Shawn Daniels Takes the Day 1a Chip Lead at the Ante Up Poker Tour Atlantis Main Event
The opening flight of the Ante Up Poker Tour Atlantis $1,100 Main Event is a wrap. A total of 77 entries made their way to the Atlantis Casino for Day 1a and played down until the field was narrowed to 10 players. Those 10 players are in the money and will advance to Day 2 on Sunday.
At the end of the day, it was Shawn Daniels bagging the chip lead. Daniels added a considerable chunk to his stack on the final hand of the night, eliminating Ryan Awwad on the money bubble in a kings-versus-queens showdown.
Kevin O��Donnell, already the winner of two events in the 2019 Ante Up Atlantis series, started building a big stack in the beginning levels of the day before hitting a wall late in the night. O��Donnell was eliminated in 12th place, going out on an ace-king versus pocket tens hand against Daniels.
Other players near the top of the chip leaderboard include Valerie Hanley (353,000) and Madison Austria (249,000) .
Lots of formidable competition showed up for Day 1a. Some of the notable players that didn��t make it through to Day 2 included Ian Steinman, Eric Baldwin, Dan O��Brien, Jesse Rockowitz andJosh Prager, who just weeks ago took down the Ante Up World Championship Main Event at Thunder Valley and was featured on PokerNews' LFG Podcast.
Still in the hunt after making it through Day 1a are accomplished players like Scott Davies (107,500) and Joe Elpayaa.
The 10 players that did advance will take Saturday off and the Day 1b field will play until the money. Then, the Day 1a and Day 1b field will combine on Sunday for Day 2 and play down to a winner in this $200,000 guaranteed tournament.
The eliminations came at a rapid pace after the dinner break, going from four tables down to the final two tables in just three levels. The pace of play slowed down with 18 players left. The flight ended with 22:17 remaining in Level 16.
Day 1b will commence Saturday at 11 a.m., starting at 100/100 blinds. Players will take 15-minute breaks after every three 40-minute levels, with a dinner break scheduled after Level 9. Late registration will be available through the end of the dinner break.
Follow along with the PokerNews live reporting team at the Ante Up Poker Tour Atlantis $1,100 Main Event continues.