$400 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em
$500,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 7:  300/600 with a 600 ante
Flight B Entries:  498

A player was all in from the big blind for about 15,000 with , and needed to improve to stay alive against the of Chad Varnas in middle position.

The board came , and Varnas flopped a set of sevens and turned quads to win the pot and eliminate his opponent.

Chad Varnas  –  40,000  (67 bb)

A few minutes later at the same table, Howard Mash got it all in from middle position with , and he needed them to hold to stay alive against his opponent’s .

The board came , and Mash’s pocket queens held up for him to win the pot and double up in chips.

Howard Mash  –  35,000  (58 bb)

This flight is up to 498 entries (1,015 overall), and registration remains open with a single re-entry option until 10:30 pm.

$400 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em
$500,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 5:  200/400 with a 400 ante
Flight B Entries:  475

The players returned from break to begin Level 5, with increased blinds of 200-400 with a big blind ante of 400.

A scan of the field during the break turned up five players with at least 70K, creating an unofficial leaderboard:

1.  Herbert Nairn  –  91,100  (228 bb)
2.  Jim Sullivan  –  90,500  (226 bb)
3.  Ido Ashkenazi  –  79,600  (199 bb)
4.  Steven Dockswell  –  75,800  (190 bb)
5.  Mark Dube  –  74,200  (186 bb)

This flight is up to 475 entries (992 overall), and registration remains open with a single re-entry option until 10:30 pm.

$400 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em
$500,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 16:  3,000/5,000 with a 5,000 ante
Flight A Players Remaining:  65 of 517

Flight A of Event 1 came to an end with 65 players advancing to Day 2, and the big stack belonged to Aaron Rosenthal, who bagged up 485,000.

Action ended with 1:24 remaining in Level 16, with blinds at 3,000-5,000 with a 5,000 ante. Day 2 will begin with the blinds rolled back to the earliest finish among the starting flights.

The full list of official chip counts will be posted a little later tonight, but Flight B is already underway.

$400 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em
$500,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 16:  3,000/5,000 with a 5,000 ante
Flight A Players Remaining:  66 of 517

At Table 14, there was a three-way all-in situation with aces vs. aces vs. kings.

Jorge Cuesta was the short stack, all in from middle position for 101,000 with , while the other two players had identical stacks of 148,000 each — Brandon Schaefer (UTG+1) with , and the player on the button with .

Brandon Schaefer:  
Jorge Cuesta:  
Button:  

The board came , and the pocket aces held up for Schaefer and Cuesta to chop the main pot of 316,000, and Schaefer won the side pot of 94,000 to eliminate the player on the button from Flight A.

Brandon Schaefer  –  252,000  (50 bb)
Jorge Cuesta  –  158,000  (32 bb)

That hand happened with about 68 players remaining, but the field is currently on the end-of-day Money bubble with 66 players left, and an average chip stack around 157,000 (31 big blinds).

As soon as there is one more elimination, the surviving players will bag up their chips for Day 2, which begins Sunday at 1:00 pm. Everyone who survives to Day 2 will finish in the money.

$400 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em
$500,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 15:  2,000/4,000 with a 4,000 ante
Flight A Players Remaining:  95 of 517

A player is all in from the hijack for 44,000 with , and needs to improve to stay alive against the of Brandon Schaefer, who is UTG+1.

The board came — the hijack paired his queen on the flop and turned a gutshot straight draw, but missed his outs on the river. Schaefer won the pot with his pocket kings to eliminate his opponent from Flight A.

Brandon Schaefer  –  110,000  (28 bb)

With 90 players remaining, the average chip stack is about 115,000 (29 big blinds), and this flight will play as long as it takes to reach the final 65 players. The survivors at the end of this flight will make the money and advance to Day 2, which begins Sunday at 1:00 pm.

$400 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em
$500,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 15:  2,000/4,000 with a 4,000 ante
Flight A Players Remaining:  95 of 517

A scan of the field during the break made it very clear that Chris Perry had a huge lead over the rest of the field with 451,000 (113 big blinds) — he has 56% more chips than anyone else in the field.

Here’s the top of the leaderboard from the break:

1.  Chris Perry  –  451,000  (113 bb)
2.  Michael Johnally  –  290,000  (73 bb)
3.  Mahmut Urkun  –  267,000  (67 bb)

Nobody else in the field had a chip stack above 235K.

With 95 players remaining, the average chip stack is about 109,000 (27 big blinds), and this flight will play as long as it takes to reach the final 65 players. The survivors at the end of this flight will make the money and advance to Day 2, which begins Sunday at 1:00 pm.

$400 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em
$500,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 13:  1,500/2,500 with a 2,000 ante
Flight A Players Remaining:  135 of 517

Harry Silver was all in from the small blind for 27,500 with , and he was facing elimination against the of James Calderaro (UTG+1).

Silver stood up to leave as if he were expecting the knockout, and Calderaro jokingly called him out on it.

“Don’t use that old ‘Walking Away’ trick!”

Sure enough, the board came , and Silver turned an ace-high straight to win the pot and double up in chips.

Silver said, “Sorry about the suckout.”

Once again, Calderaro smiled and called him out. “You’re not sorry. You’re definitely not sorry.”

Harry Silver  –  59,000  (24 bb)
James Calderaro  –  80,000  (32 bb)

With about 135 players remaining, the average chip stack is about 76,500 (31 big blinds), and this flight will play as long as it takes to reach the final 65 players. The survivors at the end of this flight will make the money and advance to Day 2, which begins Sunday at 1:00 pm.

$400 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em
$500,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 12:  1,000/2,000 with a 2,000 ante
Flight A Players Remaining:  160 of 517

A scan of the field during the break showed the chipleader to be Chris Perry with 188,500 (94 big blinds), followed closely by Joe Teixeira with 186,000 (93 big blinds).

But there are five more players with at least 170K in chips, so there are quite a few players on their heels.

With about 160 players remaining, the average chip stack is about 64,500 (32 big blinds), and this flight will play as long as it takes to reach the final 65 players. The survivors at the end of this flight will make the money and advance to Day 2, which begins Sunday at 1:00 pm.

$400 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em
$500,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 11:  800/1,600 with a 1,600 ante
Flight A Players Remaining:  185 of 517

There were a couple of players knocking on the door of 200K in chips, but one of them just took a solid hit to drop down to about 150K.

That leaves Carlos Velasco as the chipleader at the moment with about 190,000 (119 big blinds).

With about 185 players remaining, the average chip stack is about 55,900 (35 big blinds), and the field will play as long as it takes to reach the final 65 players. The survivors at the end of the day will make the money and advance to Day 2, which begins Sunday at 1:00 pm.