Event 8 (Flight 1C): "Glad We Played Five Hands, And Not Three"

"Battles At The Beach"

Event 8 ($360 No Limit Hold'em $200,000 GTD)

Level 14 (Blinds 1,200/2,400/400)

Total Flight 1C Entries: 165

Flight 1C Chip Leader Tom Cuce (Boca Raton, FL)

This was one of the more entertaining final levels to watch, as three different players held the chip lead, and one player made a run after entering at the beginning of Level 14.  Marc Levy was able to turn the 25,000 starting stack into over 200,000 in a matter of (20) minutes, while Rafael Ramos, Antonio Albanes, and Tom Cuce "battled" for the Battles At The Beach Main Event seat.  

It looked like Alabanes was going to take down the bonus, after getting a player to make a "speculative" call, while Antonio held a full house.  That pot put Albanes over 230,000, and while Tom Cuce was in striking distance (and at the same table), there were only five hands remaining in the night.  On the fourth of five hands, Cuce got it in (blind v. blind) holding A A against his opponents Q J.  The pot was over 100,000, and after Cuce's pocket aves held, he'd grab the chip lead with one hand to go.  The final hand would be played without dramatics, and once all tables finished up, Tom Cuce would be declared the flight's chip leader.

Official chip counts will be posted once the bagging process finishes (and tournament staff verifies the numbers), which should be somewhere around 8:00pm.  This will conclude the "live coverage" for the day, but followers of the blog can look forward to official chip counts from both this flight, and the evening's Flight 1D.