Russell and Villanola Bag Big Stacks After Day 1a of $1,700 Main Event
It was an exciting day at the World Series of Poker International Circuit event in Aruba as for the first time in many years, a large poker tournament was held in the country. Tournament organizers and staff at the Hilton Aruba Caribbean Casino and Resort held their breath as they weren't quite sure what to expect, but the numbers didn't disappoint as a total of 133 entries were recorded for the first of two flights.
After 17 levels, the field reached its 16% threshold and play was halted with just 22 players remaining. Among those bagging chips, Matt Russell and Friman Villanola were the two front runners with 418,000 chips and 413,000 chips respectively.
Russell had a successful summer in Las Vegas where he made two final tables but is still searching for his first piece of WSOP jewelry, whether that comes in the form of a ring or a bracelet. He made a late charge after the dinner break and finished on top of the counts. As for Villanola, he picked up two massive pots throughout the day, one of which brought an end to Day 1a. Villanola flopped bottom set against top two pair and it was no doubt that the chips were going in the middle.
Some other big stacks making it through to Day 2 include Dave Grandin (313,000), Charles Furey (289,000), Kristy Arnett (234,000) and power poker couple in Aruba, Clyde Hinton (216,000) and Debbie Hinton (155,000). Both Clyde and Debbie put on quite the show today on separate tables as they were eliminating players left, right, and center towards the end of the night. Clyde is coming off his first WSOP Circuit victory in Event #8 where he claimed over $10,000 while Debbie has also had a successful series this week.
It wasn't all roses for everyone today as many notables were also forced to the rail throughout. Some of the big names that will be forced to return on Day 1b include Garry Gates, Ronnie Bardah, June Jenkins, the Vazquez brothers Francisco and Facundo, Christian Harder, Ray Henson, and Heather Alcorn.
The action will resume tomorrow at 2 p.m. local time where the cards will go back in the air with each player receiving a starting stack of 30,000 chips. A bigger turnout is expected for the second and final starting flight and there should be no question that the $250,000 guarantee will be reached. The players will play another 17 levels and will finish at the same time as Day 1a.
The PokerNews live reporting team will be back on the tournament floor to bring you all of the live updates throughout the entire event.