Palumbo, Wilkie Bag Half a Million as Eight Advance from Day 1a of the 2021 CPC $1,450 Main Event
Day 1a of the 2021 Bally's Black Hawk Colorado Poker Championship (CPC) $1,450 Main Event has come and gone with 70 entries opening the tally on the first of three starting flights for the tournament. Fourteen full levels were on the docket for the day, but play ended seven minutes early as 12% of the field was reached with eight remaining and Rocco Palumbo (554,500) leading the field.
Palumbo's Day 1a was largely smooth sailing, entering the tournament at the start of the day and chipping up in the first level of play. His chip trajectory continued upward from there, becoming one of the top stacks in the room with over 150,000 by the dinner break. From there, he kept climbing, reaching 350,000 before knocking out Brian Leitch via rivered trips to surpass the 400K mark. His final punctuation mark came on the last hand of the night, when he eliminated Barry Faecher in ninth place to cement his spot atop the counts for the day.
Defending CPC Main Event Co-Champion Steve Wilkie (504,000) also finished the day above half a million, experiencing a surge at the end of the night saw him double his stack in the last two levels of play, largely at the expense of Ben Keeline and Svetlana Martie. When nine remained, Wilkie overtook the chip lead from Palumbo and appeared to be the one that would set the pace for future flights, only to see Palumbo finish back on top after eliminating Faecher.
The other six players to advance all did so with stacks of less than half of Wilkie's. Those players were: Lawrence Brink (252,000), Chris Quackenbush (179,000), Michael Hinde (166,000), Roman Mai (162,000), Donna Gadd (148,000), and Chad Stoffel (134,000). All eight players will return for Sunday's Day 2 with more than 30 big blinds to conclude Level 14 (and more than 25 big blinds for the start of Level 15).
Other familiar faces to fall short of a bag included Phil Gioia, Jorden Helstern, Zach Gutierrez, Sammy Aweida, and Thomas Fuller. Two more starting flights remain for all who have yet to punch their ticket to Day 2, with the next one beginning Friday at noon local time.
PokerNews will be back at it then to bring you updates as the action unfolds. See you soon.