2021 WPT Tampa
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
Tampa, Florida
Event 15
$1,700 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Entries:  189
Prize Pool:  $292,950
June 20-21, 2021

Event 15 began on Sunday, but registration remained open until the start of Day 2 on Monday. There were 189 entries who created a total prizepool worth $292,950. The final 19 players finished in the money.

Victor Figueroa began the final table with a massive chip lead, holding more chips than the next three players combined, and he carried that momentum all the way to the finish line, winning the event outright to earn $80,872.

$3,500 WPT Tampa Championship
$2,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 29:  75,000/150,000 with a 150,000 ante
Players Remaining:  9 of 1,165

Day 3 of the WPT Tampa Championship comes to an end with nine players remaining, and they will come back tomorrow at 1:00 pm EDT to play down to a winner.

With nine players remaining from a field of 1,165, the average chip stack is about 5,175,000 (35 big blinds). Here are the official chip counts:

Seat 1.  Steve Queen  –  6,875,000  (46 bb)
Seat 2.  Will Berry  –  3,600,000  (24 bb)
Seat 3.  John Haas  –  4,050,000  (27 bb)
Seat 4.  Brian Altman  –  10,800,000  (72 bb)
Seat 5.  Gabriel Abusada  –  5,950,000  (40 bb)
Seat 6.  Dave Berman  –  2,325,000  (16 bb)
Seat 7.  T.K. Miles  –  2,225,000  (15 bb)
Seat 8.  Zachary Smiley  –  4,975,000  (33 bb)
Seat 9.  Jonathan Jaffe  –  5,875,000  (39 bb)

The chipleader is reigning Hublot WPT Player of the Year Brian Altman, who is going for his third WPT title. And he’s not the only WPT champion at the table, as Zachary Smiley and Jonathan Jaffe have titles as well. And T.K. Miles has won more money in poker tournaments at Seminole Hard Rock Tampa than any player in history, and he’ll need to finish no lower than fourth to have a chance to defend his position on the all-time leaderboard.

Here are the remaining payouts at stake:

1st:  $613,225
2nd:  $408,825
3rd:  $302,200
4th:  $225,675
5th:  $170,275
6th:  $129,825
7th:  $100,030
8th:  $77,900
9th:  $61,325

Day 4 begins tomorrow at 1:00 pm EDT, and they will play down to a winner. Return to SHRTPoker.com for continuing coverage of the 2021 WPT Tampa series.

$3,500 WPT Tampa Championship
$2,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 28:  75,000/125,000 with a 125,000 ante
Players Remaining:  9 of 1,165

Brian Altman raised UTG+1 to 250,000, Jonathan Jaffe called from the button, and Steve Queen reraised from the small blind to 875,000. Altman folded, and Jaffe called.

The flop came , Queen bet 550,000, and Jaffe called.

The turn card was the , Queen checked, Jaffe bet 950,000, and Queen check-raised all in for 2,900,000. Jaffe used one Time Chip to tank for nearly a minute before he folded.

Somebody asked Queen to show his cards in this big spot, and he turned over as he took the pot — he had turned a set of aces.

Jaffe breathed a sigh of relief and said, “Appreciate it.”

Steve Queen  –  7,200,000  (58 bb)
Jonathan Jaffe  –  7,400,000  (59 bb)

With nine players remaining from a field of 1,165, the average chip stack is about 5,175,000 (41 big blinds).

Action will continue tonight until the end of this level, or until there are six players left, whichever comes first.

$3,500 WPT Tampa Championship
$2,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 28:  75,000/125,000 with a 125,000 ante
Players Remaining:  9 of 1,165

Nobody has won more money in tournaments at Seminole Hard Rock Tampa than T.K. Miles, who has earned $433,289 here over the years.

However, since the winner of this event will earn $613,225, Miles was told a while back that whoever won this event would pass him on the all-time casino money list.

Not so fast, because Miles is now at the final table and in position to defend his status as the biggest tournament money winner in history for this casino.

Even if Miles finishes as low as fourth place, he could potentially hold the number one spot, depending on the career earnings of those who finish ahead of him.

Of course, none of that will matter if Miles wins this event himself, which would catapult him to more than $1 million earned here at Seminole Hard Rock Tampa.

$3,500 WPT Tampa Championship
$2,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 28:  75,000/125,000 with a 125,000 ante
Players Remaining:  9 of 1,165

There was a redraw for random seats at the final table, and here is the new lineup with their approximate chip counts:

Seat 1.  Steve Queen  –  3,950,000  (32 bb)
Seat 2.  Will Berry  –  1,975,000  (16 bb)
Seat 3.  John Haas  –  4,700,000  (38 bb)
Seat 4.  Brian Altman  –  7,850,000  (63 bb)
Seat 5.  Gabriel Abusada  –  4,950,000  (40 bb)
Seat 6.  Dave Berman  –  4,075,000  (33 bb)
Seat 7.  T.K. Miles  –  3,700,000  (30 bb)
Seat 8.  Zachary Smiley  –  4,975,000  (40 bb)
Seat 9.  Jonathan Jaffe  –  10,675,000  (85 bb)

And here are the remaining payouts at stake:

1st:  $613,225 + Trophy
2nd:  $408,825
3rd:  $302,200
4th:  $225,675
5th:  $170,275
6th:  $129,825
7th:  $100,030
8th:  $77,900
9th:  $61,325

With nine players remaining from a field of 1,165, the average chip stack is about 5,175,000 (41 big blinds).

Action will continue tonight until the end of this level, or until there are six players left, whichever comes first.

$3,500 WPT Tampa Championship
$2,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 28:  75,000/125,000 with a 125,000 ante
Players Remaining:  9 of 1,165

Yuri Martins was all in from the small blind for 1,525,000 with , and he needed it to hold to stay alive against the of Gabriel Abusada on the button.

The board came , and Abusada paired his king on the flop to win the pot and eliminate Martins in 10th place.

Gabriel Abusada  –  4,950,000  (40 bb)
Yuri Martins  –  Eliminated in 10th Place  ($61,325)

The final nine players are redrawing for random seats at the final table. Action will continue tonight until the end of this level, or until there are six players left, whichever comes first.

$3,500 WPT Tampa Championship
$2,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 28:  75,000/125,000 with a 125,000 ante
Players Remaining:  10 of 1,165

The final 10 players return from break to begin Level 28, with increased blinds of 75,000-125,000 with a 125,000 ante.

With 10 players remaining from a field of 1,165, the average chip stack is about 4.65 million (37 big blinds). The remaining players are all guaranteed at least $61,325 each, and as soon as one more player busts, they will redraw for seats at the final table.

Here are the official chip counts from the break:

TABLE 53
Seat 1.
Seat 2.  Yuri Martins  –  1,525,000  (12 bb)
Seat 3.  John Haas  –  4,700,000  (38 bb)
Seat 4.
Seat 5.  Dave Berman  –  4,075,000  (33 bb)
Seat 6.  Brian Altman  –  7,850,000  (63 bb)
Seat 7.
Seat 8.  Gabriel Abusada  –  3,175,000  (25 bb)

TABLE 54
Seat 1.  Steve Queen  –  4,200,000  (34 bb)
Seat 2.
Seat 3.  Jonathan Jaffe  –  10,350,000  (83 bb)
Seat 4.  Zachary Smiley  –  4,975,000  (40 bb)
Seat 5.  T.K. Miles  –  3,700,000  (30 bb)
Seat 6.  Will Berry  –  2,050,000  (16 bb)
Seat 7.
Seat 8.

Action will continue tonight until the end of Level 28, or until there are six players left, whichever comes first.

$300 Deep Stack NLH (Re-Entry)
$50,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 25:  25,000/50,000 with a 50,000 ante
Players Remaining:  7 of 427

The final nine players drew for random seats at the final table, but two more players busted before we could get over for a lineup.

Seat 1.  Harmeet Chawla  –  Out in 8th Place
Seat 2.  Brandon Miller  –  3,400,000  (68 bb)
Seat 3.  Joseph Salvaggi  –  2,200,000  (44 bb)
Seat 4.  Travis Powell  –  Out in 9th Place
Seat 5.  Adam Deisley  –  725,000  (15 bb)
Seat 6.  Christopher Green  –  1,450,000  (29 bb)
Seat 7.  Greg Joslyn  –  915,000  (18 bb)
Seat 8.  Bob Gallo  –  605,000  (12 bb)
Seat 9.  Mark Castaldo  –  1,300,000  (26 bb)

And here are the final table payouts:

1st:  $22,803 + Trophy
2nd:  $15,980
3rd:  $10,276
4th:  $6,619
5th:  $5,103
6th:  $4,222
7th:  $3,544

8th:  Harmeet Chawla  –  $2,909
9th:  Travis Powell  –  $2,280

$3,500 WPT Tampa Championship
$2,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 27:  50,000/100,000 with a 100,000 ante
Players Remaining:  10 of 1,165

Peter Vitantonio was all in from the button for 625,000 with , and he needed to improve to stay alive against the of Steve Queen in the small blind.

The board came — Queen flopped a set of jacks and Vitantonio turned a gutshot straight draw, but the river card was a blank. Queen won the pot with his set of jacks to eliminate Vitantonio in 11th place.

Steve Queen  –  2,850,000  (29 bb)
Peter Vitantonio  –  Eliminated in 11th Place  ($48,805)

With 10 players remaining from a field of 1,165, the average chip stack is about 4.65 million (47 big blinds). The remaining players are all guaranteed at least $61,325 each, and as soon as one more player busts, they will redraw for seats at the final table.

Action will continue tonight until the end of Level 28, or until there are six players left, whichever comes first.

$1,700 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Structure | Payouts
Level 21:  8,000/16,000 with a 16,000 ante
Players Remaining:  9 of 189

The final nine players just had a redraw for random seats at the final table, and here is the lineup with updated chip counts:

Seat 1.  Dimitri Lleshi  –  290,000  (18 bb)
Seat 2.  Anthony Lambert  –  266,000  (17 bb)
Seat 3.  Steven Snyder  –  293,000  (18 bb)
Seat 4.  Ryan Van Sanford  –  372,000  (23 bb)
Seat 5.  Raymond McBeth  –  194,000  (12 bb)
Seat 6.  Will Parker  –  389,000  (24 bb)
Seat 7.  Tai Cao  –  182,000  (11 bb)
Seat 8.  Javier Zarco  –  484,000  (30 bb)
Seat 9.  Victor Figueroa  –  1,316,000  (82 bb)

As you can see, Victor Figueroa has a massive chip lead, with more chips than the next three players combined.

Here are the remaining payouts they’re playing for:

1st:  $80,872 + Trophy
2nd:  $51,226
3rd:  $30,174
4th:  $18,318
5th:  $14,208
6th:  $11,733
7th:  $10,253
8th:  $9,155
9th:  $8,088