Friday, May 26th: $10,000 GTD Kicks Off The Weekend, "Turbo" High Hands (9:00am-12:00am)

ICYMI: The tournament action started at 11:00am yesterday afternoon, with an "intimate" field in the $80 No Limit Hold'em w/ $10 Bounties ($1,500 GTD) event.  A total of (16) entries made up the $1,500 prize pool ($1,340 prize pool and $160 bounty pool).  When the payouts were posted, only two spots were being paid, but players agreed to a deal once four-handed play was reached (results listed below).

1. Roman Gonzalez (Miami, FL) $429
2. James Pendergrass (Pompano Beach, FL) $339
3. Wayne Brown (Ft. Lauderdale, FL) $304
4. David Wicinski (Deerfield Beach, FL) $268

One of the reasons that the afternoon field may have smaller than usual...players had the evening event circled on their calendars ($130 No Limit Hold'em $20,000 GTD).  The tournament, which began at 6:00pm, saw registration close with a total of (271) entries.  The prize pool was officially $26,287...over $6,000 more than the guaranteed number!!!  A total of 34 spots were paid in the tournament, with the number up top pretty impressive ($5,934).  

Paulius Bikus, who won last Sunday's event, ended up min-cashing for $180, with a list of notables to follow.  The duo of Chad (31st place - $180) and Thomas Millward (20th place - $296) notched another Isle Poker tournament score on their resumes, along with Ian Cohen (16th place - $358), and Russell Stampler (11th place - $499).  

1. Jorge Amador (Long Island, NY) $4,009
2. Sean Jones (Pembroke Pines, FL) $3,839
3. Shannon Stash (Chicago, IL) $3,621
4. Vladimir Puentes (Miami, FL) $2,969
5. Lawrence Smith (Jacksonville, FL) $1,266
6. Andreas Athanasopoulos (Tamarac, FL) $1,049
7. Robert Kessler (Parkland, FL) $881
8. Mark Bernstein (Hollywood, FL) $736
9. Michael Horton (Ft. Lauderdale, FL) $594
10. Mario Donoso Jiminez (Weston, FL) $499

Once play reached the final table, action would continue as scheduled, until the point at which four players remained.  With the amount of money that was spread across those top four spots, and the stacks getting shallower, the discussions of a deal began.  The numbers would quickly be agreed to, with Jorge Amador (Long Island, NY) taking first place honors, and walking away with $4,009 (final table results listed below).

Tournaments: There is one tournament on the schedule to begin the weekend, with the $150 No Limit Hold'em ($10,000 GTD) getting underway at 6:00pm.  The great structure for the the event has players sitting down to starting stacks of 20,000 units, and playing levels lasting (25) minutes throughout the evening.

Last week's installment of this same tournament had a guarantee of $20,000 on it, and ended up surpassing that number by almost $5,000.  There were a total of (209) entries in the field, and a posted first place prize of $5,839.

Promotions: Things start off "quickly" this afternoon, with the "Turbo High Hands" running from 9:00am-12:00pm.  During that window, $100 will be awarded every (10) minutes to the qualifying high hand (rollovers do apply).  The promotion will then transition to $250 every (20) minutes (rollovers do apply), from 12:00pm-4:00pm...laddering up one more time to $500 every (20) minutes (rollovers apply), from 4:00pm-12:00am.

6:00pm - $150 No Limit Hold'em ($10,000 GTD)

- Players will begin with a 20,000 starting stack
- Late and re-entries for the first (8) levels
- Alternates and late entries will start with a full stack
- Levels are (25) minutes in length