Event 1 (Flight 1G): Official Flight 1G Chip Counts

"Battles At The Beach"

Event 1 ($175 No Limit Hold'em $125,000 GTD)

Level 16 (Blinds 2,000/4,000/500)

Total Flight 1G Entries: 209

Flight 1G Players Remaining: 39

Michelle	Shah	337,000
Charlamagne	Benjamin	285,000
Mark	Bernstein	283,000
Prince	Rogers	247,000
Francis	Margaglione	235,000
Ramon	Gonzalez	162,000
Joe	Mancuso	161,500
Dolphus	Power	161,000
Justin	Margolis	146,000
Trent	Trimble	129,000
Vicki	Holmes	124,000
Antonio	Albanes	107,500
Theo	Lawson	105,000
Jose	Pereira	102,500
Jefferd	Marable	98,000
Sandra	Meyer	92,500
Matthew	Benjamin	90,500
Michael	Plaxco	87,500
Dwight	Pinkerton	84,500
William	Massey	82,500
Paula	Barros	79,000
John	Cummings	76,500
Sebastien	Soares	72,000
Erik	Nomberg	67,500
Rosana	DelaRosa	67,500
Anthony	Barbera	67,000
Gary	Sussinein	66,000
Ilan	Hodion	65,500
Nissim	Gozlav	57,500
Maury	Barrett	54,000
Martin	Markov	53,000
Nikolla	Sinishtaj	53,000
Michael	Ortiz	51,000
Lucinda	Lantz	46,500
Yuejian	Wang	43,500
Robert	Perniola	25,000
Robert	Sacher	12,500
Steve	Cardarelli	11,200

Event 1 (Flight 1G): Michelle Shah Heats Up To Bag Flight 1G Chiplead

"Battles At The Beach"

Event 1 ($175 No Limit Hold'em $125,000 GTD)

Level 16 (Blinds 2,000/4,000/500)

Total Flight 1G Entries: 209

Michelle Shah (Delray Beach, FL)

While one Shah took a bad beat to lead to his exit from Flight 1G, another was heating up to grab the "bonus."  Sean Shah (Delray Beach, FL) watched as his A A < Q Q for a pot worth over 300,000, only to be left with peanuts, and eventually bust.  While that was happening, his sister Michelle was winning critical pots on her way to a Flight 1G leading stack of 365,500.  That stack puts her in the fifth spot overall heading into tomorrow's Day 2, with only tonight's Flight 1H remaining.

Dealers are currently racing off the black (100 denomination) chips, and will then verify all stacks before the chips end up in their temporary home until tomorrow.  Once the bagging process has been completed, a full listing of Flight 1G chip counts will be posted.  

This will conclude "live blogged coverage" for the day, but you can look forward to full Day 2 coverage, from first card dealt...to the final hand dealt.  Day 2 action starts at 12:00pm tomorrow afternoon, with now (143) players returning.

Event 1 (Flight 1G): Last Look At Chip Counts, Final Level Of Play

"Battles At The Beach"

Event 1 ($175 No Limit Hold'em $125,000 GTD)

Level 15 (Blinds 1,500/3,000/500)

Total Flight 1G Entries: 209

Joseph Mancuso (Ft. Lauderdale, FL)

Players are about to enter the final level of play for Flight 1G, and the "race for the bonus" is still anybodies to grab.   Francis Margaglione (Davie, FL) still leads as Level 15 ends, but there are a handful of players within one big pot of grabbing the lead:

Francis Margaglione - 295,000

Prince Rogers - 230,000

Charlemagne Benjamin - 200,000

Sean Shah - 200,000

Joseph Mancuso - 170,000

Michelle Shah - 140,000

Susan Meyer - 130,000

Event 1 (Flight 1G): Meyer Utilizes The "RBP Walkway"

"Battles At The Beach"

Event 1 ($175 No Limit Hold'em $125,000 GTD)

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

Total Flight 1G Entries: 209

Sandra Meyer (Weston, FL) had been grinding an above average stack for most of the day, but found herself short as Level 14 begun.  After action folded around to Meyer on the button, she would open to 6,000.  The player in the small blind folded, with Meyer only needing to get through Francis Margaglione in order to pick up the blinds and antes.  Francis showed some serious resistance though, as he pushed forward a stack of yellow (5,000 denomination) worth over 80,000.  That would be enough to cover Sandra, so she took a few moments to think, before eventually making the call.  Meyer would be in bad shape holding 7♥ 7♦ against Margaglione's Q♠ Q♥, and she began to the early stages of the "Rob Brown Pro Walkway."  

If you don't know what that is, you should maybe ask a friend, or google it to find out.  We will save you the suspense though...it's when you're all-in and behind (or at risk), and you begin to collect your things, before taking that first step away from the table (and then you win the hand).  Sandra was standing with her bag over her shoulder, and watched as the dealer laid out the 8♠ 9♣ 2♦ flop...followed by the 10♠ (Sandra took a step towards the door)...followed by the 6♥ (giving her the winning straight).  Francis would have to match Meyer's 65,800 stack, with Sandra collecting the pot worth over 130,000 as she sat back down.

Event 1 (Flight 1G): Sean Shah Enters His Name Into The "Race"

"Battles At The Beach"

Event 1 ($175 No Limit Hold'em $125,000 GTD)

Level 13 (Blinds 1,000/2,000/300)

Total Flight 1G Entries: 209

Sean Shah (Delray Beach, FL)

We approached Table 4 just as a hand was ending, and the dealer was counting down Sean Shah's (Delray Beach, FL) stack.  The board was 2♦ 2♥ 10♥ 4♥ 5♥, with Sean holding J♠ J♥ against 6♠ 6♣ and A♣ J♣.  The player holding 6♠ 6♣ was a shorter stack, but Sean was covered by the unknown player holding A♣ J♣.  Shah's stack was 92,500, which after being matched and earning the rest of the pot, increased to over 230,000...vaulting him to top three in the field.

In a recap of the action that led up to that point, Sean called an open from the player holding A J, with pocket sixes shoving his shorter stack behind.  The original raiser than re-shoved, with Sean calling, and eventually winning the pot.  Shah now joins the "race for the bonus," with both Prince Rogers and Francis Margaglione.  With three full levels of play still remaining, there is sure to be some shuffling of names before the end of the flight.

Event 1 (Flight 1G): Updated Chip Counts Before Final Break

"Battles At The Beach"

Event 1 ($175 No Limit Hold'em $125,000 GTD)

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

Total Flight 1G Entries: 209

The remaining Flight 1G players are about to take their final (10) minute break of the day, and will return to Level 13 and blinds of 1,000/2,000/300.  We are now witnessing the dynamic of a tournament with (25) minute levels, as the average stack that was (45) big blinds thirty minutes ago, it going to be down to (26) big blinds when play resumes after break.  Posted below are some updated chip counts tallied during the middle of Level 12:

Prince Rogers - 225,000

Francis Margaglione - 200,000

Nikola Sinishtaj - 175,000

Michelle Shah - 120,000

Justin Margoiles - 110,000

Vicki Holmes - 105,000

Charlemagne Benjamin - 80,000

Sean Shah - 75,000

Event 1 (Flight 1G): Dropping Like Flies

"Battles At The Beach"

Event 1 ($175 No Limit Hold'em $125,000 GTD)

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

Total Flight 1G Entries: 209

Of the (209) total entries in this flight, only (78) players currently remain in the field, with five levels still left to play.  The current chip average is 54,000, which equates to (45) big blinds, meaning stacks are still fairly deep at the moment.  Even with those numbers though, we are still seeing the field shrink steadily, as three more tables have broke across the tournament area.  Prince Rogers and Francis Margaglione are still leading the field, and can begin to start focusing on the "race for the bonus."

Event 1 (Flight 1G): Prince Looking To Become King

"Battles At The Beach"

Event 1 ($175 No Limit Hold'em $125,000 GTD)

Level 10 (Blinds 500/1,000/100)

Total Flight 1G Entries: 209

Prince Rogers (Ft. Lauderdale, FL)

The has only been one table to break in the field to this point, with the players from Table 2 finding new homes (and neighbors) to engage with.  Prince Rogers (Ft. Lauderdale, FL) joined the action at Table 10 with one of the larger stacks in the room, but after playing his first hand at the new table, he's the flight's chipleader.

The action was approached on the flop of J♣ 4♠ 5♣, as Prince had called a 9,000 bet from an unknown player in the small blind.  The player next to act would shove for 49,500, and after the original bettor folded his hand, Rogers made the call.  His K♠ K♣ would be up against Q♣ 10♣, needing to fade clubs or any running outs that would help his opponent steal the pot away.  The 10♥ on the turn made things a little more interesting, but after a 7♥ on the river, Prince would eliminate his opponent and rake in the pot.  Rogers is now the only player above the 200,000 mark, as he hits with just over 210,000.

Event 1 (Flight 1G): First Look At Updated Chip Counts

"Battles At The Beach"

Event 1 ($175 No Limit Hold'em $125,000 GTD)

Level 9 (Blinds 400/800/100)

Total Flight 1G Entries: 209

Sandra Meyer (Weston, FL)

With registration now closed for Flight 1G, we can take our first look at some of the chip counts from across the field.  If players were to bust from this point on, their only option to try and bag chips for tomorrow's Day 2 is tonight's 6:00pm Flight 1H.

Francis Margaglione (Davie, FL) still leads the field, but he has not gained much separation, rather he's watched as players around him have closed the gap.

Francis Margaglione - 180,000
Vicki Holmes - 120,000
Sandra Meyer - 105,000
Lucinda Lantz - 95,000
Antonio Albanes - 95,000
Michelle Shah - 90,000
Prince Rogers - 80,000
Robert Perniola - 80,000
Charlemagne Benjamin - 75,000

Event 1 (Flight 1G): Ladies Looking To Even Things Out

"Battles At The Beach"

Event 1 ($175 No Limit Hold'em $125,000 GTD)

Level 8 (Blinds 300/600/75)

Total Flight 1G Entries: 201

The Flight 1G field just eclipsed (200) total entries, and it's no telling where the final number will finish, with (45) minutes remaining of open registration.  Of those entries still active in the field, many of them are women, although the ratio is still very tilted towards the men (which is standard in most tournaments).  Interested to note though, is that fact that of the (104) players to have bagged chips for tomorrow's Day 2, only (5) of them are women (one of which did bag a flight's chip lead):

Lisa Teebagy - 372,500 (Flight 1F Chipleader)

Ariel Williams - 143,500

Gili Prizament - 127,500

Paula Alibrandi - 65,000

Valeria Rodriguez - 59,000

Here is a list of the ladies in today's field, looking to join the group listed above:

Rosanna De La Rosa

Karen Rutherford

Vicki Holmes

Marcia Costa-Savidge

Jana Lew

Kimberly Jones

Rita Balbirer

Melissa Kaiser

Karen Duffy

Lucinda Lantz

Denise Woodstock

Sandra Meyer

Kristen Kober

Paula Barros

Michelle Shah

Players are about to take their second break of the day, and when they return, registration will be closed for this afternoon flight.  

Event 1 (Flight 1G): All Smiles Making His Return To The Room

"Battles At The Beach"

Event 1 ($175 No Limit Hold'em $125,000 GTD)

Level 7 (Blinds 250/500/50)

Total Flight 1G Entries: 186

John DeSoto (Hialeah, FL)

The last time John DeSoto (Hialeah, FL) was in the poker room, he was part of a seven-way chop that ended Event 16 of the Isle Poker Classic.  DeSoto was sitting with less than (5) big blinds when the discussion of a chop began, and opposed to getting just over $1,000, John walked away with just over $5,000! The money he earned for his seventh place finish was the second most of his tournament career, behind a final table chop of a $350 No Limit Hold'em event during the 2011 Rock And Roll Poker Open (8th Place - $18,000).

DeSoto was looking to win a hefty pot as we approached his table, as he held a combo draw against a lower flush draw, and a set.  The river would brick his hand, but he would walk away from the table all smiles, and head to the cashier to re-enter the flight.  John is part of a group that bookends our look at notables in today's afternoon flight:

Maury Barrett

Marcel Dechamps

Parkinson Keevican

Robert Sacher

Steven Lake

Barry Chazen

Erik Nomberg

Charles Horton

Event 1 (Flight 1G): Just Padding The Numbers Now

"Battles At The Beach"

Event 1 ($175 No Limit Hold'em $125,000 GTD)

Level 6 (Blinds 200/400/50)

Total Flight 1G Entries: 179

Event 1 numbers heading into today's flights

The attendance for this opening event of the 2017 Battles At The Beach has been better than expected, and coming into the day, the field only needed to average (76) entries per flight to reach the $125,000 guarantee.  

It only took four levels of Flight 1F to reach that number, meaning everything additional for the rest of the day (including tonight's flight) will just be bloating the prize pool.  This flight will be the largest to date by the time the registration window is closed, potentially reaching (200) total entries.

As mentioned in earlier coverage, there are many different properties to play poker in Florida, so this showing is just a testament to the great tournaments (and tournament series) here at the Isle Casino Poker Room.  The payouts will not be released until all flights have been made official (later this evening), but we are looking at what could be a first place prize well north of $30,000...for a $175 investment!!

Event 1 (Flight 1G): "Shahs Of Three-Bet"

"Battles At The Beach"

Event 1 ($175 No Limit Hold'em $125,000 GTD)

Level 5 (Blinds 150/300/25)

Total Flight 1G Entries: 170

Sean Shah (Delray Beach, FL)

Making his first appearance in Event 1 moments ago was Sean Shah (Delray Beach, FL), a Florida-based tournament professional coming off of two six-figure earnings years.  After four years on the tournament scene (2011-2014), Sean's best year of tournament poker saw him earning $50,442.  He then experienced his breakout in 2015, earning $278,758, and followed that up with $198,365 in 2015.

Both years were propelled by two career highlighting scores, final tabling the WPT SHRPO Championship Event in 2015 (7th Place - $117,531), and finishing runner-up in the $565 PLO (Event #12) at the 2016 WSOP ($168,550).  Sean has already started 2017 off strong, taking down a $350 No Limit Hold'em event during the Coco Poker Showdown, and earning himself $11,355.  Sean headlines the second wave of notables in what's shaping up to be a massive flight:

Antonio Albanes

Kimberly Jones

Karen Duffy

Joseph Mancuso

Sandra Meyer

Morris Heider

Dolphins Powers

Sheldon Gross

David Albertson

Jeffery Burdeen

Event 1 (Flight 1G): Margaglione Getting His Money's Worth

"Battles At The Beach"

Event 1 ($175 No Limit Hold'em $125,000 GTD)

Level 4 (Blinds 100/200)

Total Flight 1G Entries: 130

Francis Margaglione (Davie, FL)

Francis Margaglione (Davie, FL) has made the blog an unprecedented fourth day in a row, as he's become the early storyline in today's flight.  Margaglione is off to a start unlike any we've seen for this event, sitting with over 125,000 in Level 4...which is just under the amount of chips he's paid for.   This is Francis's (6+) bullet, and while he's reached the later stages of each opening flight he's played in, Margaglione has yet to have found himself a Day 2 bag.  While we haven't seen a stack size that big so early in a flight, we have seen Francis with top five stacks post-registration's close, so it will be interesting to see how he fares this afternoon.

Players will be taking their first break of the day at the end of this level, and will be returning to new blinds of 150/300/25.

Event 1 (Flight 1G): When Bagging Isn't Good Enough

"Battles At The Beach"

Event 1 ($175 No Limit Hold'em $125,000 GTD)

Level 3 (blinds 75/150)

Total Flight 1G Entries: 113

Tom Gity (Pompano Beach, FL)

There are many followers of the blog, along with players in this Flight 1G field, that would jump at the opportunity to trade spots with Tom Gity (Pompano Beach, FL).  Reason being...Gity has already secured a spot in tomorrow's Day 2 field, bagging 90,000 two nights ago in Flight 1D.  Many would ask why Tom decided to jump back in today's field, but there are two solid reasons that standout: Gity's is returning to a stack below (20) blinds to start the day tomorrow, and there is also the opportunity to win a $1,500 Battles At The Beach Main Event seat if he was to bag this flight's chip lead.  Tom's appearance stood out for that exact reason during the first lap around the field, but the Isle Casino Poker Room regular is joined by a slew of notables this afternoon:

Washington Gavilanes

Frank Traino

Charlemagne Benjamin

Duane Minerva

Jeffrey Kessler

Glen Canelstein

Benjamin Robinson

Perdo Palacio

Michael Boykin

Frank Katana

Robert Perniola

Event 1 (Flight 1G): Official Chip Counts Flights 1A-1F

"Battles At The Beach"

Event 1 ($175 No Limit Hold'em $125,000 GTD)

Level 2 (Blinds 50/100)

Total Flight 1F Entries: 50

Event 1 (Flight 1G): Saturday's For "Flighting"

"Battles At The Beach"

Event 1 ($175 No Limit Hold'em $125,000 GTD)

Level 1 (Blinds 25/50)

Total Flight 1G Entries: N/A

Tournament supervisor Ralph Brandt is finishing up with his fourth rules announcement of the week, as the already seated Flight 1G players get ready for the cards to fly.  This is the second to last Event 1 flight (of eight total), with total of (774) entries to this point.  The Day 2 field has (104) players to this point, six of which bagged the "chip lead bonus," earning themselves Battles At The Beach $1,500 Main Event seats.  Two "bonuses" are still up for grabs, in this afternoon flight and the evening flight that follows, with the former's action covered live.  "Live blogged" coverage of Flight 1G will continue through the bagging process, with updates from each and every level.

Saturday, February 18th: Final Chances To Join Event 1 Action

After six Event 1 starting flights, the have been (774) total entries, with a total of (104) players successfully booking tickets to tomorrow's Day 2.  Today's final two flights only need to average (76) entries per flight in order to reach the $125,000 guarantee, and considering it's Saturday, we should see field sizes that will crush that number.

There have been six players to earn seats into the Battle At The Beach $1,500 Main Event, via their respective flight's "chip lead bonus:"

Robert Urspruch (Flight 1A) - 396,500

James Plate (Flight 1B) - 477,000

Matthew Zarcadoolas (Flight 1C) - 317,500

Maurico Duarte (Flight 1D) - 308,000

Frederico Camara (Flight 1E) - 396,000

Lisa Teebagy (Flight 1F) - 372,500

There are two more flights on the schedule today, offering players the final opportunity to reach Day 2, and potentially earn a first place prize that should be somewhere around $30,000 (not a bad return on a $175 investment).

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

- 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 1H)

- 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

Event 1 (Flight 1F): Official Flight 1F Chip Counts

"Battles At The Beach"

Event 1 ($175 No Limit Hold'em $125,000 GTD)

Level 16 (Blinds 2,000/4,000/500)

Total Flight 1F Entries: 194

Flight 1F Players Remaining: 28

Lisa	Teebagy	372,500
Ron	Simmon	276,500
Claude	Comtois	261,500
Michael	Shannon	249,500
Dominic	Pacelli	244,000
Nissim	Vaknin	205,500
Michael	Marks	183,500
David	Aronson	177,000
Jonathan	Marks	156,500
Yang	He	135,000
Larry	Stoddard	133,500
Gili	Prizament	127,500
Alex	Michaels	124,000
Damion	Loli	120,000
Barry	Sisselman	109,500
Ariel	Rosello	109,500
Aris	Gomez	106,000
Scott	Zakheim	105,000
Kevin	Hammer	97,500
Myles	German	83,500
Justin	Myers	76,000
Nesly	Jean-Baptiste	70,000
David	Coughlin	64,500
Charlie	Ciresi	63,500
Oscar	Marques	57,500
Damien	Simon	55,500
Adam	Romer	42,000
Evaloas	Dragunas	27,300