Event 13 (Day 1C): Crushing The Guarantee, Ending The Night

Event 13 ($1,500 No Limit Hold'em Championship Event)

$500,000 Guaranteed Prize Pool

Level 11 (Blinds 800/1,600/200)

Total Day 1C Entries: 199

With almost two levels to play, and registration open until the start of Day 2 tomorrow, the prize pool has now soared past the $500,000 guarantee. At the moment, we are looking at a prize pool of $604,500...and growing. Players will finish off both this level and Level 12, before bagging chips for tomorrow afternoon. 

Event 13 (Day 1C): Updated Counts From The Field

Event 13 ($1,500 No Limit Hold'em Championship Event)

$500,000 Guaranteed Prize Pool

Level 10 (Blinds 600/1,200/200)

Total Day 1C Entries: 193

Yaroslav Nakonechnny (Las Vegas, NV)

As quick as the tournament area was filling up earlier, is a fast as it's breaking down now.  We are down to (8) active tables, with some larger stacks emerging from the fray:

Yaroslav Nakonechnny - 240,000

Greg Fishberg - 185,000

Alfonso Perez - 170,000

Daniel Letts - 155,000

Kevin Grabel - 150,000

Ariel Williams - 120,000

Frank Lerczak - 115,000

David Ward - 110,000

Joshua Hillock - 110,000

Sheddy Siddiqui - 110,000

Alexis Sterner - 105,000

Luis Gonzalez - 105,000

Event 13 (Day 1C): Alfonso Shows Ariel The Door

Event 13 ($1,500 No Limit Hold'em Championship Event)

$500,000 Guaranteed Prize Pool

Level 9 (Blinds 500/1,000/100)

Total Day 1C Entries: 185

Alfonso Perez (Coconut Creek, FL)

Alfonso Perez's (Coconut Creek, FL) name may sound familiar, having won the $120 No Limit Hold'em Event during the 2016 PPC $110,000 Guarantee ($7,125).  Flying under the radar for most of the day, Perez would find himself on the river against Ariel Williams.  With both players fairly deep stacked, and a board reading 10♠ 9♠ 9♣ 2♥ A♦, the two would manage to get both there stacks in the middle (on the river).  Williams would show A♥ 9♥, but was bested by Perez's 10♦ 10♣ (flopped full house), and would bust her first bullet.  Alfonso, on the other hand, would chip up to 200,000, and rocket up the leaderboard.

Event 13 (Day 1C): Back In Action

Event 13 ($1,500 No Limit Hold'em Championship Event)

$500,000 Guaranteed Prize Pool

Level 8 (Blinds 400/800/100)

Total Day 1C Entries: 176

The Day 1C flight numbers continue to climb, as we pass the (175) mark coming back from dinner.  Players will be seated through Level 10, take a final break of the night, and then return to finish off the last two levels of the day.  While we are down to (101) active players from the total mentioned, there are still a large number of big named/notables players remaining in the crowd.

Event 13 (Day 1C): The Century Club Before Dinner

Event 13 ($1,500 No Limit Hold'em Championship Event)

$500,000 Guaranteed Prize Pool

Level 7 (Blinds 300/600/75)

Total Day 1C Entries: 167

Players are heading on their scheduled dinner break in just (20) minutes, which will last from 6:20-7:20pm.  When they return from dinner, the blinds will be 400/800/100, which still offers the opportunity for those buying in to sit down with over (30) big blinds.  There has been no "Alex Nguyen" repeat this afternoon, with those players that jumped out to big stacks, dipping back down as the afternoon progressed.  There are currently five players in the field that sit with stacks over 100,000:

Scott Levitt - 130,000

Greg Fishberg - 120,000

Ariel Williams - 105,000

William Underdown - 100,000

David Ward - 100,000

Event 13 (Day 1C): Hillock Hops In Late

Event 13 ($1,500 No Limit Hold'em Championship Event)

$500,000 Guaranteed Prize Pool

Level 7 (Blinds 300/600/75)

Total Day 1C Entries: 161

Joshua Hillock (Orlando, FL)

Joshua Hillock's (Orlando, FL) tournament schedule has seemingly been pretty light since the WSOP this summer, as he's been frequenting most of the bigger cash games in the area.  Hillock took a break from the game today though, hopping into this Day 1C flight just before break.  Hillock has over $683,000 in career tournament earnings, highlighted by a final table finish in the 2014 WSOP $1,500 "Monster Stack" (9th Place - $127,364).

Also jumping in right before break was Dominique Mosley (Miami, FL).  Mosley also frequents the highest cash games that Isle has to offer, but is coming off his second largest tournament scores this past summer, final tabling the $10,000 PLO Championship at this year's WSOP.

Event 13 (Day 1C): Looking Back At Last Year

Event 13 ($1,500 No Limit Hold'em Championship Event)

$500,000 Guaranteed Prize Pool

Level 6 (Blinds 250/500/75)

Total Day 1C Entries: 158

It was just over a year ago that the 2015 Isle Poker Open Championship Event concluded, offering up one of the strongest final tables we've seen.  David Diaz would eventually walk away with the title, after besting Evan Teitelbaum heads-up.  If you continue to go down the list of results though, you'll see name like Joe Couden, Dmitri Agrachov, Chad Eveslage, Tim Miles, Sam Panzica, and Edward Jaffy.  This same event last year drew a total of 477 entries, and a prize pool of $643,950.

Event 13 (Day 1C): Making The Main A Family Affair

Event 13 ($1,500 No Limit Hold'em Championship Event)

$500,000 Guaranteed Prize Pool

Level 6 (Blinds 250/500/75)

Total Day 1B Entries: 153

Michelle Shah (pictured left) and Sean Shah (pictured right)

There are a handful of "brother tandems" in the poker world, including the Mizrachis, Masseys, Hinkles, etc.  There are also "father-son tandems," like the Brunsons (Doyle and Todd)...but there aren't many brother-sister tandems that play the circuit regularly.  Michelle and Sean Shah (Delray Beach, FL) have been in attendance throughout this series, with Sean booking a cash in Event #1, and Michelle cashing in Event #5 and Event #9.  Michelle just missed out on the final table of Event 5 (finishing in 14th Place), with Sean's lone cash more of the "min-cash" variety.  While the series hasn't been a great success for Sean, he did take down the $150 "Saturday Nightly Special" at Hard Rock just two weeks ago, earning himself $6,035 (and basically helped him freeroll this series).

Event 13 (Day 1C): Early Updates As Underdown Paces Field

Event 13 ($1,500 No Limit Hold'em Championship Event)

$500,000 Guaranteed Prize Pool

Level 5 (Blinds 200/400/50)

Total Day 1C Entries: 139

William Underdown (Deerfield Beach, FL)

It's going to be hard for anyone in today's field to catch up to Day 1B chip leader Alex Nguyen, who bagged over 543,000, but they have to start somewhere.  One of the first players to eclipse the century mark has been William Underdown (Deerfield Beach, FL), who now sits with just over 115,000.  After a few years of scattered cashes on the resume, Underdown reached the final table of the September "Monster Stack," earning himself over $12,000.  

William Underdown - 118,000

Zack Mullennix - 95,000

Harold Klein - 80,000

Alexis Sterner - 70,000

Scott Zakheim - 68,000

Event 13 (Day 1C): Max Value For Eveslage

Event 13 ($1,500 No Limit Hold'em Championship Event)

$500,000 Guaranteed Prize Pool

Level 4 (Blinds 150/300/50)

Total Day 1C Entries: 131

Chad Eveslage (Ramsey, IN)

Chad Eveslage (Ramsey, IN) may frequent the higher limit cash games here at the Isle, but that doesn't keep from entering these larger buy-in events during the four major series of the year.  Earlier this year, Eveslage reached the final table of the $1,500 Florida State Poker Championship event, finishing in fourth place for just over $40,700.

While Chad may call Florida home, he's actually ranked 3rd on the  "all-time money list" for his home state of Indiana.  Eveslage sits behind only Aaron Steury and McLean Karr on that list.  Chad's path towards another Isle Poker final table just got a little jump start, as he was heads up on the river against Alexander Thomas, both looking at a board of K♠ 9♥ 3♣ 5♦ 7♦.  Eveslage would grab a small stack of yellow chips (5,000 denomination), and announce himself all-in (putting Thomas at risk).

After a few moments of thought, Thomas would decide to make the call, and watch as Eveslage tabled 3♥ 3♦.  The set would be good enough to win the pot, and Chad would chip up to over 65,000.

Event 13 (Day 1C): Notables Everywhere You Look

Event 13 ($1,500 No Limit Hold'em Championship Event)

$500,000 Guaranteed Prize Pool

Level 4 (Blinds 150/300/25)

Total Day 1C Entries: 116

Jake Schwartz (New York, NY)

Players are just returning from their first break of the day, sitting down to new blinds of 150/300/50 in Level 4.  There have been new tournament tables opening across the room seemingly every (20) minutes, and when you scan the room, there are familiar faces and big names abound.  One of the newest entrants into the tournament is Jake Schwartz (New York, NY).  Schwartz's resume, which boasts earnings over $1,200,000, is littered with cashes in many of the most prestigious events of the year.  While Jake's highlighting score came last year in the WPT $10,000 Five Diamond World Poker Classic (4th Place - $412,187), he enters today's tournament having cashed (8) times in this years WSOP, and just recently final tabled the WPT BestBut Bounty Scramble.  Schwartz headlines a list of notables in the field that includes:

Tom Gity

Zack Mullinex

Sheddy Siddiqui

Marsha Wolak

Brett Bader

Luis Santoni

Ido Ashkenazi

Glenn Becker

Ory Hen

Bernard Muhire

Maurice Hawkins

Event 13 (Day 1C): Escaping The Cold, Coming In Hot

Event 13 ($1,500 No Limit Hold'em Championship Event)

$500,000 Guaranteed Prize Pool

Level 3 (Blinds 100/200/25)

Total Day 1C Entries: 101

Before there was an Isle Poker Blog, this member of the media was working up north at the top poker room in the Northeast (Parx, Borgata, Maryland Live).  So while the next two notables may not look familiar to the Florida community, they're players that need no introduction up North.  

Kevin Grabel (Southhampton, PA) has "bossed" the Parx Big Stax series to the point where you could just pen him in each of the "majors' final table.  The popular series in Pennsylvania boasts three massive events per series, usually with a $300 buy-in, $500 buy-in, and $1,000-$1,500 buy-in.  Grabel's first cash in the series was during Big Stax XI in April of 2015, a point where he had $4,000 total tournament earnings.  Fast forward to this moment, and (10) Big Stax series later, Grabels tournament resume boasts total earnings of $640,000. Kevin has (5) outright tournament wins this year already, and is a name to look out for as the day progresses.

Greg Fishberg (Willow Grove, PA) is another player who calls Parx Poker Room home (Bensalem, PA), and his fondness for the room just got a little stronger.  Fishberg is coming off a Big Stax XVI series where he cashed the $300 event, took second place in the $500 event ($56,689), and final tabled the six-max secondary event.  Fishberg has over $926,000 in career tournament earnings, and is looking to book his first Florida cash in this event.

Event 13 (Day 1C): "Letts" Get In For Cheap

Event 13 ($1,500 No Limit Hold'em Championship Event)

$500,000 Guaranteed Prize Pool

Level 3 (Blinds 100/200/25)

Total Day 1C Entries: 90

Daniel Letts (Miami Beach, FL)

At 7:00pm last night, the final satellite of the 2016 Isle Poker Open kicked off, with over (100) players looking to book their last minute ticket into this final starting flight.  The event was billed as giving away (10) seats, but with the total number of entries that showed up, (12) players were lucky enough to get into this championship event for a fraction of the cost.

One of those players was Daniel Letts (Miami Beach, FL), a seasoned tournament veteran with over $222,000 in career earnings.  While a deep run in the 2014 WSOP Main Event stands out amongst Letts's results, its a 5th place finish in the $5,000 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown that highlights his career ($122,275).  Letts is one of just three players from last night's satellite to take their seats in today's flight, with the rest choosing the "fashionably late" option.  Listed below are the players to win a seat last night:

William Underwood

Sheldon Gross

Shreyas Erapalli

Daniel Letts

Luis Gonzalez

Ariel Williams

Peter Fellows

Daniel Miller

Jonathan Ounjian

Rogelio Padilla

Alexander Thomas

Edgard Mendes

Farid Dhanani

Event 13 (Day 1C): Official Chip Counts (Day 1A & Day 1B)

Event 13 ($1,500 No Limit Hold'em Championship Event)

$500,000 Guaranteed Prize Pool

Level 2 (Blinds 75/150/25)

Total Day 1C Entries: 90

Event 13 (Day 1C): Faces In The Crowd (Part I)

Event 13 ($1,500 No Limit Hold'em Championship Event)

$500,000 Guaranteed Prize Pool

Level 1 (Blinds 50/100)

Total Day 1C Entries: 60

Harold Klein (Delray Beach, FL) is verse at most every variation of poker, evident in his tournament resume.  Klein has (26) recorded results, totaling over $150,000, and spanning everything from no limit hold'em to H.O.R.S.E.  The only non-no limit tournament of this series was Event #4 (PLO), and while Klein didn't attend that event, he did show up for Event #12 ($100 No Limit Hold'em)...and he won it ($3,500).  

Pedro Palacio (Coconut Creek, FL) is one of a handful of players that will look back at this series as one of their "breakout" poker moments.  It was only (10) days ago when Pedro was battling it out at the final table of Event #9 ($350 No Limit Hold'em), eventually dropping out in 3rd place ($25,043).  That score was the largest of Palacio's career, allowing him the opportunity to play in an event with this price point.  Of the (29) recorded results on his resume, Pedro has never cashed in an event with a larger buy-in that $365.

Brian Hastings showed up just before dinner during yesterday's Day 1B action, and while his time in the event didn't last that long, his day still went pretty well.  Hastings immediately hopped into one of the cash afterwards, and within moments was awarded the "high hand promotion" for the half-hour, having flopped quad jacks.  Now the money received for the promotion is only a fraction of his first bullet buy-in, but the hand made it to showdown, so it was worth that much more.

Event 13 (Day 1C): Saturday Brings The Championship Crowds

Event 13 ($1,500 No Limit Hold'em Championship Event)

$500,000 Guaranteed Prize Pool

Level 1 (Blinds 50/100)

Total Day 1C Entries: N/A

"The Calm Before The Storm"

"The calm before the storm is an understatement," as the final flight of the 2016 Isle Poker Open Championship Event is upon us.  If history tells us anything, it's that the field today will be the largest of the three opening flights...by far.  There have been (248) total entries to this point, with (53) players having already bagged chips for Day 2 (tomorrow).  

Players entering Day 1C will be sitting down to a 30,000 chip starting stack, and playing levels lasting (50) minutes for the duration of the day (levels will transition to (60) minutes on Day 2.  Registration is open throughout the day, as well as the moments leading up to the cards in the air tomorrow.

At the moment, everyone is looking up at Alex Nguyen (Coral Springs, FL), who bagged an incredible 543,000 late last night.  Nguyen was the first player to eclipse all of the "benchmarks," and never have a level where he plateaued, it was just s steady trend upwards.  AJ Gambino (443,000) is his closest competitor, and beyond Gambinno...it's a 200,000 gap between chip leaders and the rest.  Tournament Director Ralph Brandt just made the announcement to get the cards in the air, which means Day 1C play in underway!!!

Event 13 (Day 1B): Official End Of Day 1B Chip Counts

Event 13 ($1,500 No Limit Hold'em Championship Event)

$500,000 Guaranteed Prize Pool

Level 12 (Blinds 800/1,600/200)

Total Day 1B Entries: 135

Day 1A Players Remaining: 31

Alex	Nguyen	543,900
Ira	Silverman	248,900
Peter	Han	241,000
Nicholas	Mahabee	207,600
Ronald	Tourny	198,400
DD	Kim	192,000
Loni	Harwood	158,900
Ishaq	Kundawala	153,500
Salomon	Cohen	140,500
David	Hurmon	127,400
Michael	Newman	127,300
Billy	Pilossoph	127,000
Samuel	Wynder	126,200
Michael	Foley	123,800
Fred	Allenspach	121,500
Marc	Levy	115,800
Ryan	Gianquitti	113,000
Phil	Hernz	104,700
Alan	Schein	93,200
Ovenson	Benoit	92,100
Carey	Pickus	91,300
Ryan	Van Sanford	81,400
Hans	Winzeler	74,600
Peter	Vitantonio	70,700
Stuart	Paterson	69,700
Riley	Fuller	65,000
Jacquelyn	Scott	57,900
Jacob	Snider	57,000
Ron	Levy	44,300
Joseph	Irgon	43,000
Timothy	Miles	26,000