17 Advance from Final Starting Flight of RGPS Atlantic City Main Event
The final starting flight of the RunGood Passport Season Atlantic City $800 Main Event has concluded here at the Borgata Casino, Hotel & Spa. Day 1d drew a 117-entry field, bringing the total field size to 710 entries and prize pool to $497,000, smashing the $300,000 guarantee. After nearly nineteen levels, 14 players advanced to Day 2, where they will join the 73 survivors from the past three starting flights.
Leading the field is Oliver Simon, who ended the night with 965,000 after eliminating an opponent on the stone bubble. Simon is most closely followed by Mykhailo Lendel with 820,000. Lendel was under the rader for most of the early parts of the day before eliminating Mehdi Namazi in a roller coaster runout to begin his ascent towards the top of the counts.
Day 1d Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Oliver Simon | United States | 965,000 | 48 |
| 2 | Mykhailo Lendel | United States | 820,000 | 41 |
| 3 | Ken Wang | United States | 750,000 | 38 |
| 4 | Jason Nguyen | United States | 520,000 | 26 |
| 5 | Nathaniel Parenti | United States | 495,000 | 25 |
| 6 | Nunzio Russo | United States | 390,000 | 20 |
| 7 | Daniel McCarthy | United States | 345,000 | 17 |
| 8 | Dayanna Ciabaton | United States | 270,000 | 14 |
| 9 | Quanhu Wang | United States | 265,000 | 13 |
| 10 | John Scavo | United States | 240,000 | 12 |
| 11 | Michael Linster | United States | 210,000 | 11 |
| 12 | Timothy Lee | United States | 200,000 | 10 |
| 13 | Vincent Santagata | United States | 200,000 | 10 |
| 14 | John Damato | United States | 180,000 | 9 |
Rounding out the top three is Ken Wang with 750,000. Wang found himself in a huge collision for the chip lead midway through the day, holding ace-king against Daniel Amsalem's pocket eights. A king on the flop saw Wang double through Amsalem to claim the chip lead at the time, while Amsalem was eliminated before the end of the night.
Others to advance from today's flight include Nathaniel Parenti (495,000), Nunzio Russo (390,000) and Dayanna Ciabaton (270,000). Among those who played today but weren't as fortunate to advance were Russ Dunlevy, Michael Marder, Michael Bohmerwald, and Joe Stapleton.
The fields combine for Day 2 tomorrow, March 15 at noon, with 18 minutes left on Level 16, and the blinds at 5,000/10,000 (10,000). PokerNews will be on site to provide all the action, from the moment cards are in the air until a new RGPS Main Event Champion is crowned.