Friday, January 3, 2020

Friday, January 3rd: The $200 No Limit Hold'em ($100,000 GTD) Picks Up Pace, As We Reach The Final Four Starting Flights....$500 High Hands Return For The First Time In 2020

ICYMI: Thursday's tournament schedule hosted the second pair of starting flights for the $200 No Limit Hold'em ($100,000 GTD), which set the tone for the rest of the event.  Things started a little slowly during Flight 1C, but the pace of entry picked up before registration's close, with the field reaching a total of (69) entries.  Flight 1D ended up becoming the largest of the four flights to have been completed, as registration closed with a total of (97) entries.  A combined total of (29) players succesfully bagged chips (11 from Flight 1C, and 18 from Flight 1D), with the official list of players to bag during Thursday's action, published below:

Yuejian Wang - 468,500
Kevin Chan - 368,500
Patricia Conrad - 339,500
Tony Zharnitsg - 291,500
Harmeet Singh - 284,000
Luciano Nardi - 272,000
Joe Olmino - 259,500
Paulius Bikus - 249,500
Miguel Neras - 216,000
Jose Garcia - 186,500
Elliot Merlin - 174,500
Steven Fostoff - 171,500
Billy Romano - 169,000
Tom Kotocalge - 168,000
Richard Sanders - 161,500
Stuart Newmark - 144,000
Joseph Durso - 140,000
Ralph Francois - 118,000
Matthew Axelrod - 111,500
Caleb Piderit - 96,500
Hector Pacheco - 95,000
Steven Cabas - 93,500
Bryan Sousa - 91,500
Roman Ojeda - 76,000
Joakim Dag - 68,500
Brian Appell - 66,000
Kenwrick Edmond - 58,000
Marcela Henrick - 53,500

The combined totals for the tournament now see a (293) entries (at the midway point of the starting flights), of which (46) players are scheduled to return for Sunday's Day 2 (at 12:00pm).  The prize pool sits at $46,880, which is just short of halfway towards the posted guarantee.  With Friday and Saturday expected to attract the largest numbers, we should see this event cruise past the posted guarantee.

Tournaments: There is absolutely no waiting in 2020, as we jump right into a $200 No Limit Hold'em event, that carries a $100,000 guaranteed prize pool.  Today's schedule hosts the third pair of opening flights, with Flight 1E getting underway at 11:00am, followed by Flight 1F at 6:00pm.  Each of the flights are structured with 30,000 unit starting stacks, (30) minute levels, and have registration open through Level 8 (and the break that follows).  Action is scheduled to play through Level 14, or if the field reaches the 10% mark, whichever comes first.  Those players that succesfully bag chips, will return for Day 2 on Sunday (January 5th), with action resuming at 12:00pm.

Those players that are interested in joining the action for a fraction of the price, have the opportunity to play in a $45 No Limit Hold'em Satellite, which gets underway at 2:00pm.  There is a satellite running each day, from Thursday through Saturday.

Promotions: The "Turbo High Hands" were well received in December, and they have found a home in January as well.  Beginning at 9:00am (every day of the week), $100 high hands will be awarded every (10) minutes, with rollovers applying.  Because of those rollovers, we have seen the 9:00am-12:00pm period award prizes of $400...$700...even $1,000, over the past month.

The "standard" high hands will be awarding $300 every (30) minutes (from 12:00pm-6:00pm).  Every jackpot game is eligible for the same amount, with the full $150 being rewarded to those that use one card to make the high hand.  For those players in tournaments, high hands are worth $100.

At 6:00pm, the high hands grow even larger, as $500 will be awarded every (30) minutes.  The winning high hands made with one card (during the 6:00pm-midnight period) will be awarded $250.

From 12:00am-9:00am, the high hand will be awarded $100 every (60) minutes.

11:00am: $200 No Limit Hold'em ($100,000 GTD) Flight 1E

- Players starting with 30,000 tournament chips
- Late and re-entries for the first (8) levels
- Alternates and late entries will sit down to full stacks
- Levels will last (30) minutes

2:00pm: $45 No Limit Hold'em Satellite Into $200 No Limit Hold'em ($100,000 GTD)

6:00pm: $200 No Limit Hold'em ($100,000 GTD) Flight 1F

- Players starting with 30,000 tournament chips
- Late and re-entries for the first (8) levels
- Alternates and late entries will sit down to full stacks
- Levels will last (30) minutes