The first flight is in the books, so it's time for Day 1b of the 2021 Wynn Spring Classic $3,500 Championship.
Day 1a saw around 270 runners turn up, so the prize pool is already approaching the $1 million guarantee. That number will surely be blown by here in the early stages, with action set to kick off at noon local time for Day 1b.
The plan will once again call for 10 levels of unlimited reentry eight-handed action, each level lasting an hour apiece. Everyone who pays up the $3,500 will get 40,000 in their starting stack, and they'll have incredibly deep stacks at 100/100/100 if they show up for the first hour. Things will eventually progress to 1,000/1,500/1,500 before bagging time.
Just over 80 players made it through on Day 1a, so stay tuned to PokerNews to see who joins them for Sunday's Day 2.
While the Wynn Spring Classic $3,500 Championship may be the crown jewel of the series, it's far from the only event to crown a winner or payout a chunky first-place prize.
There have been a slew of side events on the schedule, and here's a look at each of the victors thus far.
$10,500 High Roller
The biggest of the bunch was the $10,500 High Roller, which attracted 83 entries and was won by none other than former WSOP Main Event champ Joe McKeehen, who also took second place in a recent WPT event here in Las Vegas. McKeehen won $224,100, one of many six-figure victories in his career.
$400 NLHE
Jessica Vierling took top honors in the 184-entry $20K guaranteed event, which had a buy-in of $400. Vierling earned $16,152, her second-biggest cash after a $22K WSOP Circuit score a few years back. She beat Bobby Sanoubane heads up.
$600 NLHE
The big $600 reentry event had a $250K guarantee, which it easily met with 1,015 entries. Marko Pantelic, who hails from Serbia originally, topped the field for an impressive score of $89,114. That pushed him to almost $200K in tournament cashes, according to The Hendon Mob.
$400 PLO
The $400 pot-limit Omaha event drew 91 entries, and Chris Chamberlain of Minnesota took it down for $10,416. It's the biggest career cash for Chamberlain, who had all of his previous cashes come in no-limit hold'em events.
$300 Omaha Hi-Lo
A slightly larger field took shots in the $300 Omaha Hi-Lo as 112 entries turned up, with Sarkis Basmajian ending up as champ. The $8,016 he won was more than his previous $3,562 in combined lifetime cashes.
The Wynn Spring Classic may not immediately jump to mind when you think of long-running Vegas poker series, as competitors like Venetian and Caesar's/WSOP have flooded the market with more events over the years.
However, it does have its own rich history, hosting events dating back more than a decade, to times when it was formerly just the Wynn Classic before fall and summer events were added.
Here's a look at past winners of the event. Note that in 2012 the venue partnered with CardPlayer and the event was rebranded under the CardPlayer Poker Tour.
On Thursday, March 11, the Wynn Spring Classic held its biggest buy-in of the series — Event #9: $10,500 NLH High Roller. The tournament attracted 83 entries, which resulted in an $830,000 prize pool.
That was paid out to the top 11 finishers. Among those to cash but fall short of the final table of eight were Landon Tice (11th), Brian Altman (10th), and Joseph Cheong (9th), who each received $24,900.
In the end, it was 2015 World Series of Poker Main Event champ Joe McKeehen who defeated Shawn Daniels in heads-up play to win the title for $224,100. The win came just a few days after McKeehen finished runner-up in the WPT Venetian for $491,960.
Dave Alfa was in the small blind and checked a board of . Josias Santos, from the button, bet 10,500. That looked to be slightly more than the size of the pot. Alfa called and the river was a . Alfa checked and Santos bet 18,500.
Alfa tanked a bit then dropped in calling chips but couldn't beat for a flush.
James Carroll was looking at a completed board of from early position and he mashed in 23,800, a hair under the size of the pot. The player on the button tank-called but had no recourse but to muck as Carroll had for the flopped nuts.
Carroll is coming off a big recent win in an MSPT event here in Las Vegas in which he scooped $180K and seeks to keep the momentum cooking here at the Wynn.
Matt Berkey defended the big blind then checked a board. The player on the button bet 2,700, Berkey made it 6,000, and his opponent jammed. Berkey called off his 20,000 or so instantly and tabled for trips.
He was in excellent shape against but running and gave his opponent a winning straight.
Day 1b of Wynn Spring Classic $3,500 Main Event looked much like Day 1a. Around 270 entries were logged — this time 279 — and around 85 of those made it through to Sunday's Day 2.
That means the prize pool will clock in close to $1.8 million, well past the $1 million guarantee, with a couple of hours of Day 2 registration will remaining.
As for how things shook out during Day 1b, one player emerged as a clear-cut chip leader: Allen Pock. Pock had north of 300,000 when the rest of the field was averaging around 100,000. He managed to push that even further and bagged 465,000, well clear of anyone in the Day 1a field and the likes of Erik Cajelais (347,000), who was among the deepest-stacked players on Day 1b.
One of the stars of the game who bagged a big stack was Upeshka De Silva. De Silva cut a controversial figure recently in the WSOP Main Event when he reportedly failed a COVID-19 test that cost him the chance to add a fourth bracelet to his collection in the high-profile WSOP Main Event. He was forced to accept a ninth-place payout, per the rules.
That frustrating turn of events aside, De Silva has been on a tear on the tournament circuit the past few years, so it was little surprise to see him run up a huge stack of 287,000.
Others making it included Matt Stout, Sean Winter, Chino Rheem, Matt Berkey, James Carroll and Sergi Reixach.
All of the players who have failed to punch tickets to Day 2 can still take shots, at the start of the day and beyond as a couple of levels of registration remain and should see some wild action to start the day. PokerNews will be on hand starting at noon local time to bring all of the updates throughout the day.