Day 1A $350 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 9: Blinds 500/1k/100 ante
109 Entries

The first flight of Event 1 of the Seminole Hard Rock Tampa Winter Poker Open ends up with 109 entries as registration is now closed.

The big stacks are in the 100k+ range with recent West Coast transplant Gil Levy (San Diego, CA) leading the way with 120k.

Chip Leaders

Gil Levy 120k
Miles Wessler 107k
Matt Rose 98k
Ben Thompson 98k
Robert Rosetta 90k
Tony March 85k
Robert Melo 80k

Day 1A $350 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 8: Blinds 400/800/75 ante
100 Entries

We just hit 100 entries for the opening event of the Seminole Hard Rock Tampa Winter Poker Open.  That means time is running out to register or re-enter.

The cage is open until ~3:30 pm and players can enter until the start of Level 9.

There’s also a 6 pm flight as well as two flights Friday and Saturday to get in on this $150,000 Guaranteed event.

Day 1A $350 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 6: Blinds 200/400/50
90 Entries

“I couldn’t miss this,” says Stephen Diamantas (Tampa, FL), who won the Championship Event here a year ago for $122,000.

Diamantas is a full time pro who loves playing here at the Seminole Hard Rock Tampa casino, especially after earning another six-figure score in the June Championship Event, finishing third for an additional $102,000.

“I need to grind more,” says Diamantas, who hasn’t played as much poker as he should. “I need to be a better boss.”

So far, so good as last year’s winner is up to 35k.

Day 1A $350 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 4: Blinds 100/200
85 Entries

After two hours of play, the field is heading to the first break of the day.

There’s still plenty of time to jump in this event as registration and re-entry is open until ~3:30 pm (start of Level 9).

Day 1A $350 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 3: Blinds 75/150
72 Entries

“Table change,” are the first words out of Robert Melo’s mouth, this after seeing cousin Frank Gomez already at the table; both are from Lakeland, FL.

Melo, originally from New York, has been an East Coast grinder for many years with nearly $100,000 in tournament earnings, while Gomez is new to the game.

Gomez made a splash earlier this year at the Coconut Creek Lucky Hearts poker open when he took home $10,000 for his third place finish. Melo was on the rail for Gomez’s second career recorded tournament cash.

“No fireworks,” in this event says Melo who check-raised his cuz a couple of times.

“I had to fold,” adds Gomez, “I had nothing.”

Both players are above the 20k starting stack with Melo up to 31k.

“Final table,” Gomez says is the only table that matters when the two play head-to-head.

Day 1A $350 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 2: Blinds 50/100
61 Entries

We’re only 35 minutes into the opening event of the Seminole Hard Rock Tampa Winter Poker Open and we’ve doubled the number of entries since play began.

61 entries are in the field as we’ve already seen one elimination and a re-entry.

Chadrick Thomasson (Warner Robins, GA) says he based a Tampa trip around Event 1.

“Nice getaway,” says Thomasson who plans to be here four days, including for Sunday’s Day 2.

That’s a long way away as we have six flights to navigate.