Event 1 $550 Buy-In Continues at the Pennsylvania State Poker Championship

Tyler Boyer

The Pennsylvania State Poker Championship continues at Live! Hotel and Casino. Day 1e in Event 1 $550 Buy-In will begin at 11:15 a.m. local time. The PokerStars sponsored tournament will feature a $200,000 guaranteed prize pool, with seven Day 1 starting flights, taking place over four days. Players who advance from each flight will combine and return for Day 2 on Sunday, August 25, where a winner will be crowned.

Play for Day 1 flights will conclude once 12.5% of the field remains, and those who bag will be in the money for Day 2. Through two days and four flights, there has been a total of 345 entrants, with 45 players advancing to Day 2.

The chip leader of Day 1a was Donald Stchley who bagged 373,500. The Day 1b leader and overall chip leader after the first four flights is Wen Zhang who finshed Day 1b with 449,000 chips. After Day 1c it was David Martinko who ended the night at the top of the leaderboard with 374,000 chips, after winning a massive pot to burst the bubble. The leader after Day 1d was John Wilson, who bagged 347,500.

Top 10 Chip Counts Through Day 1d

Place	Name	Country	Chip Count
1	Wen Zhang	United States	449,000
2	David Martinko	United States	374,000
3	Donald Stchley	United States	373,500
4	John Wilson	United States	347,500
5	Alexander Petrucelli	United States	337,500
6	Kyle Lorez	United States	319,500
7	Max Pinnola	United States	316,500
8	John Cipriano	United States	307,000
9	Derek Atson	United States	300,000
10	Alexander Rolfe	United States	297,500

Also up for grabs is a Gold Pass to the NAPT Las Vegas Main Event in November. PokerStars will be awarding the last online qualifier standing the Gold Pass package, which includes travel, accommodation, and the $5,300 tournament buy-in. Through the first four flights we saw five qualifiers advance to Day 2. The players who have made it to Day 2 include Brandon Mueller, Christopher Regan, Dan McGinnis, David Kuder, and Steven Gerwitz.

Players will begin each starting flight with 30,000 in chips and blinds will begin at 100/100 with a 100 big blind ante. Blinds will increase every 30 minutes on Day 1 and every 40 minutes on Day 2.

Late registration and reentries are permitted through Level 8, with 15-minute breaks taking place every four levels. Unlimited reentries are allowed and players may play additional Day 1 flights in an attempt to increase their chip counts. Should a player choose to play multiple Day 1 flights, only the highest qualifying stack will be permitted to continue to Day 2.