Englert Among Chip Leaders After Final Flight at HPT Golden Gates
The largest day of all four starting flights by a long shot has been completed and the field for Day 2 has been set at HPT Golden Gates $1,100 Main Event. Day 1d saw a total of 318 entries to bring the entire total to 732 entries over four initial flights.
Of the 318 players, 60 players advanced with Maxx Holland bagging a total of 474,500 to find himself as the chip leader for the flight. The other two players to bag over 300,000 were Mike Englert (346,000) and Steve Harvey. Englert was seated in the upstairs overflow room to start the day and by the time those tables broke, he was seen in his seat inside the Golden Gates Poker Parlour with over 200,000. From there, he was moved to a table with Nader Wahdan and was able to take advantage of the action, building his stack to its final resting point for the evening.
Saturday’s flight saw a ton of recognizable faces make it up the mountain at their final shot at advancing to Day 2. Some players to advance in this flight after failing in previous flights include Danny Gonzales (246,500), Nick Pupillo (238,000), Alex Rocha (208,500), Nader Wahdan (150,000), and Chris Moon (114,000).
Other players who found a bag at the end of the day were Naval Subbarayan (274,500), Vincent Moscati (226,00), Jeff Grimes (191,500), and Bryan Devonshire (78,000).
A few players who were not fortunate enough to advance included Aaron Frei, James Pupillo, Craig Casino, and defending champion Ben Brown.
Day 2 will begin Sunday at 11 a.m. local time, one hour earlier than the noon starting time from the initial flights. There will be 129 players returning with 81 players making it into the money. Those who earn a first-level payout will receive $1,917 and payouts will climb from there to the eventual first-place prize of $152,671.
Play will resume at the beginning of Level 16, with blinds of 2,500/5,000 and a 5,000 big-blind ante. Levels
will last 40 minutes throughout the duration of the day with 15-minute breaks at the completion of every three levels. From the time the cards are in the air, action will continue until the official final table of nine has been reached.
Which nine players will find themselves putting chips in bags when Day 2 concludes? Come back to PokerNews for updates along the way as that question is answered.