Event 1 Flight A: Jackie Lee (630K) and Ariel Williams (618K) Lead 70 Survivors

$400 Deep Stack NLH (Re-Entry)
$500,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 16:  3,000/5,000 with a 5,000 ante
Flight A Players Remaining:  70 of 565

Ariel Williams
Ariel Williams

Flight 1A came to an end during Level 16, with blinds at 3,000-5,000 with a 5,000 ante, and the big stacks belong to Jackie Lee, who bagged up 630,000 (126 big blinds), and Ariel Williams who finished with 618,000 (124 big blinds).

The full list of official chip counts will be posted later this evening, but here’s a look at the top five players from this flight:

1.  Jackie Lee  –  630,000  (126 bb)
2.  Ariel Williams  –  618,000  (124 bb)
3.  David Laufer  –  498,000  (100 bb)
4.  Thomas Morgado  –  493,000  (99 bb)
5.  David MacDonald  –  399,000  (80 bb)

Michael Tait
Michael Tait

While he didn’t make it to the top of the leaderboard, Michael Tait did make an incredible comeback today. Tait was down to just 4,500 in chips during Level 12, with blinds at 1,000-2,000, but he was able to run it back up, and he finished the flight with 261,000. That’ll give him at least 52 big blinds to start Day 2.

This flight of 565 entries was playing down to the final 71 players (12.5%), but two players were eliminated during the second hand of hand-for-hand play, so only 70 will advance from this flight. Everyone who bags chips will finish in the money and advance to Day 2, which begins Sunday at 1:00 pm.

This event has six starting flights, with two each day between now and Saturday. The morning flights start at 10:00 am (registration open until 2:30 pm) and the evening flights start at 6:00 pm (registration open until 10:30 pm). Flight 1B is currently underway.