$400 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em
$500,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 16:  3,000/5,000 with a 5,000 ante
Flight E Players Remaining:  106 of 780

After a flop of , Eric Schaeffer was all in from the hijack for about 80,000 with for a pair of kings, but he needs to improve to stay alive against David Sweeley’s on the button.

The turn card was the , the river card was the , and both players finished with two pair. Sweeley won the pot with his aces and kings to eliminate Schaeffer about a table away from the money.

David Sweeley  –  325,000  (65 bb)
Eric Schaeffer  –  Eliminated

With about 107 players remaining, the average chip stack is about 146,000 (29 big blinds).

This flight will continue playing until there are 98 players left, and the survivors will make the money and advance to Day 2, which begins tomorrow (Sunday) at 1:00 pm. You must bag chips at the end of Day 1 to finish in the money.

$400 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em
$500,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 1:  100/100
Flight F Entries:  401

As soon as action got underway for Flight F, the prizepool more than doubled the $500,000 guarantee.

As Level 1 is nearing its end, the field is up to 401 entries, which creates a total field of 3,322 with a prizepool worth more than $1.1 million.

Of course, registration remains open with a single re-entry option until the beginning of Level 9, around 10:30 pm. So the prizepool will continue to grow.

$400 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em
$500,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 15:  2,000/4,000 with a 4,000 ante
Flight E Players Remaining:  135 of 780

The players return from break to begin Level 15, with increased blinds of 2,000-4,000 with a 4,000 ante.

A scan of the field during the break turned up three players with at least 350K in chips, creating an unofficial leaderboard:

1.  Borja Iglesias  –  395,000  (99 bb)
2.  Ira Schwartz  –  387,000  (97 bb)
3.  Neal Corcoran  –  372,000  (93 bb)

With 135 players remaining, the average chip stack is about 116,000 (29 big blinds).

This flight will continue playing until there are 98 players left, and the survivors will make the money and advance to Day 2, which begins tomorrow (Sunday) at 1:00 pm. You must bag chips at the end of Day 1 to finish in the money.

$400 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em
$500,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 14:  1,500/3,000 with a 3,000 ante
Flight E Players Remaining:  150 of 780

With the blinds at 1,500-2,500, Mark Gaudino moves all in under the gun for 27,000, and Steven Cabas moves all in over the top from middle position for 29,500 with . But Gaudino turns over , and needs it to hold to stay alive.

The board came , and Gaudino turned a set of jacks and rivered a full house to win the pot and double up in chips, knocking Cabas all the way down to a single big blind.

Mark Gaudino  –  60,500  (24 bb)
Steven Cabas  –  2,500  (1 bb)

Cabas got it all in on the next hand against both blinds, and one bet out the other on a flop of .

At that point, Cabas turned over for a pair of aces, but he was dominated and facing elimination against his opponent’s .

The turn card was the , and the river card was — the . Cabas rivered two pair to win the pot and more than quadruple his stack to 10,500.

Steven Cabas  –  10,500  (4 bb)

After the blinds increased to 1,500-3,000, the player on the button raised to 6,500, and the player in the small blind moved all in for about 63,000. Cabas called all in for 7,500 (his other 3,000 was in for the big blind ante), and the button folded.

Cabas turned over , and he needed to improve to stay alive against the small blind’s .

The board came , and Cabas turned a spade flush to win the pot and double up in chips — putting him back up over a starting stack of 20K and giving himself a shot at surviving the day.

Steven Cabas  –  24,500  (8 bb)

With about 150 players remaining, the average chip stack is about 104,000 (35 big blinds).

This flight will continue playing until there are 98 players left, and the survivors will make the money and advance to Day 2, which begins tomorrow (Sunday) at 1:00 pm. You must bag chips at the end of Day 1 to finish in the money.

$400 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em
$500,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 12:  1,000/2,000 with a 2,000 ante
Flight E Players Remaining:  215 of 780

While counting the big stacks at the break, we noticed Shawn Lucas’s stack had dropped quite a bit, while the player next to him, Andrew Zhu, had nearly 200,000. They told us about a big hand that happened right before the break.

Four players saw a flop of , though one of them dropped out when a non-diamond fell on the turn.

The river card was a diamond, and the betting forced out Lucas, who held . But Zhu and the other player got it all in.

The shorter stack showed for a flush, but Zhu turned over for a flopped full house, kings full of nines, winning a huge pot and eliminating his opponent from Flight E.

And that’s how Zhu picked up enough chips to start this level third in chips.

Andrew Zhu  –  199,000  (100 bb)
Shawn Lucas  –  120,000  (60 bb)

With about 215 players remaining, the average chip stack is about 72,500 (36 big blinds).

This flight will continue playing until there are 98 players left, and the survivors will make the money and advance to Day 2, which begins tomorrow (Sunday) at 1:00 pm. You must bag chips at the end of Day 1 to finish in the money.

$400 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em
$500,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 12:  1,000/2,000 with a 2,000 ante
Flight E Players Remaining:  240 of 780

The players return from break to begin Level 12, with increased blinds of 1,000-2,000 with a big blind ante of 2,000.

A scan of the field during the break turned up only two players with at least 200K in chips, plus one more knocking on the door, creating an unofficial leaderboard:

1.  Neal Corcoran  –  279,000  (140 bb)
2.  Borja Iglesias  –  205,500  (103 bb)
3.  Andrew Zhu  –  199,000  (100 bb)

With about 240 players remaining, the average chip stack is about 65,000 (33 big blinds).

This flight will continue playing until there are 98 players left, and the survivors will make the money and advance to Day 2, which begins tomorrow (Sunday) at 1:00 pm. You must bag chips at the end of Day 1 to finish in the money.

$400 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em
$500,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 10:  600/1,200 with a 1,200 ante
Flight E Players Remaining:  295 of 780

Shawn Lucas briefly took over the chip lead, but McNealy reclaimed it a short while later. Here are some updated chip counts from around the field:

Greg McNealy  –  185,000  (154 bb)
Shawn Lucas  –  177,000  (148 bb)
Eric Schaeffer  –  150,000  (125 bb)
Eric Afriat  –  103,000  (86 bb)
Phil Hernz  –  90,000  (75 bb)
Tim Kegel  –  88,000  (73 bb)
Scott Robbins  –  80,000  (677 bb)
Howard Mash  –  75,000  (63 bb)
Paul Balzano  –  68,000  (57 bb)
Hector Pacheco  –  56,000  (47 bb)
A.J. Kelsall  –  55,000  (46 bb)
Raffaello Locatelli  –  43,000  (36 bb)
Bob Mather  –  36,000  (30 bb)
Kenny Nguyen  –  34,000  (28 bb)
Vitor Coelho  –  17,000  (14 bb)

Hector Pacheco was among the chipleaders at the last break, but he lost a 150K pot against Eric Schaeffer to drop down to about an average stack.

After a flop of , Pacheco checked the small blind, Schaeffer bet 7,000 from the hijack, and Pacheco check-raised to 15,000. Schaeffer called.

The turn card was the , Pacheco bet 22,000, and Schaeffer called.

The river card was the , Pacheco moved all in, and Schaeffer snap-called all in for 34,000 with for two pair, jacks and threes. Pacheco turned over for the same two pair with a lower kicker, and Schaeffer won the pot to double up in chips.

Eric Schaeffer  –  150,000  (125 bb)
Hector Pacheco  –  56,000  (47 bb)

With about 295 players remaining, the average chip stack is about 52,900 (44 big blinds).

This flight will continue playing until there are 98 players left, and the survivors will make the money and advance to Day 2, which begins tomorrow (Sunday) at 1:00 pm. You must bag chips at the end of Day 1 to finish in the money.

$400 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em
$500,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 9:  500/1,000 with a 1,000 ante
Flight E Entries:  780

The players return from break to begin Level 9, with increased blinds of 500-1,000 with a big blind ante of 1,000.

A scan of the field during the break turned up three players with at least 120K in chips, creating an unofficial leaderboard:

1.  Greg McNealy  –  154,200  (154 bb)
2.  Tim Kegel  –  132,000  (132 bb)
3.  Hector Pacheco  –  121,000  (121 bb)

Registration is now closed. As soon as the official numbers for this flight are released, we will post them here in the updates.

The final starting flight for this event (Flight F) begins later today at 6:00 pm, with a single re-entry option available until registration closes around 10:30 pm. The prizepool is already worth more than $975,000, and as soon as the cards go in the air for Flight F, it will leap across the $1 million mark.

$400 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em
$500,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 7:  300/600 with a 600 ante
Flight D Entries:  560

Raminder Singh raised UTG+1 to 1,800, Raul Hernandez moved all in from middle position for 13,300, and Singh called with .

Hernandez turned over , and needed to improve to stay alive.

The board came , and Hernandez turned an ace-high straight to win the pot and double up in chips.

Raul Hernandez  –  28,100  (47 bb)
Raminder Singh  –  80,000  (133 bb)

The next hand, Hernandez raised UTG+1 to 1,600, Terry Grimes moved all in from middle position for 14,200, and Hernandez called with .

Grimes turned over , and needed to improve to stay alive.

The board came , and Grimes flopped the higher pair to win the pot with a pair of kings, doubling up in chips.

Terry Grimes  –  29,900  (50 bb)
Raul Hernandez  –  13,900  (23 bb)

Registration remains open with a single re-entry option until the start of Level 9, around 10:30 pm. The field has already surpassed the $500,000 guarantee, and the prizepool is up to $711,540 and counting.

$400 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em
$500,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 7:  300/600 with a 600 ante
Flight D Entries:  560

A player limped UTG+1 for 600, the player in the hijack limped, Terry Grimes limped from the cutoff, the small blind limped, and Chad Summer moved all in from the big blind for 9,500.

The next two players folded, and Grimes asked for an exact count and thought for a bit before he called. The small blind folded.

Summers turned over , and he needed to improve to stay alive against the of Grimes.

The board came , and Summers paired his queen on the flop to win the pot and double up in chips.

Chad Summers  –  21,400  (36 bb)
Terry Grimes  –  14,200  (24 bb)

Registration remains open with a single re-entry option until the start of Level 9, around 10:30 pm. The field has already surpassed the $500,000 guarantee, and the prizepool is up to $711,540 and counting.