The final heat of the 2019 WinStar Labor Day River Poker Series $1,500 Main Event has come to a close after 15-plus levels of play. Action was loaded from the time cards went in the air until the bubble burst, with the day seeing 537 entries whittled down to the 65 that found themselves still standing when chips went into bags.
Leading the way among the largest flight of the three is Troy Stidd, who finished the day with 552,000 in chips. Amit Sehgal (520,000) and Katherine Offutt (510,000) round out the top three on the leader board, finding themselves as the only other two other players to bag over a half-million.
A handful of other notable players found their way into Day 2 on their final opportunity. Defending champion Will Pengelly will enter Day 2 with 284,000 in chips. Joining him include Chuck Barker (370,000) Will Berry (247,000), Lokesh Garg (153,000), and Kelly Minkin (85,000).
Some players who played and were not fortunate enough to find themselves on the Day 2 roster were Michael Wang, Ben Keeline, Andy Philacheck, Dejuante Alexander, and TJ Cloutier.
The 537 entries from Day 1c brings the three-day total number of buy-ins to 1,242. Though the official payout information has yet to be posted, the $1.5 million guaranteed prize pool will have been easily surpassed, with all 151 players returning to Day 2 having made it into the money. Payout information will be released before the start of Day 2.
Day 2 will start Monday at noon local time. Since all three Day 1 flights finished during Level 16 (3,000/6,000/6,000), that level will revert back to its beginning to start the day. All levels on Day 2 are one hour in length, meaning there will be a full 60 minutes on the clock when cards fly. Breaks will occur at the end of every two levels with a 45-minute dinner break after the sixth level of play for the day.
PokerNews will be on hand for all the action as the tournament progresses through the rungs on the payout ladder. Be sure to come back and see who navigates their way to Day 3.
runout, turning an open-ended straight draw. However, he was unable to improve to anything beyond his pair of jacks and found himself as the 66th place finisher. 
flop, and Lee didn't hesitate long to make the call.
turn or 
river, and sent most of her stack over to Lee.
and a black 
to secure victory for Ingles and Moreno found himself dry on chips, making his way to the rail as Ingles added a big chunk to his stack.
bricked off, and Barker said, "Nice hand," to Minkin with a slight nod, as Minkin snapped a quick photo of the hand before raking in the double.
flop, and after the player next to act folded, Brian Kelly had a decision in the hijack. He studied the 40,000 already in the pot, then asked his opponent, "Jacks?" before making the call a few moments later.
river bricked off. Just to Kelly's right, defending champ Will Pengelly has been on a tear in recent levels, spinning up a 150k+ stack to contend for the current chip lead.
flop, and the big blind bet 5,000 on the 
river to Berry, who bet 10,500. The big blind spent a few minutes in the tank before tossing the 
and Rodriguez found himself in a better situation. He said as the dealer brought the turn 
flop over to the cutoff, who bet 5,000. Garg asked to see his opponent's stack, then upon seeing the cutoff's remaining 25,000, Garg check-raised to 12,500. The cutoff folded, and Garg flashed the 
