Isle Open Event 15 (Day 1A): Official End Of Day 1A Chip Counts

2017 Isle Open | Event #15
$1,100 No Limit Hold'em | $150,000 GTD
Level 12 (Blinds 600/1,200/200)
Total Day 1A Entries: 63
Day 1A Players Remaining: 17

Anthony	Utnage A	160,800
Brian	Hastings	154,700
Ida	Ashkenazi	133,500
Anthony	Astante	103,000
Carlo	Rodriguez	97,900
Richard	Leger	93,100
Scott	Zakheim	84,400
Skip	McDonough	80,700
Jacob	Snider	63,600
Matthew	Smith	62,300
Franklin	Michel	57,600
Michael	Maresco	45,700
John	Page	41,400
Paul	Shafran	38,100
Trent	Smith	30,000
Andrea	Rakusa	14,600
Jason	Atherley	8,300

Isle Open Event 15 (Day 1A): Rakusa Looks To Close Out Day 1A With Chip Lead

2017 Isle Open | Event #15
$1,100 No Limit Hold'em | $150,000 GTD
Level 12 (Blinds 600/1,200/200)
Total Day 1A Entries: 62

Andre Rakusa may have lost an earlier hand that was featured on the blog (against Trent Smith), but he's since trended steadily upward, and leads the field by a wide margin.

Players are entering the final level of the night, and will be playing down to the 10:00 minute mark of Level 12.  At that time, the tournament supervisor will announce how many hands remain in the night.  Once those hands are then completed, the bagging process will begin, and the winner of the Day 1A chip lead bonus will be crowned.  The player with the largest stack at the end of the night will earn free entry into the $1,500 Isle Open Main Event, and can choose any of the three starting flights to play in.

Andre Rakusa is the leader heading into Level 12 (with over 125,000), and at the moment, is the only player over 100,000.  We've seen how much the landscape can change over the final level of a starting day, but Andre sits close to 40,000 clear of his nearest competitor.

Once the bags have been made official, the end of Day 1A chip counts will be posted (around 9:45pm), concluding the live coverage for the day.  Things will pick back up tomorrow afternoon (11:00am), as the second (and final) starting day of the tournament kicks off.

Isle Open Event 15 (Day 1A): Players Remaining In The Field

2017 Isle Open | Event #15
$1,100 No Limit Hold'em | $150,000 GTD
Level 11 (Blinds 500/1,000/100)
Total Day 1A Entries: 62

Players are one level removed from dinner break, with (24) names trying to reach the bagging process, earning themselves a day off before Sunday's Day 2.  Listed below are the seating assignments for the three tables left in the field.

Table 1

1. Francklin Michel
2. Richard Leger
3. Angelo D'Angelo
4. Michael Maresca
5. Anthony Astrita
6. Gregory Spinder
7. Reynel Hernandez
8. Jason Atherley

Table 3

1. Scott Zakheim
2. Paul Sharon
3. Matt Smith
4. David Page
5. Cindy Chiu
6. Jacob Snider
7. Ido Ashkenazi

Table 9

1. Andre Rakusa
2. Tony U.
3. Sean Perry
4. Skip McDonough
5. Brian Hastings
6. Carlo Rodriguez
7. Trent Smith
8. John Magnetta

Isle Open Event 15 (Day 1A): Remaining Day 1A Players On An Hour-Long Dinner Break (5:20-6:20pm)

2017 Isle Open | Event #15
$1,100 No Limit Hold'em | $150,000 GTD
Level 10 (Blinds 400/800/100)
Total Day 1A Entries: 60

The "Big Burger" from Farradday's Steakhouse, located adjacent to the poker room, on the second floor of the casino.

The remaining players in the Day 1A field of Event #15 are heading on their dinner break, which is scheduled from 5:20-6:20pm.  The action will resume in Level 10, with players posting blinds of 400/800/100, and the length of levels transitioning to (50) minutes.  There will be three more levels played in the day, with the bagging process beginning at approximately 8:50pm.  Once players return from dinner, a full list of those remaining will be posted, followed by updated chip counts.

Isle Open Event 15 (Day 1A): Blake Building As Dinner Break Approaches

2017 Isle Open | Event #15
$1,100 No Limit Hold'em | $150,000 GTD
Level 9 (Blinds 300/600/75)
Total Day 1A Entries: 60

Andrew Blake (Delray Beach, FL) dropped down to 7,000 chips just moments after sitting down at Table 1, but had since done a good job of rebuilding, surpassing the current chip average.

Andrew Blake (Delray Beach, FL) is a partner at Pension Bridge Inc., "an innovative company offering educational conferences of the highest quality, to the Institutional Investment Community" (taken of LinkedIn).  That being said, poker is not his primary source of income, nor is it something Andrew has all the time in his schedule to do.  So when he does get to the tournament tables, it's difficult to not want to get involved in the action right away.  

That's exactly what happened this afternoon, as Blake saw his 20,000 unit starting stack go down to 7,000, in just a matter a minutes.  He still sat with (35) big blinds at the time, but was one of the shortest stacks in the field.  Since that point though, Andrew has steadily built his stack back up, and now sits above the current chip average (which is 36,000).  

Having mentioned Blake's life outside of poker, his tournament resume becomes that much more impressive, with over $192,000 in lifetime earnings.  His three tournament wins have all come here at the Isle, with the most recent coming in June of this year.  Blake won the "June $50,000," a $75 No Limit Hold'em event that had a field of 1,725.  Andrew headed a twelve-way chop of the event, which was worth $9,613.

Isle Open Event 15 (Day 1A): Trent Smith's River Aggression Helps Him Climb Leaderboard

2017 Isle Open | Event #15
$1,100 No Limit Hold'em | $150,000 GTD
Level 8 (Blinds 250/500/75)
Total Day 1A Entries: 59

Trent Smith (Dallas, TX) has eleven recorded cashes this year, including a final table finish during the 2017 Florida State Poker Championships (Event #8 | $100 No Limit Hold'em "Turbo Bounty" | 3rd Place - $1,087)

Andre Rakusa had doubled through Terri Siele about halfway through Level 7, so when he raised the action moments ago at Table 9, his stack started at 48,000.  Three players would call Andre's 1,500 pre-flop raise, including both blinds, and Trent Smith (who had limped from early position).  The dealer would fan out a flop of 3♦ 6♥ 6♣, with action checking to Rakusa, who continued with a be top 6,500.  The blinds released their hands, but Smith hung around (calling the 6,500), with action following going check-check on the turn (4♣).  After the board was completed with the J♣, Smith first out a bet of 8,000, with Andre going deep in the tank.  Rakusa spent a solid minute staring directly at smith, who wasn't making any movements at all.  

Andre eventually slid his cards towards the muck, with Smith picking up the 30,000 pot without having to show.  The sizable win would bring Smith's total close to 75,000, which is good for a top five stack at the moment.

Trent Smith - 75,000

Andre Rakusa - 39,000

Isle Open Event 15 (Day 1A): Updated Chip Counts After Break

2017 Isle Open | Event #15
$1,100 No Limit Hold'em | $150,000 GTD
Level 7 (Blinds 200/400/50)
Total Day 1A Entries: 58

Jacob Snider (Plantation, FL) was confident in checking the river against Dylan Drazen, which ended up working out perfect.

Players are back from their second break of the day, and have three more (40) minute levels to play, before heading on an hour long dinner break.  Once play resumes after dinner, the final three levels of the day will last (50) minutes, with the bagging process beginning after Level 12.

On the hand before break, action at Table 5 folded around to Jacob Snider (Plantation, FL), who was in the small blind.  Snider raised to 900, and would get three-bet to 2,600, by Dylan Drazen in the big blind. Snider made the call, and the two players watched the dealer fan out a flop of A♠ A♣ 9♠.  The action would follow check-check, with Snider then calling a 4,000 bet from Drazen, after the 7♣ on the turn.  After the 10♦ on the river, Jacob checked one last time, with Drazen shoving (about pot size shove).  Snider quickly made the call, and would best Dylan's trip-aces, having flopped a full house with 9♥ 9♦.

Snider became the field's chip leader with that pot, topping Anthony Astarita's 70,000 stack.

Jacob Snider - 82,000
Anthony Astarita - 70,000
Andre Rukasa - 50,000
Gregory Spinder - 48,000
Skip McDonough - 47,000
Trent Smith - 29,000
Brian Hastings - 24,000
Erik Nomberg - 23,000
Daniel Pearlman - 14,000

Isle Open Event 15 (Day 1A): Nassetta Very Particular About When He Plays Tournaments

2017 Isle Open | Event #15
$1,100 No Limit Hold'em | $150,000 GTD
Level 6 (Blinds 150/300/50)
Total Day 1A Entries: 47

Keith Nassetta (Boca Raton, FL) plays very few tournaments over the course of the year, but when these larger buy-in events are on the schedule, he's usually in attendance.

Just like Matt Smith, who was mention in an earlier post, Keith Nassetta (Boca Raton, FL) is a player that spends most of his hours (in terms of poker) at the cash tables.  If there is a high-limit game running in the room (5/10 NLH, 10/25 NLH+), the likelihood is that Nassetta is in the game.  So much time is spent playing cash, that Keith's tournament resume consists of just two results, coming in back-to-back years at the PCA (2015/2016).  Both results were of the "min-cash" variety, but their combined totals are worth over $15,000. With a bunch of the players Nassetta usually shares the table with not yet in the field, Keith thought this a good time to try and put together a bag for Sunday's Day 2.  Some other players joining Nassetta in the field, that have not yet been mentioned, include the likes of:

Luis Santoni

Angelo D'Angelo

Gregory Spinder

Darcy Deconza

Paul Shafran

Eric Piderit

Ido Ashkenazi

Zachary Mullennix

Chien Chou

Walter Bravo

Barton Taylor

At the end of this (40) minute level, players will be taking their second fifteen minute break of the day, and will return to Level 7 (with new blinds of 200/400/50).

Isle Open Event 15 (Day 1A): They're Not Snowbirds...They're "Sunbirds"

2017 Isle Open | Event #15
$1,100 No Limit Hold'em | $150,000 GTD
Level 5 (Blinds 100/200/25)
Total Day 1A Entries: 47

Anthony Astarita (Tampa, FL) is just one of a growing group of players, that takes the trip down the Isle Poker Room from the Tampa/Orlando area.

As "season" draws near in the Florida, the poker rooms begin to see an influx of players from the Northeast/Canada, looking to escape the cold weather for a few months.  Poker rooms aren't the only places that see a spike in patrons...there are longer waits at restaurants, more traffic on the road, etc.  These people that come to Florida during season are known as "snowbirds," but we're seeing a different trend at the Isle Poker Room..."sunbirds."  

"Sunbirds" are players from the Tampa/Orlando area, that are traveling here to the Isle Poker Room, strictly because of the great tournaments that are going on.  Players like Carlos Loving (Sarasota, FL) and Claudemir Osario (Orlando, FL) are traveling down at a more frequent rate as of recently, along with Anthony Astarita (Tampa, FL).  Astarita, who is originally from New Jersey, has been making the trip from Tampa a lot lately.  

Anthony is no stranger to traveling for tournament poker, taking trips all over the state, and most recently...the country.  Astarita broke out on the scene last year, winning the $1,100 No Limit Hold'em WPT DeepStack Main Event at Tampa Hard Rock ($131,041).  Anthony has since recorded (22) results in a little over a year, and has career earnings just short of $200,000.  While there are tournaments to play in his area, they aren't offered with the frequency that you'll see at the Isle Poker Room (and surrounding properties).

Astarita is one of a group of late arriving players, joining names like:

Brian Hastings

Skip McDonough

Trent Smith

John Page

Doyle Elliot

Reynel Hernandez

Michael Maresca

Francklin Michel

Isle Open Event 15 (Day 1A): Matt Smith Amongst A Group Of Notables In The Field

2017 Isle Open | Event #15
$1,100 No Limit Hold'em | $150,000 GTD
Level 4 (Blinds 75/150/25)
Total Day 1A Entries: 42

Matt Smith (Margate, FL) is primarily focused on cash games, but is in the tournament field this afternoon, hoping to bag chips for Sunday's Day 2.

After an "intimate" start, the tournament tables are beginning to fill up, with now (42) entries in the Day 1A field.  One of those entries belongs to Matt Smith (Margate, FL), who is coming off the most successful tournament years of his career (in terms of numbers).  Smith has over $514,000 in live tournament earnings, with close to $199,000 of those cashes coming last year.  His year was highlighted by a final table run during the $3,500 WPT Championship Event at Choctaw, which was good for $134,720.

Smith has seven cashes this year, including a result in the $1,500 Main Event during this year's Florida State Poker Championship (63rd Place - $2,678).  Four of those cashes came this past summer, during the 2017 WSOP, totaling over $30,000 in earnings.  Matt headlines a group of notables in this Day 1A field, including names like:

Daniel Pearlman

Rafael Calero

John Magnetta

Isle Open Event 15 (Day 1A): Drazen Returning To The Felt After Life-Changing Score

2017 Isle Open | Event #15
$1,100 No Limit Hold'em | $150,000 GTD
Level 3 (Blinds 75/150)
Total Day 1A Entries: 35

Dylan Drazen (Ft. Lauderdale, FL) is back at the Isle Poker Room, looking to record his first result since August, when his world was turned upside down, cashing for over $528,000 in the $5,250 NLH SHRPO Championship Event.

Satellites have become one of the most popular platforms for players to enter big buy-in events, even going back to Chris Moneymaker, who won the WSOP Main Event after gaining entry into the tournament through an $86 satellite.  Those are the types of stories that occur on a frequent basis now, as so many players take advantage of the opportunity to get into a "major," for the fraction of the price.

Earlier this year, Dylan Drazen (Ft. Lauderdale, FL) won entry into the $5,250 No Limit Hold'em SHRPO Championship Event through a satellite.  Drazen entered that event with $177,000 in live tournament cashes, earned over a nine year span.  The largest tournament Dylan had cashed in up until that point, was a $3,500 No Limit Hold'em tournament at the Hard Rock, in November over 2015.

The SHRPO Championship Event began on August 11th, with Drazen's life changing over the course of five days that followed.  Dylan reached the live-streamed final table, and was already assured the largest cash of his career.  Players were eliminated around him, and before he knew it, Dylan's excellent play saw him heads-up with Martin Kozlov for the title.  Although it would eventually be Martin's tournament to win, Dylan ended the runner-up, and earned $528,322...along with the admiration and respect of the poker community.  From the commentators on the stream, to local players on Twitter, Drazen was praised for his final table play (and play throughout the tournament) on many different outlets.

Drazen hasn't been as present in tournaments since the life changing score, but is in the field today, and looking to add a third tournament win to his resume.

Isle Open Event 15 (Day 1A): Save The Date...Isle Classic Moves To December (Dec. 1st-Dec. 20th)

2017 Isle Open | Event #15
$1,100 No Limit Hold'em | $150,000 GTD
Level 2 (Blinds 25/50)
Total Day 1A Entries: 20

It's been a great year for tournament series at the Isle Poker Room, and while we are in the midst of one of the most successful major tournament series ever, we are excited to announce a "fifth major series" in 2017.  The Isle Classic (which has been run in January since 2010), is now being moved to December, and will continue to run in the final month of the year moving forward.  

This year's installment will begin on December 1st, and will run through December 20th, highlighted by four "major events" (and almost $900,000 in guarantees).  The series' "main" events are:

Dec. 1st-3rd | $1,500 No Limit Hold'em ($300,000 GTD)

Dec. 7th-10th | $360 No Limit Hold'em ($200,000 GTD)

Dec. 13th-17th | $175 No Limit Hold'em ($100,000 GTD)

Dec. 17th-20th | $100 No Limit Hold'em ($50,000 GTD)

The full schedule for the series, including secondary and side events, will be released shortly...so be sure to check back here on the blog (and Twitter).

Isle Open Event 15 (Day 1A): Cards In The Air For Day 1A Of Event #15

2017 Isle Open | Event #15
$1,100 No Limit Hold'em | $150,000 GTD
Level 1 (Blinds 25/50)
Total Day 1A Entries: 13

Today begins Event #15 of the 2017 Isle Open, a $1,100 No Limit Hold'em tournament with a $150,000 guaranteed prize pool.  There are two starting flights for the event, with Flight 1A beginning at 11:00am this afternoon, and Flight 1B following tomorrow (at the same time).  Day 2 sees the players that had bagged, return for the first time as a combined field, to play down to a winner.  The structure of the event has players sitting down to starting stacks of 20,000 units, playing levels that last (40) minutes in Levels 1-9, and transitioning to (50) minutes Levels 10+.  Both starting flights will play a scheduled (12) full levels, with the chip leader from each flight winning a $1,500 Main Event seat.

This same tournament was not run during last year's installment of the Isle Open, so history will be made with this event, as we will look back on this tournament each year (moving forward).  There was an $1,000 No Limit Hold'em event introduced during this year's Florida State Poker Championships, which also had a $150,000 guaranteed prize pool, and ended up attracted a total of (259) entries.  Stu Paterson chopped the event with Alexander Fradin, with the former taking home $55,000 for the win.

Tournament Director Ralph Brandt went of the rules for this "intimate" early afternoon field just a few moments ago, and the players are now ten minutes into level one.  We will allow the tables to fill up a little, before our first look at notables is featured here, kicking off today's Day 1A "live blogged coverage."

Friday, October 20th: Turyansky Wins Event #14 Title, $150,000 Guaranteed Event #15 Begins Today

ICYMI: Players had yesterday's Event #14 circled the moment the Isle Open Schedule came out, as the $2,500 No Limit Hold'em Single Day Series had a posted guarantee for the first time ($100,000).  A "who's who" of Isle (and South Florida) poker made up the field of (59) entries, including names like Phillip Hui, Brian Hastings, Joshua Kay, Ian O'Hara, Richard Kirsch, and Dominique Mosley (just to name a few).  The prize pool would end up eclipsing the guarantee in Level 4 (halfway into registration), and officially closed at $135,700.  All eyes were on the $46,138 first place prize, which was a solid number for less than ten hours of work.  While action stayed more than forty big blinds for most of the event, action began to pick up close to the money, with Barry Hutter eliminated on the bubble.  Alex Turyansky (Saarbrucken, Germany) assumed the chip lead when play was seven-handed, and only fell from the top spot for a short while (at three-handed play).  His final table performance was very impressive, all the way down to the last hand, where he waited Scott Efron out with a full house.  Turyansky earned his second-ever tournament win, just two months after taking down the $10,000 No Limit Hold'em (Event #7) during the SHRPO.  The first place prize is the third largest cash of Alex's career, which boasts a resume over $1,350,000 in live earnings.

1. Alex Turyansky (Saarbrucken, Germany) $46,138
2. Scott Efron (Boca Raton, FL) $28,497
3. Richard Kirsch (Ft. Lauderdale, FL) $16,284
4. Ted McNamara (Davie, FL) $10,856
5. Jerry Wong (Plattsburgh, NY) $9,499
6. Ian O'Hara (Boca Raton, FL) $8,142
7. Uri Kadosh (Davie, FL) $6,785
8. Greg Lehn (Plantation, FL) $5,428
9. Michael Aron (Palm Beach, FL) $4,071

Tournaments: Today begins Event #15 of the 2017 Isle Open, a $1,100 No Limit Hold'em tournament with a $150,000 guaranteed prize pool.  There are two starting flights for the event, with Flight 1A beginning at 11:00am this afternoon, and Flight 1B following tomorrow (at the same time).  Day 2 sees the players that had bagged, return for the first time as a combined field, to play down to a winner.  The structure of the event has players sitting down to starting stacks of 20,000 units, playing levels that last (40) minutes in Levels 1-9, and transitioning to (50) minutes Levels 10+.  Both starting flights will play a scheduled (12) full levels, with the chip leader from each flight winning a $1,500 Main Event seat.

There is a $130 Super Satellite Into Event #15 this evening (6:00pm), offering up (10) guaranteed seats into this weekends "major."  The satellite offers a structure with 12,000 unit starting stacks, and levels that last (20) minutes.  Registration is open through the first (8) levels, and closes at approximately 8:00pm.

Promotions: From (9:00am-10:00am), the high hand will award $150 every (30) minutes.  The high hands will then transition from 10:00am-12:00am (midnight), with the opportunity to win $400 every (30) minutes.  During that period, the promotion sees tournament players eligible (Isle Open events not eligible for high hand) each half-hour for $100 high hands, 2/2 limit hold'em players eligible for $200 high hands, 2/4 limit hold'em players eligible for $300 high hands, and all other raked games (1/2-5/10 NLH, 4/8 Omaha 8B, 6/12 O.E., etc.) eligible for $400 high hands.  From 12:00am-3:00am (Friday morning), players are eligible for $100 high hands every hour.

12:00pm - 2017 Isle Open  Event #15 | $1,100 No Limit Hold'em | $150,000 GTD

- Players start with 20,000 in tournament chips

- Late and re-entries for the first (12) levels, to include before the first card on Day 2

- Alternates and late entries will start with a full stack

- Levels will last (40) minutes (Levels 1-9), transitioning to (50) minutes Levels 10+

- The chip leader from each opening flight will be awarded a $1,500 Isle Open Main Event seat (for any opening flight).

6:00pm - 2017 Isle Open (Secondary Schedule): $130 No Limit Hold'em Satellite Into Event #15 ($1,100 No Limit Hold'em | $100,000 GTD) | 10 Seats Guaranteed

- Players start with 12,000 in tournament chips

- Late and re-entries for the first (8) levels

- Alternates and late entries will start with a full stack

- Level will last (20) minutes throughout the event