$3,500 WPT RRPO Championship
$2,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 5:  300/600 with a 600 ante
Day 1A Entries:  540

The entry count is nearing the point where we can start looking for the magic number to put the 2022 WPT RRPO Championship over the $2,000,000 guarantee. We need 625 to get there and that should be a lock with registration available until 9:15 pm.

A few more notables in the crowd include Natasha Mercier, South Florida talk show news host Andy Slater, David DiBernardi, A.J. Kelsall, Brian Hastings, Lily Kiletto, Tarun Gulati, and Jason Young.

Mercier made some noise earlier this week; she returned to tournament poker for the $1,100 Shootout, won her table, and finished third for $8,050.

$3,500 WPT RRPO Championship
$2,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 5:  300/600 with a 600 ante
Day 1A Entries:  504

The players have returned from break to begin Level 5, with increased blinds of 300-600 with a 600 ante.

A scan of the field during the break turned up five players with at least 170K in chips, creating an unofficial leaderboard:

1.  Alexander Haber  –  237,100  (395 bb)
2.  Dana Caruso  –  211,700  (353 bb)
3.  Jesse Lonis  –  180,500  (301 bb)
4.  Marc Evanier  –  178,800  (298 bb)
5.  Alexandro Gonzalez Olaechea  –  172,500  (288 bb)

The tournament clock shows 504 entries so far, which means the prizepool is already up over $1.61 million on its way to the $2 million guarantee. Registration remains open with unlimited re-entries until the start of Level 9, around 9:15 pm.

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

$3,500 WPT RRPO Championship
$2,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 4:  300/500 with a 500 ante
Day 1A Entries:  472

After a flop of , Jean Joseph bet 8,700 from the cutoff, and Alexander Haber called from the button.

The turn card was the , Joseph bet 7,000, and Haber moved all in. Joseph went into the tank for a while before he called all in for 55,500 with for a set of fives.

But Haber turned over for a seven-high straight, and Joseph needed the board to pair on the river to stay alive.

The river card was the , and Haber won the pot with his straight to eliminate Joseph.

Alexander Haber  –  165,000  (330 bb)
Jean Joseph  –  Eliminated

The tournament clock shows 472 entries so far, which means the prizepool is already up over $1.51 million on its way to the $2 million guarantee. Registration remains open with unlimited re-entries until the start of Level 9, around 9:15 pm.

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

$3,500 WPT RRPO Championship
$2,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 4:  300/500 with a 500 ante
Day 1A Entries:  467

A player got it all in from the big blind on a previous street with the board showing on the turn. Will Parker bet 5,600 from middle position into a dry side pot, and the player on the button called.

The river card was the , and both players checked. All three players showed their cards:

Will Parker:    (pair of fours)
Button:    (jack high)
Big Blind:    (ace high)

Parker paired a lowly four on the winner to win the entire pot, eliminating the player in the big blind.

Will Parker  –  39,000  (78 bb)

The tournament clock shows 467 entries so far, which means the prizepool is already up over $1.49 million on its way to the $2 million guarantee. Registration remains open with unlimited re-entries until the start of Level 9, around 9:15 pm.

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

$3,500 WPT RRPO Championship
$2,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 4:  300/500 with a 500 ante
Day 1A Entries:  444

We have 444 entries heading into Level 4 and $1.4 million put in the bank towards the $2,000,000 guarantee. There’s a good chance we hit the mark today before registration closes at 9:15 pm leaving a full flight to blast it up.

A few new familiar faces in the crowd including two-WPT LHPO chanp (and WPT Tampa winner) Brian Altman, David Meagher, reigning Tampa Pinktober Poker Open Champion Matthew Leecy, Rob Brown, Joe McKeehen, Matt Stout, Shootout winner Colin Robinson, Cherish Andrews, James Calderaro, and Matthew Zarcadoolas.

$3,500 WPT RRPO Championship
$2,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 3:  200/400 with a 400 ante
Day 1A Entries:  431

With the final board showing , the small blind bet 6,600, and Chen Yang tanked for a while before moving all in.

The small blind rechecked his cards before folding, and Yang showed as he took the pot.

Chen Yang  –  58,000  (145 bb)

The tournament clock shows 431 entries so far, which means the prizepool is already up over $1.37 million on its way to the $2 million guarantee. Registration remains open with unlimited re-entries until the start of Level 9, around 9:15 pm.

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

$3,500 WPT RRPO Championship
$2,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 3:  200/400 with a 400 ante
Day 1A Entries:  367

The players have returned from break to begin Level 3, with increased blinds of 200-400 with a 400 ante.

A scan of the field during the break turned up six players with at least 115K in chips, creating an unofficial leaderboard:

1.  Nir Cohen  –  146,600  (367 bb)
2.  Adam Wells  –  128,500  (321 bb)
3.  Kevin Oakes  –  126,500  (316 bb)
4.  Carlos Pino  –  120,000  (300 bb)
5.  Michael Wang  –  118,000  (295 bb)
6.  Ren Lin  –  117,900  (295 bb)

The tournament clock shows 367 entries so far, which means the prizepool is already up over $1.18 million on its way to the $2 million guarantee. Registration remains open with unlimited re-entries until the start of Level 9, around 9:15 pm.

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

$3,500 WPT RRPO Championship
$2,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 3:  200/400 with a 400 ante
Day 1A Entries:  360

Cards are back in the air after a few short announcements from Matt Savage and the WPT gang.

$3,500 WPT RRPO Championship
$2,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 2:  200/300 with a 300 ante
Day 1A Entries:  338

As expected with these big events, we have more than our fair share of WPT champions in the field. And a few of our own taking a seat in today before the first break.

Mark Davis is our most recent WPT champ after he won the 2022 WPT Poker Showdown in the spring and Eric Afriat captured that same title but eight years earlier in 2014.

$3,500 WPT RRPO Championship
$2,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 2:  200/300 with a 300 ante
Day 1A Entries:  300

We have 300 entries and counting shortly after rolling into the afternoon hours, nearly halfway to the $2,000,000 guarantee with a long way to go to spin it up.

As we have become accustomed to seeing, there’s a nice crew of players from our sister property in Tampa, including Wagner Wysotchanki and Clyde Maliauka, here from the start.