Event 8 Day 1C: Still Climbing

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

Farid Jattin

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.

Joel Gola

Event 8 Day 1C: Michael Newman Leads

$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

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)

Richard Leger
Alfredo Rodriguez

Event 8 Day 1C: Another Break

$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.

Event 8 Day 1C: More Friends

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

Richard DeVivo

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.

Kevin Ordet
Solange Lucas

Event 8 Day 1C: Matt Bretzfield Still Leads

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

Matt Bretzfield

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)

Javier Suárez

Event 8 Day 1C: Defending Champ

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

Michael Newman

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.

Michael Newman and Johnny Bromberg (seated) with Curtis Day and Max Young (standing)

Event 8 Day 1C: Early Entrants

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

Willie Wiggins

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.

Richard Leger
Mike Beasley
Alex Borukhovich
Joel Harwood

Event 8 Day 1C: Matt Bretzfield Up Early

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

Matt Bretzfield

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”.

Jeff Silverstein
“Rebuy”

Event 8 Day 1C: Last Chance to Advance

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

The third and final flight of the Deep Stack Poker Series Main Event starts at the top of the hour and we expect a big day. The $1,700 Deepest Stack needs only 93 more entries to hit the $300,000 guarantee and we have a long day to get there.

They’ll start out with huge 50K stacks and all Day 1 levels last 40 minutes, going up to 60 on Day 2 and 90 minutes in Level 23. Late registration and unlimited re-entries are available until the start of Day 2 tomorrow at 11 am.

  • $300,000 Guaranteed Prize Pool
  • Players begin with 50,000 in chips
  • Levels 1-14 last 40 minutes; Level 15-22 last 60 minutes
  • Levels 23+ last 90 minutes
  • Late registration until start of Day 2
  • Day 1 will end after Level 14
  • Event 8 Structure Sheet