Welcome to Day 1b of the main event for the first stop on this season’s Hollywood Poker Open Regional Tour. The Hollywood Casino Lawrenceburg is the host to kick off season 4 of the series, which will culminate with the $500,000 guaranteed championship event next June at the M Resort in Las Vegas.
Saturday marks the second of two Day one flights with a $1,115 buy-in. Last year’s Lawrenceburg event stop drew 207 entrants and Jesse McEuen walked away with the win and nearly $50,000.
The event drew 81 entries for the first flight on Friday and Josh Lowing built a huge stack, bagging 326,500 in chips, good for the end-of-day lead. Nick Guagenti steadily built an impressive 257,500, good for second. In all, 13 runners advanced to Day 2 and will merge with today’s remaining field on Sunday.
The anticipation is that the Saturday flight will draw triple digits in search of at least a $200,000 prize pool for the popular Cincinnati-area venue.
The reentry event is expected to complete 14 50-minute levels here on Day 1b, with survivors advancing to Sunday’s Day 2. Keep your eyes right here, as PokerNews will bring you live reporting, starting at 11:15 am local time.
Day 1b of the Hollywood Poker Open Season 4 Lawrenceburg Regional Main Event has been completed. The second starting flight saw the 148-entry field cut down to just 23 at night's end following another 14 levels of play.
Jared Palmer bagged the most chips at the end of play Saturday, with an impressive 306,500. Michael Filippidis was not too far behind after he bagged 293,500, and other notables to advance were Keven Stammen (244,500), Blake Barnes (220,000), and Al Hencheck (107,000).
Although Palmer did well to surpass the 300,000-chip mark and finish as the flight's leader, he'll still trail Day 1a's Josh Lowing who bagged up 326,500 on Friday.
Of course, not everyone who played made it through to Day 2, and some of those to bust included Kurt Jewell, Claude Purches, and Scott Schwalich.
Between the two Day 1 flights, the combined field size amounted to 229 entries, creating a prize pool of $229,000. The 23 survivors from Saturday will join the 13 folks that made it through Friday’s Day 1a flight for Day 2 on Sunday, and all eyes will be solely fixed on the $54,956 set to go to the winner.
Check back in with PokerNews on Sunday as we will bring you all of the Day 2 action, starting at 12:15 p.m. local time.