$2,500 SPS Championship
Prize Pool: $510,750  |  Structure
Level 9:  1,000/1,500 with a 1,500 ante
Day 1B Players Remaining:  41 of 129

Flight B of the SPS Championship ended with 41 players advancing to Day 2 tomorrow at noon. Nikita Patalinghug surged late to take the overall lead coming back, while Hyndi Khomutetsky knocked out two players at the end to finish second in the flight and third overall.

We will post the Day 2 seat draw and chip counts as soon as they are available.

Top five Flight B stacks:

Nikita Patalinghug – 555,000 (370 bb)
Hyndi Khomutetsky – 413,000 (275 bb)
Alex Ziskin – 289,000 (193 bb)
Igor Pinheiro – 276,500 (184 bb)
Brian Ray – 263,500 (176 bb)

$2,500 SPS Championship
Prize Pool: $508,500  |  Structure
Level 9:  1,000/1,500 with a 1,500 ante
Day 1B Players Remaining:  53 of 129

We are back underway with the final level of the night and 53 players remaining. They will pause the clock with ten minutes remaining, have a random drawing, and each table will finish with the same number of hands to close the evening.

Nick Scholz is the late chip leader, sitting at the top with 225,500 and Brian Ray, to his immediate left, is second with 217,500. Warren Gheen is still up there and third with 210,500.

$2,500 SPS Championship
Prize Pool: $508,500  |  Structure
Level 8:  600/1,200 with a 1,200 ante
Day 1B Entries:  128

Level 8 is coming to an end which means players will enjoy their last break of the day while tournament staff color the black chips out of play. That will give them one more hour-long level to spin up a stack.

We’ll see if we have any new leaders in contention for the Day 2 chip lead.

$2,500 SPS Championship
$500,000 Guaranteed  |  Structure
Level 7:  500/1,000 with a 1,000 ante
Day 1B Entries:  125

Shortly after coming back from break, the 125th entry of Flight B took a seat and the Signature Poker Series Championship prize pool officially topped the $500,000 guarantee.

And we have a lot of time to run it higher with late registration available until the start of Level 12 tomorrow at 2:15 pm.

$2,500 SPS Championship
$500,000 Guaranteed  |  Structure
Level 7:  500/1,000 with a 1,000 ante
Day 1B Entries:  123

The third break is down and we found a brand new chip leader.

Warren Gheen was the big stack while they were gone holding 153,500, then he picked up another big chunk on the first hand back, knocking out Shawn Barnett with tens, winning the race against big slick.

Fabio Chavez is the closest to Gheen, sitting in second with 153,000 and a bunch giving chase.

$2,500 SPS Championship
$500,000 Guaranteed  |  Structure
Level 6:  400/800 with a 800 ante
Day 1B Entries:  118

Another break is coming around and the Championship is very close to surpassing its $500,000 guarantee.

We have 118 entries in the game, leaving us only seven from the magic number and a long time to get there.

$2,500 SPS Championship
$500,000 Guaranteed  |  Structure
Level 5:  300/600 with a 600 ante
Day 1B Entries:  101

Players are back in action after the second break and the entry count ticked over 100. We are looking for 125 to surpass the $500,000 guarantee and they are getting there.

Igor Tretyakov is the new leader in the room with 116,200 with Nikita Patalinghug and Justin Swilling the only other two over 100K. Here are some counts from around the room:

Igor Tretyakov – 116,200 (194 bb)
Nikita Patalinghug – 105,800 (176 bb)
Justin Swilling – 104,200 (174 bb)
Grant Missonis – 99,400 (166 bb)
Brian Ray – 93,200 (155 bb)
Ricardo Eyzaguirre – 84,400 (141 bb)
John Kennedy – 78,300 (131 bb)
Jamie “Beard” Smith – 74,200 (124 bb)
Huicun Qiao – 70,400 (117 bb)
Robert Fregosi – 68,400 (114 bb)
Mark Wiser – 67,000 (112 bb)
Diego Uez – 66,100 (110 bb)
John Gordon – 65,200 (109 bb)
Hyndi Khomutetsky – 59,500 (99 bb)
Gabe Fuller – 59,000 (98 bb)
Justin Zaki – 53,700 (90 bb)
Curtis King – 49,200 (82 bb)
Mike Ahmad – 48,500 (81 bb)
Ori Remen – 46,000 (77 bb)
Ken Fishman – 39,700 (66 bb)
Jeff Trudeau Jr – 38,300 (64 bb)
Shawn Barnett – 37,100 (62 bb)
Clyde Maliauka – 34,800 (58 bb)
Josh Nicholson – 32,000 (53 bb)
Juan Rodriguez – 30,700 (51 bb)
Karl Manouchakian – 26,200 (44 bb)
Woodrow Pass – 23,300 (39 bb)
Nick Scholz – 12,700 (21 bb)
Peter Walsworth – 12,200 (20 bb)

$2,500 SPS Championship
$500,000 Guaranteed  |  Structure
Level 4:  300/500 with a 500 ante
Day 1B Entries:  90

Players are about ready to take another break with the entry count nearing 100. We are within striking distance of the $500,000 guarantee and should get there before we bag up this evening.

We’ll take another walk among the empty tables to find our leaders.

$2,500 SPS Championship
$500,000 Guaranteed  |  Structure
Level 3:  200/400 with a 400 ante
Day 1B Entries:  82

The entry count moved over 80 entries after the first break and more players are finding their way to the tables. We are running it up and getting closer to the $500,000 guarantee.

More friends in the field include Juan Rodriguez, Ricardo Eyzaguirre, Justin Zaki, Peter Walsworth, Jerry Silva, and Jamie Smith.

Rodriguez made Florida poker proud this summer when he captured the WSOP $5,000 Seniors High Roller bracelet, topping a tough 844-entry field to bank $673,011.

$2,500 SPS Championship
$500,000 Guaranteed  |  Structure
Level 3:  200/400 with a 400 ante
Day 1B Entries:  70

Players returned to action after the first break and we’re having a bit of deja vu. At this point yesterday, Adel Kabbani held the biggest stack in the room and he’s at the top once again today with 71,400.

He ran into some problems late yesterday and missed a bag but he’s giving it another good run today.

Here are a few counts from around the room during break:

Adel Kabbani – 71,400 (179 bb)
Hyndi Khomutetsky – 61,500 (154 bb)
Alan Taylor – 53,900 (135 bb)
Nikita Patalinghug – 52,800 (132 bb)
Josh Nicholson – 52,800 (132 bb)
Mark Wiser – 51,000 (128 bb)
Nick Scholz – 47,600 (119 bb)
Woodrow Pass – 47,000 (118 bb)
Brian Ray – 46,600 (117 bb)
Ken Fishman – 46,200 (116 bb)
Jeff Trudeau Jr – 42,300 (106 bb)
Justin Swillin – 41,900 (105 bb)
John Kennedy – 41,700 (104 bb)
Gabe Fuller – 39,700 (99 bb)
Diego Uez – 38,700 (97 bb)
Huicun Qiao – 38,400 (96 bb)
James Casement – 38,100 (95 bb)
Mike Ahmad – 34,600 (87 bb)
Grant Missonis – 33,100 (83 bb)
Curtis King – 32,300 (81 bb)
John Gordon – 27,100 (68 bb)
Barbara Cardin – 10,800 (27 bb)
Mark Zhang – 4,200 (11 bb)