$1,700 SPS Championship (Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 8: 600/1,200 with a 1,200 ante
Day 1A Entries: 181
Time is winding down if you want to join Flight A of the Championship and we have some late arrivals building the field.
Among them we found James Calderaro, Ryan Luker, Michael McCray, Bryce McVay, Carlos Loving, Jacob Naumann, Steve Ekin, and Rodney Turvin.
$1,700 SPS Championship (Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 7: 500/1,000 with a 1,000 ante
Day 1A Entries: 181
Another walk among the tables during break found a nice group of players with big piles of chips.
Mike Silva was tops after six levels, leading the pack with 158,900 and Kevin Blewitt was close behind, followed by Tony March, Forrest Raleigh, and David Pham.
Mike Silva – 158,900 (159 bb)
Kevin Blewitt – 152,900 (153 bb)
Tony March – 149,000 (149 bb)
Forrest Raleigh – 140,200 (140 bb)
David Pham – 136,400 (136 bb)
AJ Kelsall was not on our list at the break, but he has our attention now. Hassan Hakim called us over with the promise of a new chip leader and he was correct; Kelsall is now stacked up to 172,000 and the new top stack.
$1,700 SPS Championship (Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 6: 400/800 with a 800 ante
Day 1A Entries: 170
Level 6 came to an end and tournament staff sent our Championship players on another 15-minute break. They will return to play the last three levels with registration available; it will close after the third break.
$1,700 SPS Championship (Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 5: 300/600 with a 600 ante
Day 1A Entries: 158
We mentioned William Clay earlier, one of our SPS champs playing in the field today. We found a few others with AJ Kelsall, Jimmy Tomblin, and Shane Melert in the mix.
Melert was the Event 10 champ ($600 Deep Stack), Kelsall won Event 11 ($1,100 Six-Handed), and Tomblin captured the Event 12 title ($2,200 Deep Stack).
On top of winning Event 11, Kelsall made both final tables yesterday with a third-place finish in the $2,200 Deep Stack and seventh in the $400 Limit Omaha 8.
$1,700 SPS Championship (Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 5: 300/600 with a 600 ante
Day 1A Entries: 158
Walking among the tables, we saw Art Peacock taking a new stack to a new table. A bit odd since he was among the leaders at the break.
Checking his old table, it looks like David “The Dragon” Pham* and Wilmer Chavira divided him up because their stacks are much bigger. Pham, a three-time WSOP bracelet winner, is up to 134,000 and Chavia has 108,100 while there is someone new in the 8-seat.
Unfortunate for Peakcock while two other tough players have big stacks.
* not a real dragon
$1,700 SPS Championship (Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 4: 300/500 with a 500 ante
Day 1A Entries: 152
The first break ended and players returned to their seats to continue their work towards a title. The field topped 150 while they were gone and we’re going to build something special.
Clyde Maliauka is on another run, he leads Flight A with 114,800 and only two others topped 100K. Art Peacock sits in second with 102,200 and Event 4 champ William Clay is right behind with 102,000.
$1,700 SPS Championship (Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 3: 200/400 with a 400 ante
Day 1A Entries: 139
Flight A players are taking their first break of the day and we will take this opportunity to check out the big stacks after three levels.
They will return for another three levels before the second break and registration remains open until 5:45 pm.
$1,700 SPS Championship (Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 3: 200/400 with a 400 ante
Day 1A Entries: 132
We have a great turnout this afternoon for Flight A of the SPS Championship, with many locals and a few travelers mixed in there. We’ll find more visitors as the field grows into the weekend.
More friendly faces include Amie Martini (having a great series), Clyde Maliauka, Fred Paradis, Hyndi Khomutetsky, Ruth Ruffman, and Terri-Anne Crawford.
$400 T.O.E. (Re-Entry)
Structure
Level 1: 300/600 Limits
If you are looking for something different than the SPS Championship, we have a game for you at noon. Event 15 is $400 T.O.E. tournament that will rotate games between Limit 2-7 Triple Draw, Omaha 8, and Stud 8.
It’s a good mix.
Players start with 30K deep stacks and all levels last 30 minutes for the one-day trophy event. Late registration and unlimited re-entries are available until the start of Level 9 at 4:30 pm. The 30-minute dinner break is scheduled for 6:30 pm and then we found our T.O.E. champ.
$1,700 SPS Championship (Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 2: 200/300 with a 300 ante
Day 1A Entries: 109
The entry count quickly jumped over 100 in the first level and we have a steady march of players joining the field. A good start on a Wednesday morning.
A few familiar faces in early action include Eric Walling, David DiBernardi, Gil Levy, Steve Blackmon, Francis Anderson, Brian Arbaugh, Nick Kost, and Justin Harrell.
