Jack Peterson Ends a Thunderous Day 1f as Chip Leader in the $2,000,000 Guaranteed Main Event
The final flight of the Main Event has reached its end and the players heading to Day 2 all have their chips in bags. A total of 123 players bought into this final flight, and 58 of them survived until the end of level nine.
When everything was counted, Jack Peterson was atop the field with an impressive 358,000 chips. Peterson will start Day 2 with a maneuverable stack of 129 big blinds and plenty of confidence to put it to use. He catapulted to the top of the leaderboard near the end of the day and never looked back. In his flight, he had nearly 100,000 chips more than second place.
Top Five Counts of Day 1e
| RANK | PLAYER | HOMETOWN | CHIP COUNT | BIG BLINDS |
| 1 | Jack Peterson | Littleton, CO | 358,500 | 179.25 |
| 2 | Douglas Polk | Las Vegas, NV | 263,000 | 131.5 |
| 3 | Taylor Hart | Happy Valley, OR | 239,500 | 119.75 |
| 4 | Brandon Lulov | Brooklyn, NY | 236,000 | 118 |
| 5 | Gregory Himmelbrand | Oakland Gardens, NY | 234,500 | 117.25 |
Speaking of second place, the one and only Doug Polk sits in second, bagging 263,000 chips himself. One of Polk's first hands of the day was when he four-bet with ace-king and was called by the ace-three suited of an aggressive player. His opponent hit a devastating three on the flop, but Polk found a jack on the river to make broadway.
He wasn't the only part-owner of The Lodge Card Club to find a bag for Day 2. Andew Neeme bagged up 202,000, good for just over 100 big blinds heading to tomorrow. Neeme flopped a flush early in the day in a multi-way pot and managed to get two streets of value from the initial raiser. That pot brought him to nearly 100,000 chips and he never looked back from there.
Also bagging was Nakia Strazzera. Strazzera wasn't planning on playing the main, she had plans of heading home for the evening. A last-minute change of plans looks to be a great one as she bagged 170,000 chips and will carry a healthy stack into tomorrow's festivities.
When all was said and done, 617 total players bought into the Main Event. For those of you curious, that means there was an overlay of $334,100. Those who have made Day 2 are fighting for a piece of that $2,000,000 guaranteed prize pool which means some great value on their $3,000 buy-in.
The 58 advancing players from this final flight will join players from all other Day 1 flights for a total of 259 players moving on to Day 2. Tomorrow's restart will get going at 2 p.m., blinds will be 60-minutes. Players will play 10 levels tomorrow.
Tomorrow stands to be an exciting Day 2 that will take us that much closer to crowning a winner of this prestigious event. Join us back here at PokerNews to follow all the action.