Jonathan Hanner Bags Day 1a Lead in BFPO Championship
The first flight of Event #17: $2,700 Championship has now come to an end after eight exciting levels of play. A total of 62 entry slips were sold, with just 30 remaining by nights end, and finding the biggest stack from Day 1a was Jonathan Hanner.
Hanner remained under the radar for the better portion of the day and really started to surge during the latter portion of this flight. He seemed to catch wind under his sails after the last break and took that momentum all the way to the end where he bagged an immense 201,600.
The closest behind the leader is Robert Chasen who ran hot early in the day and cooled off towards the end, although he still bagged 167,600 which is still good for second on the totem pole from this flight. Three other stacks that round out the top five are Kevin Javier (150,600), Shaun O'Donnell (136,100), and Michael Marder (120,600).
Notable mentions from the first flight of the event include David Jackson (100,400), Bin Weng (100,600), Jonathan Gilliam (84,800), Arian Stolt (82,400), Chris Reslock (70,300), Ricky Guan (56,700), Richard Tuhrim (45,600), Anthony Maio (38,900), and Katie Stone (38,000).
The survivors from this flight will combine with the next two Day 1 players that bag after eight levels and will be returning on Tuesday, November 19 to fight it out for another eight levels of play, ending after level 16. The tournament will bump the blinds up to 75-minutes in length after level 10 and the last two days will have 90-minute levels.
That wraps it up for the PokerNews live coverage of Day 1a, but tune in tomorrow for Day 1b.
and there was around 20,000 in the pot. Michael Marder checked to Nicholas Verderamo who bet 12,500 and Marder check-called to see the 
river card.
for a missed flush draw and Marder showed his 
, giving him a set of nickels and more than enough to take down the pot, sending Verderamo out the door late in Day 1a.
