The Heartland Poker Tour stop at the Daytona Beach Racing and Card Club has now seen the first two flights in the highly anticipated $1,100 Main Event pass by, with 16 of the 80 total registrants slipping through on Day 1a, and 22 out of 151 finding a bag on Day 1b, bringing the total of Day 2 births to 38.
All players today will be have to surpass Tony Nguyen if they want to sit atop the leaderboard headed into the second day of the tournament. Nguyen bagged a hefty 405,000 from last night's Day 1b flight after playing an action-packed day of poker that seemed to fall in place for him during the latter stages of the night.
Last year's HPT main event, here in Daytona Beach, FL saw a total of 414 players jump into the action for a shot of the title, and it was Daniel Silva reigning supreme by days end for an impressive $91,557. Silva outlasted the likes of Hyndi Khomutetsky in a heated heads-up battle that ended in her taking runner-up for a respectable $56,527.
The last of three starting flights will kick off today at 12:10 p.m. and all players will be starting the day with 30,000 in chips. Each level on Day 1 is 40-minutes in length, with a 15-minute break scheduled every three levels (every two hours of play) and a 45-minute dinner break after level 9 (roughly 6:30 p.m.).
The late registration and rebuy period will remain open until the end of dinner break (start of level 10) and players who may jump in until this time. Play will continue until either 15 levels are completed or until 13% of the field remains, whichever comes first. The stopping point on Day 1a will determine the stopping point on the subsequent flights and the re-start point for Day 2 play. Players are allowed to enter multiple flights, taking their best stack forward to Day 2.
The PokerNews live reporting team will be bringing you all of the updates from HPT Daytona Beach Racing and Card Club, so stay tuned as the action unfolds.
