The third and final running of the Card Player Poker Tour Ocean’s 11 San Diego Classic in 2019 got underway on Thursday, July 18. This is the tenth CPPT event held at Oceans Eleven Casino in Oceanside, California. The first two starting flights of six total in this $250 buy-in main event attracted 257 total entries, adding $39,400 to the prize pool.

The tournament will once again feature an estimated prize pool of $150,000. That number has routinely been blown out of the water in the past, with the event previously drawing as many as 949 entries to create a prize pool worth nearly a quarter of a million dollars. The April 2019 running of the San Diego Classic drew 728 total entries, with Adam Weinraub earning $32,212 as the eventual champion.

Flight 1A saw a total of 137 entries made, while flight 1B added another 120. With 257 total entries so far the prize pool has already grown to $39,400 with four starting flights still available to play. Players can also take advantage of the Quantum Tournament structure of this event can buy directly into day 2 for $1,500 on Sunday, July 21. Players that elect to take advantage of this option will receive 170,000 in tournament chips, and can also pay a $30 optional staff add-on to receive another 30,000. Blinds will begin at 1,500-3,000 on day 2. Players can re-enter once before the end of the second level on day 2.

From the 257 entries in flights 1A and 1B, only 30 players made it through to day 2, with Mohammad Sotoudeh bagging up the largest stack of 561,000. Barry Seidman won this very event in 2017 for $38,873. He bagged up a top-three stack of 410,500.

Here is a look at the chip counts of the 30 players who have already qualified for day 2:

Player Chip Count Mohammad Sotoudeh 561,000 Rafi Azam 482,000 Barry Seidman 410,500 Logan Bennett 402,000 Robert Vasquez 355,500 Brigitte Spiteri 346,000 Raymond Gonzales 329,500 William Wolf 319,000 Gary Crite 288,500 Steve Firestone 278,500 Josh Vlahos 234,500 Robert Lefkowitz 216,500 David Schraer 196,000 Bob Campbell 194,000 MD Shifat Uddin 188,500 Narege Kamakian 186,000 Mike Kornblum 176,000 Michael Piellucci 172,500 Jess Steinberg 169,000 Ken Pollack 168,000 Afzal Atta 146,500 Tyler Moore 133,500 David Icke 104,000 Nicholas Schmit 96,500 Dwayne Buth 83,000 Jon Gunter 61,000 Ron Novini 55,500 Sam Michmali 53,000 Joseph Anthony 13,000 Tom Czyszczon 10,500

Ocean’s 11 is the only casino in Southern California located along the Pacific Ocean on the Interstate 5 freeway, less than a mile from some of the area’s most picturesque beaches.

The property also boasts 50 tables of the best poker and table games found anywhere in California with all the favorite poker games, including no-limit and limit hold’em, Omaha, Omaha eight-or-better, pot-limit Omaha, and crazy pineapple.

For more information on the Card Player Poker Tour, click here.