$250 Ladies NLH (Re-Entry)
$10,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 3:  100/200 with a 200 ante
Entries:  48

The Ladies Event quickly kicked up the numbers and the field hit the $10,000 guarantee long before the first break. Besides the prize pool, there are a number of other things on the line. In addition to first-place money, the winner will also receive a $1,100 RRPO seat into the tournament of their choice. There is also a nice gift basket waiting with Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood gift cards, a coveted Hard Rock robe, and a nice bottle of champagne.

The early action had WPT Royal Flush Crew member Tyler Campbell, WPT Global Events Manager Keta Olozina, Tampa favorite Deborah Farmer, SHRPO trophy winner (and RRPO Event 6 third-place finisher) Jennifer Miller, and WSOP Circuit ring winner Melisa Singh.

$3,500 WPT RRPO Championship (Re-Entry)
$2,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 5: 200/400 with a 400 ante
Day 1B Entries:  387

The players return from break to begin Level 5, with increased blinds of 200-400 and a 400 ante.

We scanned the field during the break to find the big stacks, and here are the top five:

1.  Paul Kuzmich  –  145,000  (363 bb)
2.  Ricardo Alves De Lima Tavare  –  124,700  (312 bb)
3.  Bin Weng  –  116,000  (290 bb)
4.  David Farrer  –  110,000  (275 bb)
5.  Spencer Champlin  –  109,500  (274 bb)

There are now 387 entries in the field, with registration open until the start of Level 9, around 9:15 pm.

There will be a 90-minute dinner break after Level 6 (around 5:30 pm), and play will continue tonight until the end of Level 10 (around 11:15 pm).

$3,500 WPT RRPO Championship (Re-Entry)
$2,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 4: 200/300 with a 300 ante
Day 1B Entries:  378

After a flop of , the UTG player bet 1,200, Ronit Chamani called from middle position, and the player in the hijack also called.

The turn card was the , the UTG player checked, and Chamani bet 3,200. The player in the hijack thought for a while before he moved all in for about 9,500.

The UTG player quickly folded, and Chamani snap-called with for a jack-high straight. The player in the hijack turned over for a pair of eights with a gutshot straight draw, and he was drawing dead.

The meaningless river card was the , and Chamani won the pot with her straight to eliminate her opponent.

Ronit Chamani  –  54,100  (180 bb)

$250 Ladies NLH (Re-Entry)
$10,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 1:  100/100

We have Day 1B of the RRPO Championship going running on one side of the Seminole Ballroom but we have a special tournament running on the other side. The $250 Ladies Event kicks off at 3 pm with a $10,000 guaranteed prize pool and we added a $1,100 RRPO tournament seat to first place.

They’ll start out with 15,000 stack and the first nine blind levels will last 20 minutes. Late registration and unlimited re-entries are available until the start of Level 10 and levels will increase to 30 minutes at that point.

It will be a fun corner of the Seminole Ballroom and we will hit the highlights along the way.

• $10,000 Guaranteed Prize Pool
• Winner receives ADDED $1,100 RRPO seat
• Players begin with 15,000 in chips
• Levels 1-9 last 20 minutes; Levels 10+ last 30 minutes
• Late registration/re-entry available until start of Level 10
• This is a one-day tournament and plays until completion
• Event 16 Structure Sheet

$3,500 WPT RRPO Championship (Re-Entry)
$2,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 4:  200/300 with a 300 ante
Day 1B Entries:  358

With a flop out there, Jared Jaffee bet 2,600 after the small blind player checked. He picked up two callers and his turn bet got him heads up with the small blind.

The small blind fired a small 5,000 bet, Jaffee did not look happy when he called, and the small blind said “flush” before tabling . Jaffee flashed for the cracked aces but the WSOP bracelet winner is still above starting stack with 46,500.

$3,500 WPT RRPO Championship (Re-Entry)
$2,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 4:  200/300 with a 300 ante
Day 1B Entries:  330

The combined entry total for the Championship hit lucky 777 as the next level arrival, only a few shy of getting the prize pool over $2.5 million.

The jump up came from a few recently arrivals including Sheddy Siddiqui, 2018 WPT Poker Showdown Champ Scott Margereson, Allen “Chainsaw” Kessler, Shannon Shorr, Ryan Eriquezzo, Aaron Massey, and Joe Cheong.

$3,500 WPT RRPO Championship (Re-Entry)
$2,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 3:  100/200 with a 200 ante
Day 1B Entries:  294

Cards are back in the air and we found an early frontrunner. Eric Valerio returned to a stack worth 92,000 which looks good enough for the first break lead.

Other notable stacks include Guiseppe Corapi (68,000), Javier Sarache (65,000), Michael Wang (60,600), Ronit Chamani (56,700), Fred Dabus (48,000), Joe Reddick (45,000), Allen Kessler (44,000), Scott Margereson (40,000), Howard Mash (36,500), and Noah Schwartz (35,000).

$3,500 WPT RRPO Championship (Re-Entry)
$2,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 2:  100/200
Day 1B Entries:  273

Level 2 came to an end and tournament staff sent Day 1B players on the first break of the day. The prize pool continued to climb and it is over $2.3 million with late registration until ~9:15 pm.

$3,500 WPT RRPO Championship (Re-Entry)
$2,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 2:  100/200
Day 1B Entries:  231

Other than a straight buy-in, there were a few other ways to get a seat into the WPT RRPO Championship. There were a ton of satellites but also a few tournaments which added a seat to the winner.

Last night we ran the one-day $150 Big Stack trophy event, one of those tournaments with the added seat, and Manny Minaya walked away with the title in the early morning hours. The Tampa regular has a couple of Winter Poker Open titles in our sister room on the west coast of the state then picked up his first SHRP title along with the Championship seat.

$3,500 WPT RRPO Championship (Re-Entry)
$2,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 2:  100/200
Day 1B Entries:  178

Day 1B of the Championship hit 178 entries shortly after the start of Level 2 to put a combined 625 into the headline tournament. That is good enough to put the prize pool right at $2,000,000 but it won’t stop there.

With registration open until 9:15 pm, the next milestone with be hitting a $2,500,000 prize pool later this afternoon.