
82nd: Jeremy Archambault – $4,258
83rd: James Doepker – $4,258
84th: Michael Hudson – $4,258
85th: Antoine Sankari – $4,258
86th: Ryan Basile – $4,258
87th: Edward Kofler – $4,258
88th: Omar Washington – $4,258
89th: Oscar Lindo – $4,243
90th: Hamid Izadi – $4,243
91st: Mark Wiser – $4,243
92nd: Max Young – $4,243
93rd: Michael Cooper – $4,243
94th: Joel Gola – $4,243
96th: Donald Mathews – $2,122
97th: Scott Dobbs – $2,121

Main Event: Blinds Up

$1,700 TPC Main Event (Re-Entry)
$300,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 20:  6,000/12,000 with a 12,000 ante
Players Remaining:  70 of 959

As soon as the bubble burst, the action picked up like mad and the eliminations were left and right. There were 15 payouts in quick succession and we will catch up with the paperwork on the next break to bring you the results.

In the meantime, blinds are up to 6,000/12,000 with a 12,000 ante and the average stack is 411,000 (34 bb).

Main Event: Double Bubble Knockout

$1,700 TPC Main Event (Re-Entry)
$300,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 18:  4,000/8,000 with a 8,000 ante
Players Remaining:  95 of 959

Gary Bowker

There was no long, drawn out bubble play in this tournament, only two hands to get things moving.

On the second round of hand-for-hand, we had a quick go on Table 43 when Ryan Snow had Donald Mathews all in at risk for his last 26,000. Then they had to wait while the other tables finished up their action before running it out.

On Table 21, Gary Bowker was facing a 31,000 bet from Scott Dobbs with the board reading QcTd8s and he raised to 110,000 from the button. Dobbs called, the river was Ks, and Dobbs checked. Bowker looked at the stacks and announced “all in”. Dobbs called at risk for his ~120,000 and saw the bad news.

Bowker: Jc9s
Dobbs: AsKh

Bowker flopped a queen-high straight, improved to a king-high straight on the river, and it was good against top-top to send Dobbs out on the bubble.

Back to Table 43, Snow was in great shape with AsAc against Mathews’ AhQh and the 9d2d2cThAd run out sent Mathews out on the bubble as well.

Since Dobbs and Mathews were eliminated on the same hand at separate tables, they chopped up 96th place money.

Gary Bowker – 890,000 (111 bb)
Ryan Snow – 272,000 (34 bb)
Donald Mathews – Eliminated in 96th place ($2,122)
Scott Dobbs – Eliminated in 97th place ($2,121)

Ryan Snow

Main Event: Bubble Time

$1,700 TPC Main Event (Re-Entry)
$300,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 18:  4,000/8,000 with a 8,000 ante
Players Remaining:  97 of 959

Before the end of Level 18, the Main Event reached 97 players to put them on the money bubble. Tournament staff paused the clock and they will play hand-for-hand until one more player is eliminated with two minutes coming off the clock for each hand.

Main Event: Back from Break

$1,700 TPC Main Event (Re-Entry)
$300,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 18:  4,000/8,000 with a 8,000 ante
Players Remaining:  104 of 959

The first break is complete and the 104 remaining players are staring at the money bubble with only eight standing between them and some cash.

Neal Corcoran continues to lead with 1,034,000 with Paul Balzano (792,000), Michael Cohen (784,000), and Scott Robbins (727,000) the closest to chasing him down.

Blinds are now 4,000/8,000 with an 8,000 ante and the average stack is 277,000 (35 bb).

Event 8: Black Chip Bounty

$400 Black Chip Bounty NLH (Re-Entry)
Structure
Level 1:  100/100

The Main Event is playing down in the back of the Poker Room but if you missed out on that, we have one last chance for you to win a TPC guitar trophy starting at 2 pm.

Event 8 is a $400 buy-in Black Chip Bounty NLH tournament with $100 bounties on each player’s head. They’ll sit down to 20,000 starting stacks and all levels in this one-day tournament will last 30 minutes long. Late registration is open until the start of Level 5 at 4:15 pm with re-entries available until the start of Level 9 at 6:30 pm.

It should be a fun time on a Sunday afternoon and a great chance to take home a trophy with a pile of money.

  • Players begin with 20,000 in chips and 30-minute levels
  • Late registration available until the start of Level 5
  • Re-entry available until the start of Level 9
  • This is a one-day tournament and plays to completion
  • Event 8 Structure Sheet

Main Event: Bubble Slowdown

$1,700 TPC Main Event (Re-Entry)
$300,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 17:  3,000/6,000 with a 6,000 ante
Players Remaining:  110 of 959

Michael Cohen

We hit the slow portion of the day with 110 players remaining and 96 getting paid. Players can see the bubble on the near horizon and taking the appropriate caution to secure some cash. That means the bubble will likely hit after the break giving them some time to think about it.

Michael Cohen is another player moving in the right direction. The WPTDeepStacks Tampa Main Event back-to-back runner-up (2017 and 2018) is cruising along with 760,000 and not sweating the bubble too much.

Main Event: Neal Corcoran Moves Up Top Near Bubble

$1,700 TPC Main Event (Re-Entry)
$300,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 16:  3,000/5,000 with a 5,000 ante
Players Remaining:  114 of 959

Neal Corcoran

The eliminations continue to click the player count down, the Main Event is nearing the money bubble with 114 remaining and 96 getting paid.

Neal Corcoran is taking advantage and sits as our new leader with 905,000 in early Day 2 action. Corcoran owns a trophy from 2019 SHR Poker Showdown in Hollywood and came one spot from winning the WSOP Circuit Coconut Creek Main Event later that year.