Sean Troha Near Top of Day 1a Field at RGPS Cleveland Main Event
Two-time WSOP bracelet winner Sean Troha is among the chip leaders after a wild opening flight of the RunGood Poker Series Cleveland $800 Main Event saw 28 survivors advance to Day 2 here at the Jack Cleveland Casino.
Troha’s 357,000 chips sit him fifth on the leaderboard behind chip leader Anthony Carbone, who finished the day with an even 500,000 chips after doubling into the lead on the last hand of the day.
Top Ten Day 1a Chip Counts
| Rank | Name | Country | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Anthony Carbone | United States | 500,000 |
| 2 | Joe Gugliotta | United States | 457,000 |
| 3 | Shawn Gaffney | United States | 427,000 |
| 4 | Kuo Peng | Taiwan | 384,000 |
| 5 | Sean Troha | United States | 357,000 |
| 6 | George Mohan | United States | 280,000 |
| 7 | Connor Zhu | China | 256,000 |
| 8 | James Pisono | United States | 242,000 |
| 9 | Brent Wheeler | United States | 242,000 |
| 10 | Keith Schwartz | United States | 230,000 |
Day 1a Action
A field of 186 entries took their shot at advancing to Sunday’s Day 2, starting the tournament well on its way to eclipsing the $250,000 guaranteed prizepool.
Play wrapped up with 33:27 remaining in Level 13, as just 15% of the field remained.
Some of the other notables to survive the day include Raymond Ezzie (213,000), Robert Noel (157,000), and Alexander Jagodik (143,000).
Among those not fortunate enough to find a bag were the winner of the RGPS Cleveland $420 Opener event, Jack Corrigan, WSOP bracelet winner Katie Kopp, and RunGood ambassadors Emily Snow and Mallory Klaus.
Zhu’s Wild Day and Troha’s Build Toward the Lead
Connor Zhu was the story of the day, building a massive chip lead throughout the day with ruthless aggression and incredible runouts, before finally losing his lead on the aforementioned final hand of the day to Carbone when he called off a 250,000 chip all-in with ace-queen against Carbone’s aces.
Despite the late fall, Zhu ended the day with a top ten chip count.
Troha’s ascension to his fifth place stack wasn’t as volatile but was a consistent build through skill and aggression to set himself up well for Day 2.
Day 1b on Deck Friday
The second of three opening flights takes place Friday, with a 12:15 p.m. starting time. Players who failed to advance Thursday will have another shot at making it to Sunday’s final day of play, and even those who did make it through Day 1a can hop in again in hopes of accumulating a bigger stack to take into Sunday instead of their total from this flight.
Stay tuned to PokerNews for our continuing coverage of the event until a champion is crowned on Sunday at the incredible Jack Cleveland Casino.
, doubling Carbone into the chip lead on the last hand of the night.
.
, and somehow, Zhu actually lost the pot, sending a large chunk to an opponent for the first time in several hours, with Zeta the rare beneficiary.
flop, Anthony Carbone checked in middle position to Zhu in the cutoff who bet 10,000. 
turn. Zhu quickly fired out another 15,000 which Carbone again called.
flop and was snap-called by Eidmann in late position. Despite being in awful shape, Zhu would again find a way to scoop the pot.
on the turn and the 
on the river to give Zhu a running Broadway straight to eliminate Eidmann in horrific fashion and extend his already massive chip lead.
flop, Mohan check-called Karn's 8,600 all-in bet, but was in rough shape.
flop, then on the 
runout, Swartz found his stack immediately doubled and then some.