Event 9 (Flight K): Official End Of Flight K Chip Counts

Event 9 ($350 No Limit Hold'em $300,000 Guarantee)
Level 14 (Blinds 1,200/2,400/300)
Total Flight K Entries: 146

Players Remaining: 29

David	Moreno *	259,800
Vincent	Mollica	216,700
Michael	Scheinburg	167,900
Denian	Costa	147,100
Spencer	Leibmann	133,700
Ory	Hen	133,500
Kenneth	Fagioli	131,800
David	Ward	129,400
Ralph	Maula	127,000
Carl	Cajuste	121,000
Dylan	Drazen	108,200
Kai	Koppe	103,000
Zakarya	Wolgamott	102,400
Ronald	Rentz	101,500
Steven	Costa	96,500
Richard	Arno	95,000
Sean	Anderson	86,000
David	Gerber	79,700
Sheikh	Akhter	74,200
Raj	Nasta	73,000
Mukul	Pahuja	71,700
Ariel	Rosello	71,300
Matt	Erdogan	70,800
Eric	Mickelson	54,400
Yuan	Shen	50,000
Sagi	Zommer	42,300
Julio	Rangel	36,100
Shurland	George	31,600
Larry	Hirschfield	29,100

*Denotes Flight H "chiplead bonus," and entry into $1,500 Isle Open Main Event

Event 9 (Flight K): Gotta Be In It To Win It

Event 9 ($350 No Limit Hold'em $300,000 Guarantee)
Level 12 (Blinds 800/1,600/200)
Total Flight K Entries: 146

Players Remaining: 45

Kimberly Jones (Pompano Beach, FL)

Players are only (15) minutes away from their final break of the flight, and will then return to finish off the last two levels of the flight.  We've spotted a few players that are in the tournament for their first bullets, one of which is Kimberly Jones (Pompano Beach, FL).  Followers of the blog may remember Jones from Event 1, as she was all-in and at risk on the stone bubble (pre-flop), holding Q 10 in a three-way pot.  She flopped well and managed to triple up, eventually falling just three spots short of the final table (14th Place - $1,019).  

David Diaz (Bartlett, TN) was also spotted playing in this second to last flight, jumping in an Isle Poker Open event for the first time this series.  Diaz is the Isle Poker Open Main Event defending champ, capturing the title last year for just over $134,000.

Event 9 (Flight J): Official End Of Flight J Chip Counts

Event 9 ($350 No Limit Hold'em $300,000 Guarantee)
Level 14 (Blinds 1,200/2,400/300)
Total Flight J Entries: 154
Players Remaining: 26

Jeff	Burden *	253,600
Zachary	Milchman	225,100
Scott	Wyler	214,800
Ryan	Bunes	170,800
Richard	Whitebrook	165,600
Greg	Rosen	162,100
Zoltan	Czinkota	160,300
Cantatore	Giovanni	160,100
Avery	Bass	153,000
Ricardo	Eyzaguirre	151,700
Jeff	Silverstein	145,400
Roni	Dresler	130,300
Jameel	Harris	116,800
Peter	Fellows	113,000
Vincent	DeVita	111,200
Genachte	Daniel	109,200
Matthew	McDonough	105,300
Oniel	McCalla	100,300
Harjinder	Chawla	83,000
Scott	Heiligman	63,300
Robert	Somansky	62,800
Emanuel	Ibarry	48,700
Nancy	Birnbaum	41,100
Nick	Fiore	26,700
Steve	Lipkins	25,400
Maxim	Bjebs	25,300

*Denotes Flight H "chiplead bonus," and entry into $1,500 Isle Open Main Event

Event 9 (Flight L): "The Final Flight"

Event 9 ($350 No Limit Hold'em $300,000 Guarantee)
Level 1 (Blinds 25/50)
Total Flight L Entries: 28

It's been a long week and a lot of flights, but it's come time to announce that the cards are in the air for the final flight of Event 9.  This is the slowest start of the day, but you can expect a good percentage of players that bust Flight L to jump right into this one.  We should also mention that the $300,000 guarantee will likely be reached in the first few levels of this flight, after one of the best showing of the week on this final day of "opening"play.

Event 9 (Flight J): Burdeen Bags The Chip Lead

Event 9 ($350 No Limit Hold'em $300,000 Guarantee)
Level 14 (Blinds 1,200/2,400/300)
Total Flight J Entries: 154
Players Remaining: 28

Jeff Burdeen (Delray Beach, FL)

It's been a good two weeks for Jeff Burdeen (Delray Beach, FL), as he bags the Flight J chip lead, and earns himself a seat into the $1,500 Isle Poker Open Main Event.  The race was nearly as close as the two flights before this, but Burdeen did have some competition heading to the final few hands.  Jeff will now head into Day 2 with one of the top stacks in the field, and primed to make a deep run...all of this after winning a $130 No Limit Hold'em Deep Stack event at Coconut Creek just (10) days ago  ($12,615).

The tournament crew is currently verifying all of the bags and chip counts, and once that process is done, we will post the official chip counts for the flight.

Event 9 (Flight K): Raising The "Cup"

Event 9 ($350 No Limit Hold'em $300,000 Guarantee)
Level 6 (Blinds 150/300/25)
Total Flight K Entries: 115
Players Remaining: 90

Ryan Van Sanford (Ft. Lauderdale, FL)

After a brief appearance earlier in the series (buying into Day 2 of Event 5 with the starting stack), Ryan Van Sanford (Ft. Lauderdale, FL) is back in action in Flight K.  Van Sanford has just under $1,000,000 in live tournament earnings, with close to half of that coming from his WPT win a Best Bet in Jacksonville (2014 WPT $5,000 No Limit Hold'em Bounty Scramble - $421,668).  

Ryan is coming off a solid September, winning the inaugural Poker News Cup ($68,676), besting a final table that hosted the likes of Aaron Massey, Christian Harder, and Barry Hutter.  Van Sanford then followed that up with a deep run in the Coco Poker Open $2,500 Main Event (25th Place - $7,000).  Van Sanford isn't without an Isle Poker trophy though, having won the $1,600 No Limit Hold'em Bounty during the 2014 Florida State Poker Championships ($28,275).

The likely won't be the last time we see Van Sanford this series, as his attendance is likely during the $1,500 Isle Poker Open Main Event next week.

Event 9 (Flight J): As Expected...It's Anyones Race

Event 9 ($350 No Limit Hold'em $300,000 Guarantee)
Level Level 13 (Blinds 1,000/2,000/300)
Total Flight J Entries: 154
Players Remaining: 37

Alex Thomas (Gainesville, FL)

The cards are back in the air for the 11:00am players (Flight J), and while the names on the top are still the same (for the most part), things are super close between the group.  Giovanni Cantatore had dropped down from his peak just hours ago, but he scooped a massive pot as we were exiting the tournament area, putting him back on top with over 230,000.

Giovanni Cantatore - 238,000

Ricardo Eyzaguirre - 220,000

Alex Thomas - 180,000

Avery Bass - 140,000

Zoltan Czinkota - 139,000

Event 9 (Flight J): Final Break, Ready To Race

Event 9 ($350 No Limit Hold'em $300,000 Guarantee)
Level 12 (Blinds 800/1,600/200)
Total Flight J Entries: 155
Players Remaining: 45

Players in the morning flight are finishing up Level 12, and will then take their final (10) minute break of the day.  They will then return to blinds of 1,000/2,000/300, and our focus will shift to the race for the "chiplead bonus."  We will expect the totals from this flight to be smaller than the bagged chip leads of those before it, as Flight J will likely end with three or four tables (opposed to one or two).

Event 9 (Flight J): Updated Counts From The Field

Event 9 ($350 No Limit Hold'em $300,000 Guarantee)
Level 10 (Blinds 500/1,000/100)
Total Flight J Entries: 155
Players Remaining: 66

Giovanni Cantatore (Italy)

The current chip leader in the field has (9) recorded results on his resume (since 2014), but none of which came in the United States. Giovanni Cantatore (Italy) has results from the EPT (European Poker Tour), the IPT (Italian Poker Tour), and the UKIPT (United Kingdom and Ireland Poker Tour), all totaling over $40,000.  He's now pacing the field with over 170,000, and looking to get that first American flag on the Hendon Mob.

Giovanni Catatore - 170,000
Ricardo Eyzaguirre - 155,000
Oniel Mcclla - 130,000
Zack Milchman - 120,000
Alex Thomas - 120,000
Peter Fellows - 115,000
Avery Bass - 100,000

Event 9 (Flight K): Beginning To Get The Hang Of This

Event 9 ($350 No Limit Hold'em $300,000 Guarantee)
Level 2 (Blinds 50/100)
Total Flight K Entries: 67
Players Remaining: 55

When this series first started, 90% of the fields were basically strangers to this blogger...coming from an environment when it was the exact opposite.  The names and faces are all becoming more familiar now, so the first scan of the Flight K field yielded the following notables:

Dave Henry
Mark Dube
Dolphins Powers
Ellen Smith
Michael Newman
Ory Hen
Joseph Levitt
Yves Ferquiere
Jorge Martinez
Jose De Arriba
Ryan Miller
David Moreno

Event 9 (Flight J): A Feat Hard To Match

Event 9 ($350 No Limit Hold'em $300,000 Guarantee)
Level 9 (Blinds 400/800/100)
Total Flight J Entries: 154
Players Remaining: 78

Al Krux (Tampa, FL)

Whether it's a movie based around poker, or just every players dream, the World Series Of Poker Main Event final table is really the pinnacle of poker.  Most players, regardless of the skill set, will never even reach arms length of the dream.  Now we understand that things have evolved over the course of time, but our most recent notable in the field has (3) WSOP Main Event final tables to his name!

Try and think back (12) years...I was in law school at the time, but was enamored by poker and the ESPN coverage.  I remember watching the 2004 Main Event coverage (when Greg "Fossilman" Raymer won) each time it was on, regardless of the fact that I knew the outcome.  So when I passed Al Krux (Tampa, FL) in the field moments ago, I knew I recognized the face, but really just assumed it wasn't who I was thinking.  

My assumptions were wrong (wasn't the first time), and it turns out that Al is in today's Flight J field.  In addition to the three WSOP Main Event final tables, Al has one WSOP bracelet, and over $1,442,000 in earnings.  Krux now resides in Tampa, but with a little convincing from his nephew, decided to take the trip down here to play the event.  

Event 9 (Flight J): As One Door Closes...Another Opens

Event 9 ($350 No Limit Hold'em $300,000 Guarantee)
Level 8 (Blinds 300/600/75)
Total Flight J Entries: 144
Players Remaining: 94

Flight J players just started Level 8, and are now posting new blinds of 300/600/75.  If you've followed the blog over the course of this event, then you'd know that this signifies the last level of registration from this 11:00am flight.  Players will have this level and the break that follows to either enter (or re-enter), before the registration window for Flight J closes.

Not to worry though, for those interested in trying to bag for Day 2 of this event, as Flight K starts in just (20) minutes...and Flight L begins at 7:00pm.  With the size of the field still remaining to Flight J, it looks like we will be using the outer tournament tables for only the second time all series.  Once Flight K starts, we will update you on some of the players in the field, all the while keeping our eye on the Flight J action.

Event 9 (Flight J): Climbing Up The Ranks

Event 9 ($350 No Limit Hold'em $300,000 Guarantee)
Level 6 (Blinds 150/300/50)
Total Flight J Entries: 139
Players Remaining: 101

Zoltan Czinkota (Davie, FL)

Table 11 sits right in front of the media podium, so the banter from the tables is easily audible from that distance.  The table hosts a handful of notables (Evan Teitelbaum, Ory Hen, Michael Newman, Martin Robbins), and with the close knit poker community that Florida, those notables haven't stopped the needling and joking around.  Then walked over Zoltan Czinkota (Davie, FL), and the table erupted with applause.

Zoltan is a Florida based tournament pro, who is in the midst of his best year of poker in his career.  The (23) cashes this year gives him a ranking of 62nd in the world for the 2016 calendar, while the earnings that come along with those cashes has him in the top one thousand for the year.  Of those (23) cashes, three of them are from the WSOP, one WPT (Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood), and one WPT Deepstacks (Seminole Hard Rock Tampa). 

While the mood at the table was jovial when Czinkota first sat down, things have been all business for Zoltan ever since.

Event 9 (Flight J): Credit Where Credit Is Due

Event 9 ($350 No Limit Hold'em $300,000 Guarantee)
Level 5 (Blinds 150/300/25)
Total Flight J Entries: 128
Players Remaining: 100

Danielle Bastarache (Ft. Laud., FL)

When this series started, many of these names and faces were very new to a poker blogger from the Northeast.  There was a slight mixup between the career stats of Danielle Bastarache (pictured), and Daniel Genachte.  Danielle's stats were listed with Daniel's name and photo (see how that could be confusing?).  With Danielle back in action today, we have our opportunity to make amends.

It's Danielle Bastarache (Ft. Lauderdale, FL) with over $100,000 in career tournament earnings...and (25) recorded results since 2012...including a career best $84,137 score from the Seminole Hard Rock Showdown in 2012.  And like we mentioned before in the feature, she's amassed this resume without one cash in a tournament over a $350 buy-in price point.  Bastarache continues our list of notables in the Flight J field, a list that also includes:

Mark Dube
Michael Newman
Martin Robbins
Elliot Zaydman
Zakarya Wolgamott
David Baker
Frederick Allenspach
Maury Barrett

Event 9 (Flight J): Pieces Of The Flight J Puzzle

Event 9 ($350 No Limit Hold'em $300,000 Guarantee)
Level 4 (Blinds 100/200)
Total Flight J Entries: 114
Players Remaining: 96

Joe Niblett (Coral Spring, FL)

Joe Niblett (Coral Springs, FL) got a lot of mentions on the blog to start the series, all during his deep run in Event 1 (25th Place - $566).  Niblett has yet to find that same traction he did during the opening flight/Day 2 of Event 1, but is back in action today, hoping to recapture the fire he had just two weeks ago.  Joe's task isn't the easiest today, with Ory Hen (Cooper City, FL) sitting to his direct left.  The two table mates are just a couple of the many notables spread out across this field:

Linda Lipkins
Danielle Bastarache
Sheddy Siddiqui
Daniel Genachte
Michelle McLeod
Lou Stadler
Giovanni Cantatore
George El-Khouri
Nancy Birmbaum
Paula Alibrandi

Event 9 (Flight J): Determined Not To Bubble...Again

Event 9 ($350 No Limit Hold'em $300,000 Guarantee)
Level 3 (Blinds 75/150)
Total Flight J Entries: 89
Players Remaining: 87

Ellen Smith (Okeechobee, FL)

The last time that Ellen Smith (Okeechobee, FL) was featured on the blog, it was during the Event 1 money bubble.  Smith had been eliminated during hand-for-hand play, and was patiently (and quietly) waiting to see if anyone else would be knocked out on the same hand (meaning she would have split the min-cash with that player).

While Smith was waiting for all of the hands to finish, she was still smiling, and even wished the opponent who busted her "good luck."  Put in that same position, many other players would not have acted so kindly, nor would they have walked away smiling.

"I'm not going to be bubbling again," Ellen said right before we took her photo.  She brought up the story to her neighbor Matt Wolfson, who also confirmed what we thought, that Smith was likely the nicest person in this field.  Before she can even think about potentially (not) bubbling though, Ellen needs to get chips in a bag during one of today's flights.

Event 9 (Flight J): When One Bag Isn't Enough

Event 9 ($350 No Limit Hold'em $300,000 Guarantee)
Level 2 (Blinds 50/100)
Total Flight J Entries: 80
Players Remaining: 77

Philip Cole (Naples, FL)

If you scroll down just a few posts ago, you'll see the official chips counts for all of the flights that have been played to this point.  Look through the list of names, and whiny eyes get down to the final name...the lowest chip counts moving on to Day 2, you'll see Philip Cole (Naples, FL).  Cole has already assured himself that he'll be back tomorrow with 19,400 in chips, but he chose to take another shot at bagging a bigger stack.

This is a "best stack forward" event, meaning that you can bag six different times (in six different flights), and you're largest stack will be the one you move to Day 2 with (the others will be taken out of play).  Philip isn't the only player to go down this path, as we saw Johnny Riley bag 35,900 on Thursday, and then return yesterday to bag 212,300.  It's a nice feeling to know you'll be coming back tomorrow regardless of today's result, but Philip Cole is here to do one thing, and one thing only...bag more than 19,400.

Event 9 (Flight J): Gearing Up For Final Flights

Event 9 ($350 No Limit Hold'em $300,000 Guarantee)
Level 1 (Blinds 25/50)
Total Flight J Entries: 57
Players Remaining: 57

Today marks the final day of starting flights for Event 9, with a morning (11:00am), afternoon (3:00pm), and evening (7:00pm) flight all on tap.  The 11:00am flight (Flight J) got underway just moments ago, and we are already seeing a difference in the field size.  Throughout this week, the 11:00am flight has typically had an "intimate" start.  When the rules announcement was finished and the clock started up today, there were already over (55) players seated at their tables.  With the amount of active tables across the tournament area, we are sure to spot a handful of notables on our first lap through the field.

Event 9 (Flights A-I): Official Flight A-I Chip Counts

Event 9 ($350 No Limit Hold'em $300,000 Guarantee)
Level 15 (Blinds 1,500/3,000/400)
Total Flight A-I Entries: 646
Players Remaining: 97

Event 9 (Flight I): Official Flight I Chip Counts

Event 9 ($350 No Limit Hold'em $300,000 Guarantee)
Level 14 (Blinds 1,200/2,400/300)
Total Flight H Entries: 99
Players Remaining: 16

Jason	Healy *	216,100
Nicholas	Mahabee	215,400
Mitchell	Weinburger	193,900
Robert	Perez	184,200
Luminita	Petric	161,400
Reggie	Bautista	133,100
Yitzhak	Quinn	127,800
Rob	Kessler	123,400
Taylor	Dean-Lipson	119,500
Joshua	Rivera	101,700
Koray	Gurel	87,400
Michael	Guttermann	85,800
Igor	Merda	85,200
Maury	Halperin	48,000
John	Deignan	39,400

*Denotes Flight H "chiplead bonus," and entry into $1,500 Isle Open Main Event