LIVE EVENTS

With only two levels left to play in this Day 1A flight of the Main Event, Armin Rezaei is in the current chip leader.  At the dinner break two hours ago, he was among the top ten chip holders of the tournament, so he’s obviously doing something right.

Close behind Rezaei are eight players have managed to accumulate at least 4,000,000 chips: Karlic, Landriault, Concepcion Tacoronte, Ladouceur, Forozandeh, Bain, Filippovich, and Alibay.

As the players return to their seats, the action resumes.  Some of the players are showing signs of fatigue, which is understandable after being riveted and focused on their game for the last 10 hours.  The wait is almost over, and the bags are going to come out soon for the Day 2 qualifiers.

Current chip leader Armin Rezaei – 5,600,000 chips

Day 1A has just entered the eighth level of play, and 206 players are still in the running.

As expected, play has remained fairly conservative since the dinner break. Those still in the field are managing their chips carefully, helped by the copious amount of caffeinated drinks and water being distributed by Playground’s waitresses, the players are still sharp after nearly nine hours in the tournament hall.

Here is a look at the field from level 7:

There will be a total of ten levels played today and we expect to see some intense action until the end of the flight. There are now 230 players left from today’s 304 entries. If tomorrow’s turnout is as good for Day 1B, look for the prize pool to escalate beyond it’s guarantee of $5,000,000.

Here are a few photos of the players in action:

The players are off enjoying their dinner break on Day 1A. After six levels of play 230 players remain in contention out of 304 entries. Play was predictably cautious in the early levels. Even with the many blinds at their disposal, the players set out for a marathon, not a sprint. But things have steadily picked up pace since the early levels. There was a flurry of bustouts in the lead up to the dinner break, however, things will likely tighten up again when play resumes as the players focus on closing out the flight and bagging for Day 2. The players will return to their seats in roughly 30 minutes to play through the final four levels of this flight. Those who fall short today will be able to get another crack at things tomorrow, thanks to this event’s next day re-entry format.

Here are the complete chips counts for the remaining players:

The players are returning to their seats after a short break. This also coincides with the end of late registrations. A total of 304 players made their way to the tables today, and 266 are still in.

Tristan Blain has taken up the pole position on the leaderboard, with 3,410,000 chips in front of him. Two other players have managed to stack up more than three million chips: Rick Beer stands at 3,345,000 chips and Danick Landriault with 3,250,000.

It’s been a nice turnout today for Day 1A of the Main Event, there are approximately 30 minutes left of late registration, the clock is showing 299 entries and 299,000,000 chips in play.

Players have until the beginning of level 5 to grab a piece of the action.

Here are a few photos of the players from levels 3 and 4:

Players continue to join the field at a steady rate on Day 1A of the Main Event. Those who were here for the first two levels of play, started out with a cautious pace. The stacks are very deep, as the chip average provides over 150 big blinds, and the players are managing them carefully. As everyone knows, you can’t win the tournament on a Day 1…

Here are some photos from the early levels:

The action is still going strong as the tournament slips into level 3 and with still more than two hours left for late registrations.

The 270 players took a short break between levels 2 and 3, which allowed us to do a quick survey to see where the chips are.

There is only 700,000 chips separating the eleven top chip holders.  A few players are off to a great start.  Topping off the list is Mark M with 2,480,000 chips, and Ondrej Drozd with a stack of 2,407,000.  It is still very early and anything can happen yet.  With almost two hours of late registration left, you can expect many  more players to fire a bullet today since some players prefer to get into the action after the first few levels have gone by.

Among the 79 satellite qualifiers, a few local players can be seen at the tables, including our STEP qualifiers.  Several of them qualified as much as six months ago and were eager to get into the action today.

Among them are Christine Park, Carlo Nini, Marc Saddik, Jean-Philippe Lehoux, Ivan Driard, Eric Ranger and Carlo Nini.  Through Step Satellites, players could qualify for the Main Event for as little as $90, or through Playground’s monthly leaderboard.  Click here to see the video collection featuring them.

There are presently 233 entries and late registration will be open until the beginning of level 5, at approximately 4:30pm.  Remember that this is a next-day re-entry event with a single entry permitted until the end of the late registration period, on each Day 1.  A player may play Day 1B even if they have survived Day 1A with chips.  However, if a player survived Day 1A and chooses to play Day 1B, their qualified stack from Day 1A will be forfeited with no possibility of recovery.