$1,700 Deepest Stack No-Limit Hold’em
$300,000 Guaranteed  |  Structure
Level 9:  500/1,000 with a 1,000 ante
Day 1C Entries:  79

Cards are back in the air after the 40-minute dinner break and defending champ Michael Newman is still the big stack. He leads with 283,500 with Alfredo Rodríguez second holding 257,500.

They will play six more levels today, with a break in the middle, before bagging chips for Day 2.

Here’s a look at some chip counts from around the room during dinner break:

Michael Newman – 283,500 (284 bb)
Alfredo Rodríguez – 257,500 (258 bb)
Davd Shaw – 183,500 (184 bb)
Dave Finley – 150,000 (150 bb)
Eric Siegel – 116,500 (117 bb)
Hassan Tahsildar – 114,500 (115 bb)
Steven Karp – 106,000 (106 bb)
Matt Bretzfield – 99,500 (100 bb)
David Nathaniel – 95,000 (95 bb)
TK Miles – 90,500 (91 bb)
Javier Suárez – 86,000 (86 bb)
Kyle Sullivan – 81,500 (82 bb)
Lyle Diamond – 79,000 (79 bb)
Jacquelyn Scott – 76,500 (77 bb)
Joel Hardwood – 64,500 (65 bb)
Ory Hen – 55,000 (55 bb)
Jeff Silverstein – 53,500 (54 bb)
Farid Jattin – 50,000 (50 bb)
Willie Wiggins – 50,000 (50 bb)
Richard Rice  –  50,000 (50 bb)
Richard Leger – 49,000 (49 bb)
Pasquale Caiazza – 45,500 (46 bb)
Jason Rocha – 43,500 (44 bb)
Joel Gola – 41,500 (42 bb)
Mike Beasley – 39,500 (40 bb)

$1,700 Deepest Stack No-Limit Hold’em
$300,000 Guaranteed  |  Structure
Level 8:  400/800 with a 800 ante
Day 1C Entries:  77

Level 8 ended and tournament staff sent Event 8 players on their 40-minute dinner break while they color the black chips out of play.

They will return to play six more levels before survivors bag up their chips for Day 2 tomorrow at 11 am.

If players wish to grab a bite at the table or the Poker Cafe area, you can now order food from The BŌL to your table (top-tier Asian cuisine), among other items on the Poker Room menu, or you can grab something and sit in the cafe lounge area.

$1,700 Deepest Stack No-Limit Hold’em
$300,000 Guaranteed  |  Structure
Level 8:  400/800 with a 800 ante
Day 1C Entries:  75

The entry count clicked up to 75 with a half hour left until the dinner break. Step by step closer to that $300,000 guaranteed prize pool.

Two of the new spots are tough players. Farid Jattin has two big titles here; he won the big opening event of the 2022 LHPO series for $306,832 and the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Championship in 2023 for another $655,000.

Joel Gola made his big splash about six months ago when he cashed his biggest payout of $395,000 for a runner-up finish in the 2025 WPT RRPO Championship.

$1,700 Deepest Stack No-Limit Hold’em
$300,000 Guaranteed  |  Structure
Level 6:  300/600 with a 600 ante
Day 1C Entries:  72

Michael Newman didn’t take long to start building the defense of his title. The 2025 Deepest Stack champ leads the field after the second break with 189,500 with Alfredo Rodriguez and Richard Leger the next two biggest.

Flight C will work through two more levels before they can enjoy their 40-minute dinner break.

Michael Newman – 189,500 (316 bb)
Alfredo Rodríguez – 176,000 (293 bb)
Richard Leger – 146,300 (244 bb)
Matt Bretzfield – 92,200 (154 bb)
David Nathaniel – 85,500 (143 bb)
Kyle Sullivan – 81,900 (137 bb)
Steven Karp – 79,500 (133 bb)
Joel Harwood – 78,100 (130 bb)
Javier Suárez – 70,400 (117 bb)
Ryan Eriquezzo – 68,300 (114 bb)
Jacquelyn Scott – 62,500 (104 bb)
TK Miles – 60,300 (101 bb)
Jason Rocha – 59,700 (100 bb)
Ory Hen – 59,300 (99 bb)
Lyle Diamond – 52,700 (88 bb)
Jeff Silverstein – 45,600 (76 bb)
Greg Anda – 39,500 (66 bb)
Pasquale Caiazza – 36,000 (60 bb)
Willie Wiggins – 34,400 (57 bb)
Kevin Ordet – 27,800 (46 bb)
Eric Siegel – 27,100 (45 bb)
Alex Borukhovich – 18,500 (31 bb)
Solange Lucas – 16,200 (27 bb)

$1,700 Deepest Stack No-Limit Hold’em
$300,000 Guaranteed  |  Structure
Level 5:  200/400 with a 400 ante
Day 1C Entries:  69

Another three levels down means another break coming up. We have 69 entries in the field and 24 new ones away from the $300,000 guarantee.

We’ll take another walk among the tables to see if anyone was able to catch Matt Bretzfield at the top of the counts.

$1,700 Deepest Stack No-Limit Hold’em
$300,000 Guaranteed  |  Structure
Level 5:  200/400 with a 400 ante
Day 1C Entries:  60

The entry count hit 60 in the middle of Level 5 and we are well on our way to cruising past the $300,000 guarantee at this pace. They are building up a nice prize pool.

A few new friends in the field include Richard DeVivo, Kevin Ordet, and Solange Lucas.

$1,700 Deepest Stack No-Limit Hold’em
$300,000 Guaranteed  |  Structure
Level 4:  200/300 with a 300 ante
Day 1C Entries:  43

Players returned from their first break after a nice little rush to the registration desk. We have 51 entries in the game and getting closer to surpassing the $300,000 guarantee.

Matt Bretzfield built a big lead in the first few minutes of the day and added a bit more as the only player with a six-digit stack. He was moved to another table to balance the field; Javier Suárez took his the spot and now sits in second place.

Table 20 seat 1 is the spot to be today.

Here’s a look at some counts from around the room on break:

Matt Bretzfield – 106,900 (356 bb)
Javier Suárez – 84,800 (283 bb)
Steven Karp – 71,600 (239 bb)
Kyle Sullivan – 69,500 (232 bb)
Richard Leger – 66,300 (221 bb)
Michael Newman – 59,800 (199 bb)
Allan Dungo – 57,500 (192 bb)
Joel Harwood – 53,400 (178 bb)
Yuriy Kozinskiy – 50,900 (170 bb)
Pasquale Caiazza – 49,600 (165 bb)
Mike Beasley – 48,800 (163 bb)
Greg Anda – 48,400 (161 bb)
Willie Wiggins – 46,700 (156 bb)
Ryan Eriquezzo – 45,100 (150 bb)
Jeff Silverstein – 43,700 (146 bb)
Jason Rocha – 43,000 (143 bb)
Alex Borukhovich – 34,600 (115 bb)
Craig Pollak – 13,800 (46 bb)

$1,700 Deepest Stack No-Limit Hold’em
$300,000 Guaranteed  |  Structure
Level 3:  100/200 with a 200 ante
Day 1C Entries:  39

As we cruise toward the first break, our defending champion has made an appearance.

Michael Newman has tons of trophies both in the room and in our major series in the Grand Ballroom. He picked up a big one when he won last year’s $1,700 Deepest Stack after a tough, talented final table.

In this series, Newman already took home one trophy when he won the $600 Deeper Stack a few days ago.

$1,700 Deepest Stack No-Limit Hold’em
$300,000 Guaranteed  |  Structure
Level 2:  100/100 with a 100 ante
Day 1C Entries:  32

We have a nice little turnout this morning and into the afternoon. More than a third of the way to the number needed for the $300,000 guarantee with a long time to get there.

Some early friends in action include Willie Wiggins, Richard Leger, Mike Beasley, Alex Borukhovich, Joel Harwood, Craig Pollak, and Jason Rocha.

$1,700 Deepest Stack No-Limit Hold’em
$300,000 Guaranteed  |  Structure
Level 1:  100/100
Day 1C Entries:  23

Matt Bretzfield is up early, in two different ways. Up early in the day because it’s still the morning hours and his stack is also up early after sending a player out in the first 15 minutes of play.

Our 12-time major SHRP champ is now sitting with 99,500 after an orbit and the first big chip leader of the day.

He’s at a fun early table that also includes Jeff Silverstein and his cute, emotional-support floof “Rebuy”.