It was a beautiful day in Tampa, Florida on Friday but that didn't stop poker players from showing up at The Silks Poker Room at Tampa Downs for the 2014 PPC North America Championship. A total of 111 entrants took part in the tournament and they would play until only 17 remained.
It was Arri Stone who would emerge on top of the chip counts at the end of the day with 250,100 in chips. Stone took fifth place in the $125 Bounty NLHE tournament on Tuesday and is looking to better that finish here on Sunday. He's followed closely by Tom Clements who finished the day with 228,600 in chips. Rounding out the top three is Finnish poker player Pasi Kakkonen with 201,500 in chips. Kakkonen is coming fresh off a win on Monday in the $120 NLHE tournament for $1,995.
Others surviving to return on Sunday included Barbara Cardin (112,000), Ronald Widman (129,200), Michael Baize (193,900), Bill Burdick (129,700), Richard Hope (139,900), Todd Whitaker (136,100), and Eddie Kofler (94,000). Kofler is a former minor league pitcher in the Devil Rays farm system that won the Main Event here in 2013 for $33,952.
Not everyone was as fortunate as that group. The current PPC Player of the Year leader, Ralph Marzan, would get off to a good start and be over 100,000 in chips early in the evening but he would be eliminated before play concluded. Others that failed to bag chips included Paul Stanechewski, Tonia Williams, Joe Mole, John Pappas, and Jason Sallman.
This concludes our coverage of Day 1a. Make sure to follow along with PokerNews over the next three days as we will provide coverage until a winner is crowned.
When it comes to top poker destinations, there aren't many places in the world that rate as high as Aruba, and for the third year running the PPC Poker Tour will return to the beautiful island for the PPC Aruba World Championship.
Taking place this year from October 15-21 at the Radisson Aruba, the series will feature nine events highlighted by a $200,000 guaranteed Main Event with a buy-in of $2,200. The Main Event will begin on Saturday, October 18, feature two starting days, and allow for reentry.
In 2012, Joe Serock won the event for $40,574 after he and Jesse Chinni chopped up first- and second-place prize money. Then in 2013, it was Germany's [Removed:65] taking the top prize of $59,139 after a heads-up deal with Joe Ebanks. Remarkably, Serock placed third in that event for $26,000 in an impressive back-to-back performance.
Handfuls of players have already won a package to Aruba through various PPC Poker Tour events, and there's still plenty of time for you to do the same, or simply book a trip for the event.
To book your trip now, you may contact Bridget Stein at (561) 883-3523 or email [email protected]. To view information about upcoming PPC Poker Tour stops, please clicking here.
Sandy Swartzbaugh (left) with Director of Poker Operations Patrick Murphy
What started out as two friends running poker tournaments in bars has blossomed into an up and coming poker tour that only has bigger and brighter days ahead of it.
"My partner Bryan Oulton started running some bar leagues back in 2005 and I joined forces with him and we built the business together over the next five years," PPC co-commissioner Sandy Swartzbaugh said. "We partnered up with a major Florida casino and in 2010 we started working on the Aruba idea and the PPC was formed soon after."
"People like playing our tournaments because of the allure of the lower buy-ins for our Main Events," Swartzbaugh added. "That and the potential to win a trip to Aruba and a pokercation where they get to go to a beautiful tropical island and play poker with the 2012 World Poker Tour Player of the Year, Joe Serock."
"We're only growing. We'll be adding stops all over the country in 2015 and things are only going to get bigger and better for the PPC."
It's a beautiful day here in Tampa, Florida and the 2014 PPC North America Championship at Tampa Downs will see cards in the air within the next hour. This event has four different starting flights and if a player wishes they can play all four of them and take their best stack with them into day two, which will be on Sunday.
The $200,000 Guaranteed Prize Pool is sure to attract local grinders and amateurs from around the area. PPC Team Pro Alex Outhred is here and past winners of PPC events include the likes of Norbert Kara, Jordan Wunder, Tom Gleason, and Rick Sowers. The top four in this Main Event will earn $5,000 packages out of the prize pool towards entries and travel to PPC Aruba in October of this year at the Radisson Aruba Resort, Casino & Spa. For more information on the PPC and all their great events, visit the following link:
PokerNews will be here over the next three days to bring you photographs, updates, and chip counts. Tune in to find out who the next PPC Main Event trophy winner is!
![[user272102]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
