Welcome to Day 1a of the 2019 WinStar Labor Day River Poker Series Main Event!
After a week's worth of events and satellites, the WinStar Labor Day River Poker Series $1.5 Million Guaranteed, $1,500 Main Event is set to take place over five days here at the world's largest casino, the WinStar World Casino and Resort in Thackerville, Oklahoma. With the buy-in lowered from $2,500 to $1,500 this year, a massive field of poker aficionados is set to hit the felt in search of one of the most coveted mid-major poker titles in the world, as a laundry list of notable names have laid claim to the title in recent years.
In last year's $2,500 Main Event, it was 20-year old Will Pengelly who navigated a field of 807 players to take home the title and $249,310 after a five-way deal at the final table. Aaron Massey topped a 1,396-entry field to win the inaugural title in 2012 for $651,559, while Jason Helder (2014 for $1,000,000), Maxx Coleman (2015 for $775,000), Gordon Vayo (2016 for $587,120), and Ben Zamani (2017 for $347,134) have also claimed a Main Event title here at WinStar.
A talented field of players tends to make their presence felt here at WinStar, and Will Berry, Ben Keeline, Alex Greenblatt, and Maria Ho are already in attendance. We'll also be looking for last year's ninth-place finisher and 2019 WSOP $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em Super Turbo Bounty Bracelet winner Brian Green to be in action today, hoping to climb a few spots higher in this year's Main Event.
Action for all days of the WinStar Labor Day River Series Main Event kicks off at Noon local time. Along with today's Day 1a flight, players have two additional flights in which to secure a bag, with Day 1b on Saturday, August 30th, and Day 1c on Sunday, August 31st. All players that manage to find a bag will reconvene on Monday, September 1st to play down to the final table. A winner will be crowned on Day 3, which takes place Tuesday, September 2nd.
Players will begin with 25,000 in starting chips, and the blinds will kick off at 100/100. On the three Day 1 flights, action will consist of 40-minute levels until the field has been reduced down to 12%. There will be a fifteen-minute break every three levels, and a 45-minute dinner break is scheduled after the completion of Level 9. Players may re-enter as many times as they wish until the end of registration after the dinner break. Play is scheduled to conclude once the field is reduced down to 12% in each of the starting flights.
Stay tuned right here to the PokerNews Live Reporting blog as we follow all the action from Day 1a all the way down to a winner here at the WinStar Labor Day River Poker Series Main Event!
flop over to Thornton, and the Texan announced a bet of 800. Action quickly folded back to the small blind, who paused for a moment to look over the flop before electing to throw his hand to the muck as well.
flop was checked over to Wang, who bet 2,500. All three of his opponents quickly folded, and Wang chipped back up over starting stack.
. Both blinds and the player in middle position checked to Gamble, who bet 300 and received two folds and a call from the middle-position player.
turn, and Ho checked a third time on the 
river, then called a bet of 1,100 from her opponent, only to muck after her opponent tabled 
.
river, and he headed back to the cage to re-enter.
river was safe for Gilliam to score the knockout.
turn. Gamble called.
flop, and was called by a player in the hijack, while the button folded.
turn, and her opponent quickly called.
for a full house, sevens full, and his opponent mucked, resulting in Champlin taking down the pot and bringing his stack to just shy of the 150,000-chip mark.