Local event organizer Deby Goldfarb's journey to the Bar Poker Open Florida World Championship is a variation on a classic poker origin story.

Goldfarb's son had been working in the area as a dealer and transitioned to a successful career playing, as many dealers have been known to do. He then taught his family to play poker, and now after ten years playing herself, Godfarb is here at the BPO Florida World Championship.

Goldfarb is representing her home bar, Legends in Deerfield, Florida, where she was the second-ranked player at the venue.

Picking action up on the flop of , Debbie Petrone checked her big blind to Charles Olson who bet 11,000 in middle position.

He was called by Mark DeAtley in the hijack, as well as Petrone.

With almost 40,000 in the pot now on the turn, Petrone and Olson checked and DeAtley bet 15,000.

Petrone folded, but Olson now moved all in for 48,000. After some deliberation, DeAtley opted to fold and send the sizeable pot to Olson.

Defending BPO Florida World Championship winner Phil Hoff has been spotted in the field.

Hoff is back representing New York Free Poker (NYFP), the club he qualified in last year as well.

The champ says he's been splitting his poker-playing time since his 2022 triumph between local games and trips to Florida, with many a stop here at Palm Beach Kennel Club.

Hoff told PokerNews that he may not have qualified at the top of the NYFP leaderboard this year, but he did make it in to defend his title.

Hoff's title defense has taken one significant bump so far, as he's busted and had to use his available re-entry. Currently he's working with just under a starting stack, with about 25,000 chips in front of him.

With the start of Level 9, registration is closed with 281 players building $80,928 toward the prize pool.

Play is scheduled to continue until 10% of the field remains, which will be 29 players.

Those 29 will be in the money and will advance on to Monday's second and final day of play.

The field has grown to 280 entries as the second break of the day has arrived.

When the players return from their break to start level 9, registration and re-entry for Day 1A will be closed.

Hailing from Boynton Beach, Florida, Pamela Anderson has one of the most recognizable names in the field, but no she's not the famous actor / model.

She does love having some 'name recognition' in her second year hear at the Bar Poker Open Florida World Championship.

While she didn't cash here last year, of her 13 years playing poker recreationally, Anderson cites cashing in a Valentine's Day ladies event here at the Palm Beach Kennel Club as her favorite poker achievement.

One of the many players here with a nickname adorned on the back of their respective club's jersey or t-shirt, Nick Palladino a.k.a. "Big Fish" moved all in for his last 11,800 in middle position and got called by the cutoff.

Nick Palladino:
Cutoff:

Palladino would need to win a flip to keep his tournament alive, and after the runout, "Big Fish" keeps on swimming in this player pool.

Nick Palladino

26,100

26,100

While the vast majority of players here at the Bar Poker Open Florida World Championship are from the United States, a maple leaf was spotted on the shirt of one Richard Anderson.

Anderson told PokerNews that he made the journey to the West Palm Beach Kennel Club for the event after qualifying through the Pocket Aces Poker League in Brampton, Ontario, Canada.

Anderson, who has been playing poker for over 40 years was the lone representative of his home club and is looking for a win in the event that would surpass his previous high career poker win of $43,000 when he hit the bad beat jackpot at Seneca Niagara Casino several years ago.

The PokerNews live reporting team was just alerted to a wild hand that saw Linda Fuchs earn a double-up and then some in the most unlikely of scenarios.

As told by her very excited tablemates, Fuchs raised to 5,000 and was called by Jolanda Tedford and Bill Murphy.

The flop came and first to act, Fuchs continued for 15,000. Tedford called and Murphy committed his final 9,000 chips.

Before the turn, Fuchs moved her last 4,900 in blind and got called by Tedford.

Linda Fuchs:
Jolanda Tedford:
Bill Murphy:

It was an incredible set-over-set-over-set situation that held up on the river as Fuchs boosted her stack significantly and also now has quite a story to tell.

Linda Fuchs	66,000	66,000
Jolanda Tedford	11,000	11,000
Bill Murphy	0	0

Samantha Skelly, who the PokerNews live reporting team noticed had one of the more unique card protectors in the room of a tiny balloon animal dog just alerted us to a big hand which has seen her stack blow up to six figures.

Skelly told us that she ran into the dream situation where she picked up aces versus her opponent's kings for a huge all-in preflop confrontation for just over 40,000 chips each.

Skelly's aces held and her little pink balloon dog has a lot more chips to hang out with now.

Samantha Skelly

128,000

128,000

The first break of the day has arrived with 256 entries so far, with alternates still being called to fill the jam-packed palm Beach Kennel Club poker room.

Upon their return, players will come back to blinds of 300 / 500 with a 500 big blind ante.

There are plenty of poker-playing characters here at the Bar Poker Open Florida World Championship, and throughout the weekend we'll take a look at some of them.

We caught up with "DJ Vinny" Vincent Teutonico while he was taking an unscheduled break at the bar after busting his first bullet.

Teutonico earned his nickname thanks to his longtime history in the music game as a DJ since 1977. Teutonico still spins the ones and twos, having recently done a gig in Hawaii, with most of his sets coming in the Staten Island area.

"DJ Vinny" qualified for the event via the BPO Staten Island chapter, and while his earned first bullet may have evaporated, he'll be back in after the upcoming break with his available $365 re-entry.