2025 Winter Poker Open

Event 1 Flight F: Cards in the Air

$400 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Prize Pool: $275,880 | Structure
Level 1:  100/200 with a 200 ante
Flight F Entries:  40

Tom McDonald

Cards are in the air for Flight F of WPO Event 1 with 40 here at the start and the prize pool over $275K with some time to run it up. If you miss out today, the last flight runs tomorrow at 11 am.

Early entrants include Tom McDonald, Rashaud Cook, Ken O’Donnell, Anthony Pellegrini, Ramses Rosa, Fernando Rodriguez, and Mark Wiser.

  • $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 (10:30pm)
  • Day 1 will end when 12.5% of field remains
  • Event 1 Structure Sheet
Rashaud Cook

Event 1 Flight E: Erick Espinoza and Itzak Shulmaister at the Top

$400 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$200,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 13:  2,000/4,000 with a 4,000 ante
Flight E Players Remaining:  52 of 210

Erick Espinoza

There were no runaway leaders found during the break, a lot of players hovering in 200K territory, but we had two players trying to pull away.

Erick Espinoza leads the field last with 275,000 while Itzak Shulmaister is not far behind with 271,000.

There isn’t long to catch those two with only 52 players remaining and 27 advancing to Day 2. Time to make some moves.

Itzak Shulmaister

Event 1 Flight E: Registration Closed with 210 Entries

$400 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$200,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 9:  1,000/1,500 with a 1,500 ante
Flight E Players Remaining:  104 of 210

Registration was closed for Flight E of WPO Event 1 with 210 entries, putting the combined total at 787 for the tournament with two flights remaining. The prize pool is up to $259,710 and we expect a huge turnout tomorrow morning.

Flight E will continue until 27 players remain and survivors will return on Sunday for Day 2 at 11 am. Players must bag chips to cash in the tournament.

FlightDayEntriesAdvanced
AWeds 11a15620
BWeds 6p15015
CThurs 11a17022
DThurs 6p13117
EFriday 11a210TBD
FFriday 6p
GSaturday 11a
Total78774

Chip counts through Flight D

Event 1 Flight E: Last Level to Register

$400 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$200,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 8:  600/1,200 with a 1,200 ante
Flight E Entries: 196

Level 8 rolled around and the clock is ticking if you want to be a part of Level E. They will close out this level, take a 15-minute break, and registration will shutdown at 3:30 pm.

That will leave two more flights; one this evening at 6 pm and the last tomorrow at 11 am.

Event 1 Flight E: Friends in the Field

$400 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$200,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 6:  400/800 with a 800 ante
Flight E Entries: 156

Walter Thornton

The Flight E crowd continues to grow, pushing the prize pool up to $241,890 this afternoon with two huge flights left to go. If you want to avoid any possible delay tomorrow, it would be best to grab your seat as soon as possible.

A few friends in the field include Walter Thornton (celebrating his birthday in the Poker Room. Happy Birthday!), Bud Waggoner, Barbara Cardin, Kevin Blewitt, Terri-Anne Crawford, and Eli Kiwan.

Cardin is not only a familiar friend in the Poker Room, but she is also a newly published author. She released her first novel a month ago, titled Butterfly9, which is “the journey of Ella, an emerging poker player determined to leave her traditional career behind for a more unconventional path.” Give it a read (it is available on Amazon), and congrats, Barbara, on your first novel!

Bud Waggoner
Barbara Cardin

Event 1: Chip Counts Through Flight D

$400 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$200,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 14:  3,000/5,000 with a 5,000 ante
Players Remaining:  74 of 577

Flight A:  156 Entries; 20 Advanced
Flight B:  120 Entries; 15 Advanced
Flight C:  170 Entries; 22 Advanced
Flight D:  131 Entries; 17 Advanced
Flight E:  Registration open till 3:30 pm
Flight F:  Friday at 6 pm
Flight G: Satruday at 11 am
Day 2: Sunday at 11 am

RankFirst TimeLast TimeCityStateChip Count
1EricTarikasTampaFL877,000
2JonGodwinTampaFL682,000
3ThomasVilletto JrLenoxMA627,000
4JacobNaumannLargoFL532,000
5ShannonSteckArlingtonVA467,000
6JasonBruwerClearwaterFL451,000
7BrianJohnsonLargoFL451,000
8ManelicMinayaTampaFL421,000
9DanaGellingRiverviewNY412,000
10SarahOrtegoDenham SpringsLA406,000
11MichaelFullerLand O LakesFL392,000
12MikXavageSaint CloudFL390,000
13JohnWolfe IiiRiverviewFL387,000
14JeromeLeonardoSt PetersburgFL373,000
15TarunGulatiWesley ChapelFL367,000
16RicardoAlves De LWinter GardenFL365,000
17JamesLeonardTampaFL357,000
18JohnDolanLithiaFL319,000
19TrueNolenTampaFL317,000
20AnthonyMarchTampaFL304,000
21AaronMederosTampaFL300,000
22RandallCampbellCrosbyTX287,000
23AaronThivyanathanSt PetersburgFL278,000
24JavierHernandezDunnellonFL273,000
25GeorgeHemphillSaint CloudFL247,000
26RamonSosa MorilloRiverviewFL241,000
27ChristopherBarthelPalma CeiaFL241,000
28JenniferFrankensteinLongwoodFL239,000
29DonaldMannsLargoFL237,000
30JoshuaNicholsonWinter HavenFL226,000
31RonaldSurenkampPort RicheyFL217,000
32EricKlattWesley ChapelFL200,000
33NathanLeeOrlandoFL199,000
34StevenBagbyTampaFL193,000
35RaymondManciniSarasotaFL192,000
36NicoSaladinoValricoFL188,000
37StephenDiamantasLakelandFL178,000
38LewisGallo JrBradentonFL178,000
39RalphKourbanTampaFL178,000
40AnthonyQuattrocchiJohns CreekGA177,000
41JamesCalderaroEnglewoodFL176,000
42SanjibAcharyaWesley ChapelFL173,000
43MichaelSilvaTampaFL172,000
44ShaneGallagherParrishFL168,000
45EricSteinbaughDelandFL161,000
46KristineGlassmanNew PaltzNY158,000
47ThaoLeCape CoralFL156,000
48WasimAssafOrlandoFL154,000
49DouglasLandonRiverviewFL153,000
50SeanHumphreyWest Palm BeachFL151,000
51AaronEasterlyDunlapTN146,000
52JoshuaSutherlandFrench LickIN146,000
53JeremyHeraufSarasotaFL141,000
54HarryJohnson IvLargoFL140,000
55YousefNassrCelebrationFL139,000
56DavidGoldbergBradentonFL136,000
57StevenPellingraTampaFL126,000
58KhanhTruongTampaFL125,000
59JordanLowerySarasotaFL118,000
60FredericoRocha-DesaAttleboroMA115,000
61ThomasSteinruckTemple TerraceFL110,000
62JustinMc NeilBrandonFL109,000
63TylerHydeTampaFL106,000
64ZacharyRogalskiLutzFL96,000
65ThomasDowningHolidayFL94,000
66RajeshMehtaTampaFL84,000
67EliasKiwanWesley ChapelFL83,000
68AlanHorowitzKissimmeeFL70,000
69DonovanPotterTampaFL67,000
70BrandeWaltonTampaFL63,000
71JohnFeeneyTampaFL58,000
72DarrenBoulePinellas ParkFL53,000
73DanielPlourdeWest WarrenMA43,000
74SergioCruzWinter HavenFL15,000