$400 No-Limit Hold’em $200,000 Guaranteed | Structure Level 9: 1,000/1,500 with a 1,500 ante Flight B Entries: 83
Registration closed for Flight B of WPO Event 1 with 83 entries, putting the combined total at 194 for the tournament so far with five big flights to go.
Action will continue until 11 players remain and survivors will return on Sunday at 11 am for Day 2. Players must bag chips to cash in the tournament.
$400 No-Limit Hold’em $200,000 Guaranteed | Structure Level 1: 100/200 with a 200 ante
The new year is here, and it’s time for our first big series of 2026, getting underway with Flight A of Event 1 at 11 am. The $400 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em tournament has a $200,000 guaranteed prize pool and seven starting flights.
Players sit down with 30K in their stacks and the first 19 levels last 30 minutes before increasing to 40 minutes for the duration. Late registration and unlimited re-entries are available until the start of Level 9 at 3:30 pm.
Action will continue until 12.5% of the field remains and survivors will bag their chips for a Day 2 return on Sunday at 11 am.
See you at the tables!
$200,000 Guaranteed Prize Pool
Players begin with 30,000 in chips
Levels 1-19 last 30 minutes; Levels 20+ last 40 minutes
Late registration/re-entry available until start of Level 9 (3:30pm)
2025 Winter Poker Open Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tampa, Florida Event 10 $250 Seniors 50+ NLH (Re-Entry) $10,000 Guaranteed Entries: 135 Prize Pool: $27,675 February 3, 2025
Robert Fiore, 2025 WPO Event 10 champ
The last tournament on the 2025 WPO schedule was the popular $250 Seniors 50+ Event. The tournament drew 135 entries, nearly tripling the $10,000 guarantee, and we had a familiar face as the last player standing.
Robert Fiore earned the Event 10 title along with $5,898 in a heads-up deal, and he also set a little history by going back-to-back in this tournament. Fiore was the 2024 Pinktober Poker Open Seniors Event champ; now we’ll see if he can get three during the Tampa Poker Classic.
2025 Winter Poker Open Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tampa, Florida Event 8 $1,700 WPO Championship (Re-Entry) $300,000 Guaranteed Entries: 425 Prize Pool: $637,500 January 30 – February 3, 2025
Scott Heiligman, 2025 WPO Champion
The 2025 Winter Poker Open wrapped up its final weekend with the headliner, the WPO Championship, with a $1,700 buy-in and $300,000 guaranteed prize pool. The tournament drew 425 entries, more than doubling that guarantee, and Scott Heiligman conquered a tough final table to take the title outright for $127,020.
Our players helped put together a prize pool worth $637,500 and the last 55 players made the money for a Day 2 bag. David Moses took advantage of the best-stack-forward format to get paid twice, a min-cash for his smaller bag, and he finished 31st with his biggest.
The tournament quickly played down to its final table, and it became a battle. Nine tough players, including Ryan Hogan coming off a series in Hollywood where he cashed for more than $300K in two tournaments.
They played nearly four hours four-handed before Sandro Vianna De Sa was eliminated. Gabe Fuller was a masterful short-stacked player, working his way up to third when they finally sent him out.
Hogan had the chip lead at the start of heads-up play, but Heiligman battled back and took the title outright, winning a big tournament against tough players.
Congrats to Scott, and thank you to everyone who came out!
2025 Winter Poker Open Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tampa, Florida Event 9 $400 No-Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry) $25,000 Guaranteed Entries: 158 Prize Pool: $52,930 February 2, 2025
, Scott Heiligman bet 2,000,000 and Ryan Hogan called.
, Heiligman checked, and Hogan moved all in. Heiligman thought for several moments before he called.
for flopped two pair and Hogan flipped over 
. Heiligman was the player at risk for his last 4,650,000 to leave Hogan with only 650K.
