Sunday, August 20th: Playing Down To A Winner, Day 2 For "August $150,000"

ICYMI: With yesterday being the last chance for players to try and bag chips for Day 2 of the "August $150,000," there was no doubt that the numbers would be large for the pair of flights.  Flight 1G got the action started at 12:00pm, and when registration closed, a total of (136) entries would make up the field.  Terry Siele (Delray Beach, FL) would lead the field returning from the second break, an even though he continued to trend in the right direction, numerous big stacks began popping up across the field.  Terry would end up bagging the seventh largest stack of the flight, but the storyline from Flight 1G became David Gelley, who bagged the flight's chip lead (523,500).  That stack would stand as the largest stack of all starting flights, making Gelley the leader heading into Day 2.  A total of (16) players would bag from the flight, including Guillermo Hamilton (292,500), Guillermo Irving (227,500), and David Moreno (224,000).

Flight 1H, which began at 6:00pm, quickly became the largest flight of the eight played, with (171) entries making up the field at registrations close.  The headline from the beginning of the flight was the appearance of Stacy Matuson, a Florida-native who gained world-wide notoriety after the famous WSOP Main Event hand with William Kassouf.  Matuson would fall short of bagging, but it would be her good friend (and business partner) Michael Mizrachi stealing the spotlight.  "The Grinder" is one of the most recognizable poker players in the world, up there with names like Phil Hellmuth, Daniel Negreanu, and Doyle Brunson.  Mizrachi ended up bagging second in chips (288,000) for the flight, sitting behind only Steve Karp (289,000).  A total of (23) players would make it out of the flight, including Al Gomez (275,000), Tom Gity (218,000), and Jaki Cohen (145,000).

Tournaments: A total of (108) players return this afternoon (12:00pm), from the (792) entries that made up the tournament's field.  Everyone will be battling it out for the $43,237 first place prize, with action only nine eliminations away from the money.

Day 2 isn't the only tournament on the schedule today, as the $100 No Limit Hold'em "Hard Stop, ICM Chop" event begins at 6:00pm.

Promotions: For a number of months, Sunday's high hand promotion has been of the "turbo" format, with $300 awarded every (15) minutes from 2:00pm-9:00pm (rollovers apply).  While that promotion is still in place this afternoon, there will be an extra six hours of "turbo" high hands, with $100 awarded every (10) minutes, from 8:00am-2:00pm (rollovers apply).  However you break it down, it's $600 worth of high hands up for grabs over the span of (13) hours.  Both tournaments are high hand eligible, adding even more appeal to the events.

*** It should be noted that beginning at 10:00am, the first (10) qualifying high hand winner will not only earn the cash, but a seat into tomorrow's $275 Satellite Into The $2,500 NLH Single-Day Series event.

12:00pm - "August $150k GTD" (Day 2): $360 No Limit Hold'em ($150,000 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 (30) minutes during Day 1 flights, transitioning to (40) minutes on Day 2

- All Day 1's will play (15) complete levels or until 13% of the field remains (whichever comes first)

6:00pm - $100 No Limit Hold'em "Hard Stop, ICM Chop"

- Players will start with 16,000 in tournament chips

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

- Alternates and late entries will start with a full stack

- Levels are (20) minutes

- At the end of Level 16, tables will be balanced and tournament will play (10) more hands, in hard-for-hand format.  Tables will be re-balanced after (5) hands.

- At the end of (10) hands, tournament play will end, and all remaining players will chop the prize pool using an ICM calculation.