Thursday, July 6th: FSPC Event 1 Already On Pace For Something Special

ICYMI: Yesterday marked the beginning of the 2017 Florida State Poker Championships, as the cards got in the air for Flight 1A (11:00am) and Flight 1B (6:00pm) of Event 1 ($175 No Limit Hold'em $100,000 GTD).  The afternoon flight started off on the slow side, but began to pick up after the first break (Level 4), and ended up eclipsing the century mark before registration's close (101 entries).  The opening flight of these multi-day/multi-flight tournaments is most commonly going to host the most "reg-heavy" crowd, and while we saw many loyal Isle Poker tournament players, it looked at if Zoltan Czinkota was going to steal the show (and the award for the flight's chip lead).  After breezing through two entries in a matter of an hour, Zoltan began to find some traction, and led the field for most of the day.  Unfortunately for Czinkota, his number would be eclipsed by Joseph Thomas (Jupiter, FL), who ended up bagging a stack that was just out of reach for the remaining Flight 1A players (374,000).  A total of (14) players booked their tickets to Sunday's Day 2, including Daniel Genacthe, Paulius Bikus, Joseph Ritzie, and Gail Sandler.

It was clear from the start of Flight 1B, that the field was going to surpass the numbers from the afternoon, and ended up with a total of (146) entries.  A handful of players from the earlier flight (that didn't bag) gave things another try, and joined a majority group that was entering the event for the first time.  The field reached the 13% point with a few minutes remaining in Level 15, so the clock was paused, and the bagging process began.  Oleg Efremov (Oakland Park, FL) earned himself an Event 14 ($1,100 No Limit Hold'em $150,000 GTD) seat after bagging the flight's chip lead, with just over 500,000.  Also included in the group that bagged chips from Flight 1B were Danielle Bastarache, Michael Corbett, Willie Wiggins, and Eric Kessler.

Tournaments:  Event 1 of the Florida State Poker Championships continues this afternoon/evening, as Flight 1C gets underway at 11:00am, followed by Flight 1D at 6:00pm.  All of the same rules/structure applies, with players sitting down to starting stacks of 20,000 units, and playing levels of (25) minutes.  "Live blogged coverage" of Flight 1C begins the moment the cards get in the air, and will continue through the flight's bagging process.  An update will be posted with a full list of chip counts from yesterday's pair of flights, and will then shift focus to the matter at hand (Flight 1C).

Promotions: Today's "special" promotion (outside of the standard high hands), is the Limit Hold'em Early Bird, in which the first (50) full houses (in a limit hold'em game) are paid the minimum buy-in for the designated game.  Those players in the 2/2 LHE game will receive $20 for each "winning" full house (or better), while those in 2/4 LHE will receive $40.

11:00am - FSPC Event #1 (Flight 1C): $175 No Limit Hold'em ($100,000 GTD) 

- Players start with 20,000 in tournament chips

- Late and re-entries for the first (8) levels

- Alternates and late entries will start with a full stack

- Level will last (25) minutes throughout the event

- All Day 1's will play (16) complete levels or until 13% of the field remains (whichever comes first)

6:00pm - FSPC Event #1 (Flight 1D): $175 No Limit Hold'em ($100,000 GTD)

- Players start with 20,000 in tournament chips

- Late and re-entries for the first (8) levels

- Alternates and late entries will start with a full stack

- Level will last (25) minutes throughout the event

- All Day 1's will play (16) complete levels or until 13% of the field remains (whichever comes first)