$3,500 WPT Poker Showdown Championship
$3,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 4:  300/500 with a 500 ante
Day 1A Entries:  775

After a flop of , Taylor von Kriegenbergh and his opponent put in 4,000 each.

The turn card was the , Von Kriegenbergh moved all in for 36,100, and his opponent called with for a queen-high flush. Von Kriegenbergh turned over for a king-high flush draw with a gutshot straight draw, and he needed to improve to stay alive.

The river card was the , and Von Kriegenbergh rivered a higher king-high flush to win the pot and double up in chips.

Taylor von Kriegenbergh  –  92,000  (184 bb)

With 775 entries and counting, the prizepool is up to $2.48 million on its way to the $3 million guarantee. Registration remains open with unlimited re-entries until 9:15 pm, with Day 1B beginning tomorrow at 11:00 am.

$3,500 WPT Poker Showdown Championship
$3,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 4:  300/500 with a 500 ante
Day 1A Entries:  770

Five players see a flop of , and it checked to the button, who a player in late position who bets 1,000, Ray Qartomy called from the big blind, and Mario Hudson check-raised all in from under the gun.

Everyone else folded, and Qartomy called all in for about 28,000 with for a spade flush draw with an open-ended straight draw. Hudson turned over , and Qartomy needed to improve to stay alive.

The turn card was the , the river card was the , and the pocket aces held up for Hudson to win the pot and eliminate Qartomy.

Mario Hudson  –  82,000  (164 bb)
Ray Qartomy  –  Eliminated

With 770 entries and counting, the prizepool is up over $2.46 million on its way to the $3 million guarantee. Registration remains open with unlimited re-entries until 9:15 pm, with Day 1B beginning tomorrow at 11:00 am.

$3,500 WPT Poker Showdown Championship
$3,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 4:  300/500 with a 500 ante
Day 1A Entries:  727

With the board showing on the turn, the player in the hijack got it all in with for a pair of kings with an open-ended straight draw, but he needed to catch a queen on the river to stay alive against the (king-high straight) of Andres Korn in the cutoff.

The river card was the , and Korn won the pot with an ace-high straight to eliminate his opponent.

Andres Korn  –  115,000  (230 bb)

With 727 entries and counting, the prizepool is up over $2.32 million on its way to the $3 million guarantee. Registration remains open with unlimited re-entries until 9:15 pm, with Day 1B beginning tomorrow at 11:00 am.

$3,500 WPT Poker Showdown Championship
$3,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 3:  200/400 with a 400 ante
Day 1A Entries:  700

A player raised under the gun to 1,000, Ray Qartomy called from the button, and Fred Goldberg called from the big blind.

The flop came , and it checked to Qartomy, who bet 2,500. Goldberg folded, and the UTG player called.

The turn card was the , the UTG player checked, Qartomy bet 5,000, and his opponent folded. Qartomy took the pot.

Qartomy is a regular here for our major tournaments, but he just flew in from Jordan, and this is his first event of the series. But he tells us that he is well-rested and ready for a deep run.

Ray Qartomy  –  42,000  (105 bb)

With about 700 entries and counting, the prizepool is up to $2.24 million on its way to the $3 million guarantee. Registration remains open with unlimited re-entries until 9:15 pm, with Day 1B beginning tomorrow at 11:00 am.

$3,500 WPT Poker Showdown Championship
$3,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 2:  200/300 with a 300 ante
Day 1A Entries:  620

The WPT Poker Showdown Championship has a long history of great champions, and many of them continue to come back to support the tournament. We already have six former champs in the field, including Mark Davis here to defend his title.

Others so far include James Carroll, Brek Schutten, Scott Margereson, Tony Sinishtaj, and Eric Afriat.

2011: Taylor von Kriegenbergh
2012: Tommy Vedes
2013: Kevin Eyster
2014: Eric Afriat
2015: Griffin Paul
2016: Justin Young
2017: Tony Sinishtaj
2018: Scott Margereson
2019: James Carroll
2021: Brek Schutten
2022: Mark Davis

$3,500 WPT Poker Showdown Championship
$3,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 2:  200/300 with a 300 ante
Day 1A Entries:  590

With about 30K in the pot, Spencer Champlin was all in for 37,100 with the board complete and reading . His opponent thought for a few minutes, called the shove, and the hands were flipped up.

Champlin:
Opponent:

Champlin flopped a set of fours and rivered a full house to take the pot to double up.

Spencer Champlin – 103,000 (343 bb)

$3,500 WPT Poker Showdown Championship
$3,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 2:  200/300 with a 300 ante
Day 1A Entries:  537

It’s always nice to see some of our friends from Tampa trek across state to join us for some big action. They have plenty of talent on the gulf coast and we found a few in early action.

A quick glance found Bryce McVay, Filipp Khavin, Event 1 champ Carlos Loving, Wagner Wysotchanski, Fred Paradis, Kevin Blewitt, and Ken O’Donnell.

$3,500 WPT Poker Showdown Championship
$3,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 2:  200/300 with a 300 ante
Day 1A Entries:  490

Blinds are up and so is Armando Romero. The South Florida transplant is one of the biggest stacks in the room after the first hour of play, sitting with 133,000 and having a good time.

He has some tough competition at his table, including former WPT Player of the Year Anthony Zinno, but he’s not sweating it.

$3,500 WPT Poker Showdown Championship
$3,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 1:  100/200 with a 200 ante
Day 1A Entries:  450

One of the really great parts of these events is the mixing of our local players with some talented visitors. Anyone can play; anyone can win.

Some early friendly faces include Andre Bryan, Adam Hendrix, Nick Yunis, Jeff Platt, Eric Diaz, Brock Wilson, David DiBernardi, Ken O’Donnell, and Eric Baldwin.

Diaz is here on a freeroll today. Last night, he won the Larry Frank Memorial Charity Event for $5,000 in cash and a seat in today’s field.

$3,500 WPT Poker Showdown Championship
$3,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 1:  100/200 with a 200 ante
Day 1A Entries:  342

We have a big chip leader early and it’s five-time WSOP bracelet winner Jeremy Ausmus. As told to us by the tournament staff, Ausmus picked up aces on the first hand and laid a cooler on Vijay Chander who had kings.

Ausmus jumped to 100,500 on the first hand of the day for the insta-lead.