11am: Flight C – $560 Buy-In, $400,000 Guaranteed

• 20,000 chips and 30-/40-minute levels
• Registration and re-entry available until the start of Level 9 (about 3:30pm)
• Play concludes following Level 14 (6:40pm) or 10 percent of the field
• Day 2 begins Sunday, March 18th at 1pm

7pm: Flight D – $560 Buy-In, $400,000 Guaranteed

• 20,000 chips and 30-/40-minute levels
• Registration and re-entry available until the start of Level 9 (about 11:30pm)
• Play concludes following Level 14 (2:40am) or 10 percent of the field
• Day 2 begins Sunday, March 18th at 1pm

Chip counts from Thursday’s Flight A and B are available one post below

2018 Escalator Series (Week 4)
$560 Buy-In, $400,000 Guaranteed
Day 2 Blinds: 1,500/3,000 with a 500 ante
Players Remaining: 60 of 342 | Structure

Flight A: 183 Entries, 32 Advanced
Flight B: 159 Entries, 28 Advanced
Flight C/D: Friday at 11am/7p,
Flight E/F: Saturday at 11am/7pm
Day 2: Sunday at 1pm

Chip counts through Flight B:

2018 Escalator Series (Week 4)
$560 Buy-In, $400,000 Guaranteed | Structure

Escalator $560 Flight is A wrapped and Flight B is set to kickoff at 7pm with play stretching until about 2:40am. With that, Thursday’s updates have come to a close.

We encourage you to check back in the morning for complete chip counts through Flight B which will be posted by 10am. Tournament updates are set to resume Friday at 11am with Flight C.

See you Friday!

2018 Escalator Series (Week 4)
$560 Buy-In, $400,000 Guaranteed
End of Level 14: 1,200/2,400 with a 400 ante | Structure
Flight A Players Remaining: 32 of 183

Zachary Hammons bagged a monster in Flight A to lead the 32 advancers. Hammons stack sits at 315,000 and he’s in front of a notable number of big stacks that includes Juan Barbosa in second with 264,000 and Paul Balzano in third with 200,000

1. Zachary Hammons – 315,000
2. Juan Barbosa – 264,000
3. Paul Balzano – 200,000
4. Glen Minxolli – 189,500
5. Jacquelyn Scott – 147,500

Flight A enjoyed a strong showing with 183 entries generating $91,500 toward the tournament’s $400,000 prize pool. Flight B is set to fly momentarily and another strong turnout is expected from the evening action.

Complete chip counts through tonight’s Flight B will be posted tomorrow morning by 10am.

2018 Escalator Series (Week 4)
$560 Buy-In, $400,000 Guaranteed
Level 13: 1,000/2,000 with a 300 ante | Structure
Flight A Players Remaining: 36 of 183

Tables have broken steadily since registration closed just about 90 minutes ago and the field is down to 36 players — four tables. It’s late in Level 13 and the most recent table to break will likely mark the last one before play ends following Level 14.

2018 Escalator Series (Week 4)
$560 Buy-In, $400,000 Guaranteed
Level 13: 1,000/2,000 with a 300 ante | Structure
Flight A Players Remaining: 38 of 183

Florida’s Jacquelyn Scott recently picked up pocket sevens and sent an opponent to the rail on a runout. The spike grew Scott’s stack to just shy of 140,000. It’s a tough test at Scott’s table, though, as the aforementioned Paul Balzano has been cruising and sits around the 200,000 mark.

Level 13 is freshly underway and it marks the second-to-last level of the night. Play is set to conclude at roughly 6:40pm and we’ll provide a look at a few of the chip leaders at that time. Complete chip counts through Flight B will be posted tomorrow morning by 10am.

With play stretching deeper into the structure, Phil Hui, Jonathan Hilton, Zoltan Czinkota and Charlemagne Benjamin are among those who have busted.

2018 Escalator Series (Week 4)
$560 Buy-In, $400,000 Guaranteed
Level 12: 800/1,600 with a 300 ante | Structure
Flight A Players Remaining: 45 of 183

The day’s final break concluded just moments ago and it’s Miguel Capriles who leads the home stretch. Capriles hails from Miami and has had modest tournament success throughout his career. At present, he enjoys about 215,000 chips and hopes to parlay his hot play into a Day 2 berth and a payday.

2018 Escalator Series (Week 4)
$560 Buy-In, $400,000 Guaranteed
Level 11: 600/1,200 with a 200 ante | Structure
Flight A Players Remaining: 63 of 183

There’s a pair of gold bracelet champions at Table 31 and they recently battled it out to the river. After Phil Hui check-called a 5,500 turn bet by Jonathan Hilton on an board, fifth street fell the . Hui checked again and Hilton shoved for about 14,000. Hui called and Hilton turned over , just one better than Hui’s .

The table broke shortly after and the good fortune was short lived for Hilton who was knocked down to just 3,200 shortly thereafter.

2018 Escalator Series (Week 4)
$560 Buy-In, $400,000 Guaranteed
Level 9: 400/800 with a 100 ante | Structure
Flight A Players Remaining: 99 of 183

Andre Rakusa is sitting pretty with registration freshly closed in Flight A of the $400,000 guaranteed Escalator event. He holds one of the largest stacks in the room with better than 115,000 at the 400/800 level. That figure puts him in good position to find a bag, but there’s still a ways to go with play wrapping around 6:45pm.

2018 Escalator Series (Week 4)
$560 Buy-In, $400,000 Guaranteed
Level 9: 400/800 with a 100 ante | Structure
Flight A Entries: 183

Made it past late reg in the 560 @shrpo on one bullet with 34k, coming back to 400/800

— Joshua Beckley (@Joshua1Beckley) March 15, 2018

The second break of the day wrapped moments ago and players are back in their seats. Registration closed when cards went in the air and the Flight A field is final at 183 entries. That’s good for better than $90,000 toward the $400,000 guarantee and has the tournament easily ahead of pace to best the six-figure target.

Event breakdown: