$600 Grand Poker Series Championship No-Limit Hold'em Day 1a | 2021 Golden Nugget Grand Poker Series

Player	Chips	Progress
Derrick Contreras	544,000 544,000	544,000
Nativ Shmueli	472,000 162,500	162,500
Greg O'Neil	410,000 97,000	97,000
Patrick Lacey	373,000 163,000	163,000
Nicholas Kapla	322,000 322,000	322,000
David Avina	296,000 296,000	296,000
Lucas Tae	280,000 280,000	280,000
Lonny Weitzel	265,000 15,000	15,000
Eric Hayes	257,000 257,000	257,000
Steve Firestone	228,000 228,000	228,000
Ruth Graham	213,000 213,000	213,000
Greg Koutelidakis	203,000 88,000	88,000
Stuart Hosen	181,000 181,000	181,000
Katie Kopp	139,000 -201,000	-201,000

Daniel Sears	120,000 120,000	120,000
Dai Ong	109,000 109,000	109,000
David Danheiser	106,000 106,000	106,000
John Gonzalez	98,000 98,000	98,000
Ilye Rogov	95,000 95,000	95,000
Anthony Tomita	88,000 -142,000	-142,000
Matthew Shafer	87,000 -87,000	-87,000
Jeffery Arruda	81,000 81,000	81,000
Brian Gorman	81,000 81,000	81,000
Horacio Collia	53,000 53,000	53,000
James Saracho	28,000 28,000	28,000

Player

Chips

Progress

Derrick Contreras

544,000

Nativ Shmueli

472,000

162,500

Greg O'Neil

410,000

97,000

Patrick Lacey

373,000

163,000

322,000

296,000

280,000

265,000

15,000

257,000

228,000

213,000

203,000

88,000

Stuart Hosen

181,000

Katie Kopp

139,000

-201,000

120,000

109,000

106,000

98,000

95,000

88,000

-142,000

Matthew Shafer

87,000

-87,000

81,000

81,000

53,000

28,000

Derrick Contreras from Houston, Texas bagged the chip lead in Day 1A of Event #22: $600 Championship No-Limit Hold-em $500,000 Guarantee, the main event of The Grand Poker Series at the Golden Nugget.

It has been quite a day for Contreras as he did not even plan on playing this event. He returned to the Golden Nugget for Day 2 of Event # 19: $200 Buy-In $100,000 Guarantee No-Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry), which he ended up chopping for $23,000. He elected to hop in the $500,000 Guarantee with just 3 minutes left in registration. Needless to say, it paid off.

Contreras is an active reg on the various mid-stakes circuits in the United States, with a RunGood Poker Series victory worth $38,539 back in 2019 under his belt. This year alone, he has cashed for nearly $100,000 and a deep run here will see him reach the six-figure milestone.

A total of 206 players showed up for Day 1A, with 26 players moving on to Day 2 in the four-day tournament on Sunday, October 10th at 12 p.m. Pacific Time.

After nearly 12 hours of play, some of the other players to find a bag include Katie Kopp, Nativ Shmueli, Patrick Lacey, and Greg Koutelidakis.

Players who did not find a bag still have an opportunity to play on Day 1B and Day 1C. Players who survived may opt to play additional flights, taking their biggest stack into Day 2. If they manage to accomplish that feat, the smallest stack will be removed from play and receive a minimum Day 2 cash.

Be sure to follow PokerNews tomorrow for Day 1B, starting at 11 a.m. local time.

Tags: Derrick Contreras Greg Koutelidakis Katie Kopp Nativ Shmueli Patrick Lacey