Thursday, February 16th: Looking To Join The 21 That Moved On, Event 1 Continues

The 2017 installment of the "Battles At The Beach" began yesterday, with two very strong showings for the first event of the series (Event 1 - $175 No Limit Hold'em $125,000 GTD).  The opening flight (Flight 1A) began at 11:00am, and brought out many of the Isle Poker familiar faces (107 total entries).  Robert Urspruch (Plantation, FL) introduced himself to followers of the blog in the latter stages of the flight, and ended up bagging the chip lead (396,500), which then earned him a $1,500 Battles At The Beach Main Event seat.

The evening flight (Flight 1B), which started at 6:00pm, attracted a total of (80) entries.  The field size was shrinking at a rapid rate, and it looked as if they'd reach the "10% remaining" before the end of Level 16 (at which point the flight would have started the bagging process).  The field got as close as one elimination away (8 players ended up the night), but did end up finishing the flight as scheduled, with James Plate (Oakdale, NY) bagging an impressive 477,000.  Plate locked up his $1,500 Battles At The Beach Main Event seat with that effort, an tournament that looks to be one of the highest buy-ins he has played in his career.

There are two more Event 1 flights on the schedule today (11:00am and 6:00pm), along with the "Early Bird No Limit Promotion," paying out the first (50) full houses of the day.  Yesterday's "Spin To Win" promotion saw yet another $5,000 winner, with Marcel Gendron of Quebec parlaying his quad jacks into an incredible payday!

11:00am - Event 1 (Battles At The Beach) $175 No Limit Hold'em $125,000 Guarantee (Flight 1C)

- Players receive 20,000 in tournament chips
- All late registrants and re-entries will receive a full stack
- Levels will be (25) minutes in length throughout tournament
- All Day 1's will play 16 levels, or when 10% of the field remains (whichever occurs first)
- The chip leader from each flight will earn a $1,500 Main Event seat

6:00pm - Event 1 (Battles At The Beach) $175 No Limit Hold'em $125,000 Guarantee (Flight 1D)

- Players receive 20,000 in tournament chips
- All late registrants and re-entries will receive a full stack
- Levels will be (25) minutes in length throughout tournament
- All Day 1's will play 16 levels, or when 10% of the field remains (whichever occurs first)
- The chip leader from each flight will earn a $1,500 Main Event seat