Blythe Bags Top Stack After Final Flight at HPT St. Louis
The largest day of all three starting flights by a long shot has been completed and the field for Day 2 has been set at HPT St. Louis $1,650 Main Event. Day 1c saw a total of 261 entries to bring the entire total to 480 entries over three initial flights.
Of the 261 players, 45 players advanced with Rick Blythe bagging a total of 531,000 to find himself as the chip leader for the flight. Next up was Jason Darland who was the only other player to bag over 400,000 with (438,000).
Rounding out the top five for the flight include WSOP bracelet winner Blair Hinkle (395,000), Umut Ozturk (359,000), and WSOP bracelet winner James Mackey (350,000).
Saturday’s flight saw a ton of recognizable faces make it up the mountain at their final shot at advancing to Day 2. Some players to advance in this flight after failing in previous flights include BJ McBrayer (240,500), Mike Shin (237,000), Craig Casino (236,000), John Richards (217,000), Nick Davidson (136,000), Simon Webster (107,000), Bill Haner (105,000), Derek Schroeder (100,000), Stephen Green (98,00), Dave Simon (53,000), and Ryan Gregor (50,000)
Other players who found a bag at the end of the day were Stan Jablonski (273,000), Adam Lamphere (181,00), Brian Green (175,000), and defending champ Bill Byrnes (119,000).
A few players who were not fortunate enough to advance included Keith Heine, Grant Hinkle, Mike Rieck, and Chris Tryba.
Day 2 will begin Sunday, August 4 at 11 a.m. local time. There will be 75 players returning with 54 players making it into the money. Those who earn a first-level payout will receive $3,003 and payouts will climb from there to the eventual first-place prize of $160,632.
Play will resume at the beginning of Level 16, with blinds of 2,000/5,000 and a 5,000 big-blind ante. Levels will last 60 minutes throughout the duration of the day with 15-minute breaks at the completion of every two levels. From the time the cards are in the air, action will continue until the official final table of nine has been reached.
Which nine players will find themselves putting chips in bags when Day 2 concludes? Come back to PokerNews for updates along the way as that question is answered.