button in SafariStephen Martines Bags the Chip Lead on Day 1a of the Gateway Poker Classic Main Event
Stephen Martines doubled up during the first level of the day, but that was just foreshadowing what was to come for him on Day 1a of the RunGood Poker Series Gateway Poker Classic $800 Main Event.
Martines bagged up the chip lead as 13 players survived the event’s opening flight. He finished with 615,000, narrowly ahead of Cameron Dugan’s 611,000. Martines got off to a great start, hitting trip tens to double up just a few minutes into the day. He then won a big pot off Jeffrey Copeland when he rivered a set of aces to overcome Copeland’s two pair.
Day 1a Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stephen Martines | United States | 615,000 | 38 |
| 2 | Cameron Dugan | United States | 611,000 | 38 |
| 3 | Jeremy Drewery | United States | 462,000 | 29 |
| 4 | Casey Blakeley | United States | 413,000 | 26 |
| 5 | Muharem Dulic | United States | 399,000 | 25 |
| 6 | Brad Johnson | United States | 340,000 | 21 |
| 7 | Mike Chilton | United States | 298,000 | 19 |
| 8 | Jeffrey Copeland | United States | 260,000 | 16 |
| 9 | Travis Burch | United States | 247,000 | 15 |
| 10 | Brandon Butler | United States | 216,000 | 14 |
Dugan made a rapid charge up the leaderboard as the field slowly crawled down to the money bubble. He first woke up with kings to double off Justin Coliny, and then picked up aces in another big pot against Jeremy Drewery to join Martines as the only two players above 500,000.
Drewery (462,000), Casey Blakeley (413,000), and Muharem Dulic (399,000) round out the top five. Drewery brought the night to a close when his kings beat the ace-king of newly crowned WSOP bracelet winner Brent Gregory to bust Gregory on the money bubble. Copeland rebounded from the beat against Martines by winning a big flip with deuces against ace-king as the RunGood ambassador finished the day with 260,000, while Coliny ended up with 130,000. Among those to fall short of the money today were Chris Audrain and Mark Lafata.
A total of 105 players came to the Hollywood Casino & Hotel in St. Louis today for the first starting flight. Day 1b is tomorrow at 5 p.m. local time, while there are two more flights on Saturday, August 8. All surviving players from the four starting flights then combine for Day 2 on August 9 to play down to a champion. Day 2 begins on the earliest finishing level from one of the opening flights. Day 1a ended with 25 minutes remaining in Level 18 with blinds of 8,000/16,000 and a 16,000 big blind ante.
Any of the 13 players who bagged today can still play a subsequent flight. If a player bags two flights, only their best stack will be carried over to Day 2, and their smaller stacks will be taken out of place in exchange for a min-cash.
PokerNews will be back tomorrow following all the action on Day 1b, so be sure to tune in for live updates.