Day 1 of the $1,500 No-Limit Hold 'em event has come to an end. And what a day it was.
2,971 players kicked off the event and, when play ended for the night, just 337 remain. It will be a short trip to the money when the players return at 2PM tomorrow, as 297 will get paid.
A lot of big names didn't make it to the money, with players such as Chris Ferguson, John Juanda, Justin Bonomo, Freddy Deeb, Vanessa Rousso, and David Singer all busting fairly early in the day. Not all of the name players are gone though, with folks like Brandon Cantu, Shaun Deeb, Alex Jacob, Lee Childs, Jim Meehan, and Grant Hinkle all returning for Day 2.
Five of the biggest stacks returning tomorrow belong to:
Victor Greely - 195,300
Jerry "Mike" Fowler - 183,200
Gary Tang - 145,300
Jacob Fernandez - 123,000
Paul Dominski - 102,300
We'll be here too when play resumes, so be sure to follow the all of the action starting at 2PM.
We caught up with Blair Hinkle on his way out of the tournament area. He said he busted in a blind vs. blind confrontation when he raised from the small blind and the big blind called.
On a 4-5-6 rainbow board, Hinkle bet 4,800 and the big blind raised to 10,000. Hinkle shoved and he said the big blind tanked before finally making the call with for two pair.
Lee Childs - 58,000
Minneapolis Jim Meehan - 46,400
Blair Hinkle - 25,000
Grant Hinkle - 45,000
Alex Jacob - 39,000
Sandra Naujoks - 52,100
Brandon Cantu - 56,000
Clark Hamagami - 35,300
Michael Pesek - 53,000
Michael Martin - 28,000
Francois Safieddine - 50,000
Joe Tehan - 38,000
Phil Tom - 13,000
Shaun Deeb - 20,500
Recently busted players include Scott Freeman and Matt Brady.
Victor Greely has taken over the chip lead. He's sitting on a stack of 185,000. Our previous chip leader, Gary Tang, is still sitting comfortably with a stack of 145,000.