Event 1 Day 1C: Francois Gagne’s Time at the Top

$400 Super Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$100,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 11:  1,000/1,500 with a 1,500 ante
Day 1C Entries:  349

Francois Gagne

Players are back in their seats after the second break and registration is closed for the tournament. The clock shows an unofficial 349 entries for Flight C and we will report the official numbers as soon as they are available.

We have a new leader in the room. Francois Gagne is continuing a nice heater and sits with 275,000 for a nice lead. He won a $400 Deep Stack in Hollywood during their Poker Showdown series and he’s looking good again.

Lucas Mendes is in second with 256,000 followed by Willie Wiggins and his 180,000 with a lot of players over 100K.

Event 1 Day 1C: Willie Wiggins Makes a Jump

$400 Super Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$100,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 9:  500/1,000 with a 1,000 ante
Day 1C Entries:  301

Willie Wiggins

Willie Wiggins wasn’t among our leaders at the first break but he got there in a hurry. He was right around 50K after six levels but an hour later Wiggins is up to 140,000 to sit at (or near) the top of the counts.

The entry count hit another milestone during that time, crossing 300 entries for exactly 750 for the tournament. A few more through the elevator door and we can say the prize pool crossed another big threshold.

Event 1 Day 1C: RunGood Ambassador Visit

$400 Super Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$100,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 9:  500/1,000 with a 1,000 ante
Day 1C Entries:  285

Ray Henson (standing) and Chris Conrad (seated)

Players continue to come up to the Poker Room and we keep finding them seats. The combined entry count is over 630 for the Super Stacks and drawing live to a $250,000 prize pool.

We caught up with a couple of RunGood Ambassadors having a chat at the table. Ray Henson stopped by to visit with Chris Conrad in the back of the room, Conrad in action and Henson ready to take another shot after a close call last night.

Event 1 Day 1C: Lucas Mendes Leads After Break

$400 Super Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$100,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 7:  300/600 with a 600 ante
Day 1C Entries:  262

Lucas Mendes

Players returned to their seats after the first break and another big group grabbed seats at the start of Level 7. This is already the biggest flight of the tournament with more than two hours left to register or re-enter.

Lucas Mendes had the biggest stack at the break, moving his 25K starting stack up to 85,400 with a lot of that coming courtesy of trip eights against queens. Al Stevens looks like the second-place stack holding 80,000 and Arie Benmayor third.

Al Stevens

Event 1 Day 1C: First Break

$400 Super Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$100,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 6:  300/500 with a 500 ante
Day 1C Entries:  230

Level 6 came to an end and tournament staff sent Flight C players on their first break of the day. They’ll have some time to hit the lounge to grab a drink and take a breather before returning to the action. When cards go back in the air, levels will increase to 30 minutes for the duration of the tournament.

Event 1 Day 1C: More Friendly Faces

$400 Super Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$100,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 5:  200/400 with a 400 ante
Day 1C Entries:  205

Sean Shah

We put 90 minutes in the books and the entry count topped 200 before we got there. The prize pool is up to $210,000 and change with a lot more going on top over the next three hours.

A few more familiar faces in the crowd include Sean Shah, Brand Schwartz, Harjinder Chawla, Shawn Lucas, Al Gomez, David “Coldstone” Inselberg, Ory Hen, and Richard Whitebrook.

Shah caught an early double when his chips went in the middle after the board was complete. His 7d7c was best against AhJd on the Ad7s5hKc4d to give a dangerous play more chips.

Brandon Schwartz
Harjinder Chawla

Event 1 Day 1C: Guarantee Double Up

$400 Super Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$100,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 4:  200/300 with a 300 ante
Day 1C Entries:  181

It took less than an hour into the day before Flight C pushed the Super Stack over another milestone. With 181 entries so far, the combined total of 630 for Event 1 is good enough to double up the $100,000 guarantee and put more than $200,000 in the prize pool.

And registration will remain open until 2:30 pm. Plenty of time to get down here for a piece of the action.

Event 1 Day 1C: Early Entries

$400 Super Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$100,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 2:  100/100 with a 100 ante
Day 1C Entries:  152

Eric Siegel (left) and Nagui Yassa (right)

We have more than 150 entries in the flight before the first hour is up and there’s a steady parade of players getting off the elevator get into the game. We have a big number in the works.

Some early arrivals include Eric Siegel, Nagui Yassa, Rich Kelleher, Willie Wiggins, Rachael Pampinella, Enreko Fracassi, Mark Winchell, and Andra Zachow.

Rich Kelleher