Will Failla wasted little time getting his chips into the middle. After a player in middle position opened to 1,700, Failla three-bet jammed from the small blind for just about the stack he sat down with, 20,000.
His opponent called with and was racing with Failla's .
"Queen of clubs, queen of clubs!" yelled Failla.
However, it was the that ripped off on the flop as the board rolled out to quickly bring Failla's Day 1a to an end.
About two minutes after Will "The Thrill" busted, Dwyte Pilgrim joined him on the rail.
Picking up the action on a board with roughly 9,000 in the middle, a player check-called 5,000 from Pilgrim to see the river. Another check from Pilgrim's opponent led to an all-in bet of roughly 7,000 from Pilgrim.
"Worst river card for me," said Pilgrim's opponent. "But I call."
Pilgrim played the board with , falling to his opponent's .
We're near the end of Level 9 and Day 1a, as the announcement has just been made that dealers should deal but three more hands.
Chris Klodnicki didn't quite make it to the announcement, having lost the last of his stack just prior to exit here in Level 9. Meanwhile, Amanda Musumeci has been nursing a short stack for some time, and during these final three hands nearly found herself in a not-so-desired spot.
The action on her in early position, Musumeci announced she was raising all in while tossing out a single 5,000 chip. But the dealer apparently hadn't heard her verbalizing her intention, and initially interpreted her as just calling.
The floor was called and all was sorted out — she was ruled as having indeed gone all in — and the table subsequently folded.
After a player in early position min-raised to 1,200, Roland Israelashvili shoved for about 18,000 in middle position. The next player to act four-bet jammed with a covering stack, clearing out the rest of the table.
Israelashvili was well behind with against the four-bettor's and was felted when the board ran out .
We've reached the end of the Day 1a flight and are about to take a break before Day 1b begins early this evening.
It looks as though our leaders at the end of Day 1a were T.J. Crews with 141,900, with Brian Nguyen close behind with a stack of 138,300. Other notables making it through from this first flight to tomorrow's Day 2 include Jamie Kerstetter, Lee Childs, Jacob Coker, Brian Ali, Matt Matros, Drazen Ilich, Mike Sica, and Miami John Cernuto.
Meanwhile, we saw a number of busts during Day 1a, with around 200 making it through out of the 364 players who registered. But we expect a lot of those to be coming back for Day 1b.
We'll back as well with reports on Day 1b from the WSOP Circuit Harrah's Resort Atlantic City Main Event. Come back after 7 p.m. Eastern time for all the action from Day 1b!
We're back! And so are another room full of players riffling chips and taking hands here in Level 1 of Day 1b, the second flight of the day. As was the case this morning, we're seeing another big group already in their seats, including a few familiar faces from those who busted Day 1a and have come back to fire another bullet tonight.
Back in a little bit to let you know who's here as we begin to track Day 1b and see if anyone from this group can challenge T.J. Crews's leading Day 1a stack of 141,900.
and was racing with Failla's 
.
that ripped off on the flop as the board rolled out 
to quickly bring Failla's Day 1a to an end.
board with roughly 9,000 in the middle, a player check-called 5,000 from Pilgrim to see the 
river. Another check from Pilgrim's opponent led to an all-in bet of roughly 7,000 from Pilgrim.
, falling to his opponent's 
against the four-bettor's 
and was felted when the board ran out 
.
