Event 14 (Day 1C): Final Flight Winding Down

"Battles At The Beach"

Event 14 ($1,500 No Limit Hold'em Main Event $500,000 GTD)

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

Total Entries: 211

The final flight of Day 1B begun moments ago, with (82) players still trying to make it another (50) minutes to the bagging process.  The tournament supervisor will stop the clock with 10:00 minutes remaining, at which point there will be a predetermined amount of hands to end the night.  Those left will then bag their chips for Sunday's Day 2, and once that been made official by poker room staff, a listing of "Official Day 1C Chip Counts" will be posted.

Event 14 (Day 1C): New Names Climbing Up The Leaderboard

"Battles At The Beach"

Event 14 ($1,500 No Limit Hold'em Main Event $500,000 GTD)

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

Total Entries: 197

Players are now back from break, and have just two more levels of play remaining in the day.  The leaderboard is now littered with new names, including the current chip leader Moshe Wasser (Boynton Beach, FL).  Wasser is one of the many players to have satellited into this event, and is making the most of his opportunity.  Moshe has over $9,200 in career earnings, but has never cashed in an event that has larger than a $350 buy-in, so this is some new territory for him.

Moshe Wasser - 175,000

Taylor Dean-Lipson - 135,000

Kenneth Bruno - 130,000

Anthony Ruberto - 130,000

Zack Milchman - 120,000

Jermain Gerlin - 115,000

TK Miles - 108,000

Jordan Schneider - 105,000

Nagui Yassa - 105,000

Event 14 (Day 1C): Petric And Teebagy Looking To Hold Strong For The Ladies

"Battles At The Beach"

Event 14 ($1,500 No Limit Hold'em Main Event $500,000 GTD)

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

Total Entries: 192

Luminita Petric (pictured left), and Lisa Teebagy

Of the (79) players to have bagged chips for tomorrow's Day 2, only one is a female (Paula Alibrandi).  It seem a little unusual, because we've seen some great success out of the ladies in these series in the past.  There are two ladies remaining in this Day 1C field, both of which have been part of final tables chops in events run during a series.

Luminita Petric (West Palm Beach, FL) was part of the final table chop that ended Event 2 of the 2016 Isle Poker Open ($360 No Limit Hold'em), earning herself $16,496 for sixth place money.  Just two weeks ago, Lisa Teebagy (Boca Raton, FL) took third place money ($18,653) in a four-way deal that was made to finish Event 1 ($175 No Limit Hold'em).  Both of the ladies are currently playing stacks over the chip average (54,000), so they stand a good chance of reaching the bagging process, which begins in two levels.

Players will be heading on their final scheduled break of the night at the end of this level, and will return to Level 10, with blinds of 600/1,200/200.

Event 14 (Day 1C): Checking In On The Notables

"Battles At The Beach"

Event 14 ($1,500 No Limit Hold'em Main Event $500,000 GTD)

Level 9 (Blinds 400/800/100)

Total Entries: 190

Steven McKoy (Birmingham, AL)

Steven McKoy - 138,000 (173bb)

TK Miles - 70,000

Sheddy Siddiqui - 62,000

Joseph Couden - 56,000

Anthony Ruberto - 40,000

Mukul Pahuja - 38,000

Stewart Newman - 30,000

Raminder Singh - 27,000

John Dolan - 25,000

Tristan Wade - 24,000

Ory Hen - 17,000

Sean Shah - 16,000 (20bb)

Event 14 (Day 1C): Counts From The Field Before Break

"Battles At The Beach"

Event 14 ($1,500 No Limit Hold'em Main Event $500,000 GTD)

Level 8 (Blinds 300/600/75)

Total Entries: 172

Chris Elderkin (Ft. Lauderdale, FL)

Players are about to head on the first of two breaks that remain in the night, and will be returning to Level 9, with blinds increasing to 400/800/100.  There are still a ton of "heroes" remaining in the field, but the top of the leaderboard is crowded with some new names to the blog.

Josias Santos - 140,000

Bryce McVay - 135,000

Marc Sacheli - 130,000

Nissim Gozlan - 128,000

Jason Goldman - 110,000

Andres Morales - 105,000

Chris Elderkin - 100,000

Nagui Yassa - 97,000

Event 14 (Day 1C): Ganzfried Takes His Time (A Lot Of It), But Gets It Right

"Battles At The Beach"

Event 14 ($1,500 No Limit Hold'em Main Event $500,000 GTD)

Level 8 (Blinds 300/600/75)

Total Entries: 169

Sam Ganzfried (pictured left), and Tristan Wade

Sam Ganzfried (Pittsburgh, PA) and Tristan Wade played a pot right after dinner, where Ganzfried check-called flop and called turn on a board of J♥ 3♥ 4♥ 5♠.  The river brought the 10♦, and after a good amount of time, Ganzfried checked, with Wade checking back.  Sam rolled over A♥ A♦, and in a humorous fashion, Wade said, "That almost felt like a slow-roll, I thought I was good for sure."  We never saw Tristan's hand, but it was clear that pocket aces (with the ace of hearts) was not something Wade put in Sam's range.

Passing the table about four minutes later, the two would be heads-up in a pot again, with the board reading Q♥ J♥ 5♣ Q♠ 5♣.  Tristan had overbet the pot on the river (for 24,000), essentially putting Ganzfried all-in.  Ganzfried took some time...checked his card...took some more time, and after about six minutes, Wade called for a clock.  The tournament supervisor came over, and with (30) seconds left to act, Ganzfried announced a call.  Wade turned over K♥ 10♦ (king-high), followed by Ganzfried rolling over A♠ J♠.  Sam made the right decision, and scooped up a pot worth close to 70,000.

Sam Ganzfried - 74,000

Tristan Wade - 11,000

Event 14 (Day 1C): Player PSA: Day 2 Begins At 12:00PM

"Battles At The Beach"

Event 14 ($1,500 No Limit Hold'em Main Event $500,000 GTD)

Level 7 (Blinds 250/500/75)

Total Entries: 161

Just a reminder for all players that are in the field now, or have bagged chips for tomorrow's Day 2 (or those that plan on entering before Day 2 begins), 12:00pm is the restart time!!! There is a structure sheet floating around that says Day 1 begins at 1:00pm, but that is incorrect.  If you know family or friends in the event, please let them know the correct time...12:00pm.

There were a handful of players to enter during dinner break, a popular time to jump in with a super deep structure.  Anyone buying in now would be sitting down with (60) big blinds, which is more than manageable for any skill level player.  Some names to join the field include:

Marsha Wolak

Michael Landress

David Moreno

Michael Jagroo

John Hilton

Daniel Letts

Event 14 (Day 1C): Updated Counts Before Dinner Break

"Battles At The Beach"

Event 14 ($1,500 No Limit Hold'em Main Event $500,000 GTD)

Level 6 (Blinds 200/400/50)

Total Entries: 149

Andrew Morales (Deerfield Beach, FL)

Day 1C players are about to take their scheduled dinner break, which will run from 5:35-6:35pm.  When play resumes, blinds in Level 7 will have gone up to 250/500/50, with the chip average just over (80) big blinds.  Bryce McVay (Jupiter, FL) has trended steadily upward since his hand with Jeffrey Saunders, and heads to dinner as the flight's chip leader (140,000).  There are a handful of players in striking distance at the moment, including Andres Morales, Joseph Couden, and Rafiki Brown.

Bryce McVay - 140,000

Andres Morales - 120,000

Joseph Couden - 80,000

Raffia Brown - 80,000

Raymond Roberty - 78,000

Marc Sacheli - 75,000

Event 14 (Day 1C): Field Just Got A Little More "Cre8tive"

"Battles At The Beach"

Event 14 ($1,500 No Limit Hold'em Main Event $500,000 GTD)

Level 6 (Blinds 200/400/50)

Total Entries: 144

Tristan Wade (Boynton Beach, FL)

It seemed as if the pace of entry was plateauing over the course of the last few levels, but there's been a rush of new entries to the podium in the last half-hour.  One of those recent entries is WPT DeepStacks Season 2 POY Tristan Wade (Boynton Beach, FL).  Wade is the owner of many different titles, any of which would have been appropriate in that introduction.  Tristan was the Director of Operations for the DeepStacks Poker Tour (which became WPT DeepStacks), 2011 WSOP Europe Bracelet winner, poker coach at "Cre8ive Coaching," among other things.

While Tristan has numerous different business ventures that take up much of his time, he's never stopped putting in the tournament poker volume.  He has over $1,658,000 in live tournament earnings, along with $1,464,095 in online earnings.  As mentioned earlier, Wade has won a WSOP-Europe bracelet, taking down the $3,000 No Limit Hold'em Shootout in 2011 (Cannes, France) for $243,191.  Tristan's largest score actually came earlier that year though, when he reached the final table of the WSOP $10,000 No Limit Hold'em Six-Handed Championship, finishing fourth for $292,866.

Wade is back in Florida after a recent trip to Parx Casino in Bensalem, where the WPT DeepStacks was hosting a series, hand-in-hand with the Parx Poker Big Stax series.  Tristan spent a good amount of time commentating on the final table for the live stream, but is now focused on reaching a final table of his own.  Some other late arrivals to join the field during the last level include:

Anthony Ruberto

Mukul Pahuja

Stewart Newman

Luke Doolittle

John Dollinger

Ryan Gianquitti

Devon Shalmi

Event 14 (Day 1C): Bryce Loses Out On Most Of The Break

"Battles At The Beach"

Event 14 ($1,500 No Limit Hold'em Main Event $500,000 GTD)

Level 5 (Blinds 150/300/50)

Total Entries: 127

Bryce McVay (Jupiter, FL)

Yesterday is was Harrison Gimbel (Jupiter, FL) who lost most of one of his breaks, at he sat and waited while Frederico Dabus tanked on the river of a heads up hand.  Today it would be Bryce McVay (Jupiter, FL) waiting on an opponent, almost seven minutes into the break.  

Jeffrey Saunders would open from early position to 600, with the cutoff making the call, and Bryce McVay coming along as well (on the button).  After the 5♣ Q♠ 6♦ flop Saunders led for 1,400, and after the player in the cutoff folded, McVay raised to 3,500.  Saunders made the call fairly quickly, and would check to McVay after the 9♥ on the turn.  McVay fired out 5,200, with Saunders once again making the call.  The board would pair on the river, with the 9♠, and Saunders checked one last time to McVay.  Bryce collected a handful of different color chips, eventually tossing out a bet of 13,800.

Saunders sat back in his chair, and that's when the break started...and Saunders tanked...and tanked...until about six minutes had passed.  He started to then talk to McVay, but Bryce was not responding...siting stone faced for the entire time.  Saunders eventually dumped the chips across his cards for a call, leaning forward to see McVay roll over his hand...6♥ 6♣ (a flopped set and rivered full house).  Jeffrey mucked his cards and walked away from the table, with Bryce pulling in the pot, and chipping up to over 70,000.

Bryce McVay - 73,000

Jeffrey Saunders - 11,300

Event 14 (Day 1C): Main Event Guarantee Surpassed

"Battles At The Beach"

Event 14 ($1,500 No Limit Hold'em Main Event $500,000 GTD)

Level 4 (Blinds 100/200/25)

Total Entries: 117

Since the beginning stages of yesterday's Day 1B flight, there was never any doubt whether or not the $500,000 guarantee was going to be reached, it was just going to be a matter of where would it end up.  As the level transitioned ten minutes ago, so did the overall prize pool, rolling over to $500,000.  It currently sits at $514,350, and will continue to grow over the course of the day, especially with the steady flow of late arrivals.  Some other players to join the BATB Main Event action include:

Marcus Stein

Taylor-Dean Lipson

Mauricio Duarte

Stuart Elkin

Adel Jo

Marc Duquette

Andre Rukasa

Stephen Smith

Sheddy Siddiqui

Players will be heading on their second break of the day in just a few moments, returning at (15) minutes to new blinds of 150/300/50.

Event 14 (Day 1C): Official Satellite Results (3/3)

"Battles At The Beach"

Event 14 ($1,500 No Limit Hold'em Main Event $500,000 GTD)

Level 4 (Blinds 100/200/25)

Total Entries: 105

Posted below are the players to have been awarded a 2017 Battles At The Beach $1,500 Main Event seat from last night's $175 No Limit Hold'em "Super Satellite (10 seats guaranteed):"

1. Louis Leo
2. Jonathan Ounjian
3. Sergio Jesus Alves
4. Vilmaz Yosul
5. David Moreno
6. Preecha Taepakdee
7. Jeffrey Silverstein
8. Jeffrey Saunders
9. Mike Allen
10. Jason Dollinger
11. Alan Dobrow
12. Frank Traino
13. Moshe Wasser

Event 14 (Day 1C): The Trend Continues With Big Names Dropping In

"Battles At The Beach"

Event 14 ($1,500 No Limit Hold'em Main Event $500,000 GTD)

Level 3 (Blinds 100/200)

Total Entries: 99

John Dolan (Tallahassee, FL)

We've seen numerous players over the course of this Battles At The Beach Main Event that don't usually frequent tournaments here at the Isle Poker Room, and that trend continues this afternoon.  John Dolan (Tallahassee, FL) would likely call Hard Rock Tampa his "home casino," but it shouldn't come as a surprise that he's here in the Day 1C field.  Dolan does have five Isle Poker results on his resume, with his last coming in 2014 (Florida State Poker Championships $2,500 No Limit Hold'em - 4th Place $40,293).

Dolan's tournament poker resume is one that can't be ignored, with over $4,491,000 in career earnings, he's 10th on the all-time money list for the state of Florida (a list that's filled with some of the biggest names in the world).  John's highlighting score came in 2010, when he reached the final table of the WSOP Main Event, eventually finishing in 6th place ($1,772,959).  In addition to that score, Dolan also have five six-figure scores, three of which came here in Florida:

Dolan is just one player, of a group in today's field, that's firing their first bullet:

John Palace

Bryce McVay

Luminita Petric

Robert Transue

Lisa Teebagy

Event 14 (Day 1C): The Rest Of The "Big Game" In Action

"Battles At The Beach"

Event 14 ($1,500 No Limit Hold'em Main Event $500,000 GTD)

Level 2 (Blinds 75/150)

Total Entries: 87

Dominique Mosley (Miami, FL)

In one of the yesterday's published posts, we spoke about how the largest cash game in the room was 5/10 NL, only because all of the bigger players were in the tournament (Ian O'Hara, Vincent Aloi, Keith Nassetta, Michael Amato, Alex Turyansky, and Chad Eveslage).  While there is currently a 10/25 NL running (with players who bagged for Day 2), there are more "big game" players in this field.

Dominique Mosley (Miami, FL) definitely spends more of his time and focus on cash games, but when he does play tournaments, he's a force to be reckoned with.  Mosley has over $391,000 in live tournament earnings, including a WSOP final table finish from last summer ($10,000 Pot Limit Omaha 8-Handed Championship - 8th Place $74,339).  Dominique has other deep runs in prestigious events (PCA Main Event, WSOP Main Event, WPT SHRPO Championship Event), but looks to only pay in the higher price-point events.

Other players in the field that frequent the Isle Poker Room's largest cash games include Joseph Couden and Steven McKoy.  Players are currently taking their first break of the day, and will be returning to Level 3, and new blinds of 100/200.

Event 14 (Day 1C): Brown Stepping Up After Event 8 Final Table

"Battles At The Beach"

Event 14 ($1,500 No Limit Hold'em Main Event $500,000 GTD)

Level 2 (Blinds 75/150)

Total Entries: 83

Rafiki Brown (Pembroke Pines, FL)

Raffia Brown (Pembroke Pines, FL) is "stepping up in class," to take a term from horse racing, as he is in the field for one of the largest buy-in tournaments he's played in.  Brown is coming into the event with confidence, having just earned his largest live tournament score earlier in the week.  Brown finished third in Event 8, collecting $31,924 for his efforts, and bringing his career tournament earnings up to $62,212.  Rafiki would have been poised to have made an even deeper run Monday afternoon, had he not run his turned flush into Michael Amato's rivered full house.  The way the hand played out, it was unlikely that any player would have been able to release in that spot.  Brown is the first notable spotted in a large contingent that's currently in action:

Erik Nomberg

Juan Rodriguez

Kenneth Bruno

Michael Tufaro

Ido Ashkenazi

James Wang

Frank Traino

Thomas Millward

Event 14 (Day 1C): Official Chip Counts (Flights 1A-1B)

"Battles At The Beach"

Event 14 ($1,500 No Limit Hold'em Main Event $500,000 GTD)

Level 1 (Blinds 50/100)

Total Entries: 63

Event 14 (Day 1C): Big Things Expected From Main Event Final Flight

"Battles At The Beach"

Event 14 ($1,500 No Limit Hold'em Main Event $500,000 GTD)

Level 1 (Blinds 50/100)

Total Entries: N/A

After two long days of opening flights, the Battles At The Beach $1,500 Main Event already has a total of (262) entries, with (79) players having already booked their to tomorrow's Day 2.  Some of the biggest names in tournament poker have been in attendance over the past two days, with that trend expected to continue today.  

The tournament area is already more crowded than it's been at this point for the first two flights, with the largest field of the three expected to be today.  Any of the players that won seats in last night's satellite, along with those who won seats that haven't entered yet, are sure to be in attendance.  There will also be the players that couldn't make it during the week, or those that couldn't find a bag during Day 1A or Day 1B.  Regardless of who they are, or why they chose today, this Day 1C field is expected to see well over (200) entries.

The cards are going to be in the air momentarily, with 30,000 chip starting stacks, and (50) minute levels throughout today's play.  Registration is open through the moment the bagging process begins, along with tomorrow, before the Day 2 cards get in the air.  Live blogged coverage will begin with an update of combined field chips counts, followed by the first look at notable players in the field.  It's shaping up to be another special event, and all of the action can be found here on the Isle Casino Poker blog.

Saturday, March 4th: "Battles" Main Event Crushing The Numbers

Yesterday's Day 1B flight of the Battles At The Beach $1,500 Main Event saw a total of (156) entries,  (45) of which bagged chips for Sunday's Day 2.  There were many big named players we saw for the first time all series, including Harrison Gimbel, John Depersio, Rob Salaburu, Cory Zeidman, Ian O'Hara, and Hans Winzeler (just to name a few).  It just so happens that all of the listed names were able to bag chips for Day 2, giving us an already star-studded field.

The two flights that have been played to this point bring the combined total of entries to (262), and gives us a prize pool of $353,700.  With Day 1C expected to have the largest field of the three starting flights, it's likely that the $500,000 guarantee will be in the rear view mirror just a few levels into the day.  Last year's Day 1C flight of the 2016 Battles At The Beach Main Event drew (247) entries, and if those same numbers are attained today, we are going to be looking at a $700,000 prize pool!

Action gets underway at 12:00pm, with live blogged coverage beginning shortly thereafter.  While registration is still open tomorrow (before the Day 2 cards are in the air), this is the last opportunity for players to try and find themselves a sizable bag.  At the moment, everyone is looking up at the two flight chip leaders, Howard Charyn (252,400 - Flight 1A) and Uri Kadosh (307,000 - Flight 1B).

12:00pm - Event 14 (Battles At The Beach) Day 1C $1,500 No Limit Hold'em $500,000 GTD

- Players receive 30,000 in tournament chips
- All late registrants and re-entries receive a full stack
- Levels 1-12 will be (50) minutes, Levels 13+ will be (60) minutes
- Late registration and re-entries for the first (12) levels, to include before the first card on Day 2

Event 14 (Day 1B): Official Day 1B Chip Counts

"Battles At The Beach"

Event 14 ($1,500 No Limit Hold'em Main Event $500,000 GTD)

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

Total Entries: 156

Players Remaining: 45

Uri	Kadosh	307,000
Nigel	Murray	238,000
John	DePersio	225,800
David	Bradshaw	190,200
Harrison	Gimbel	180,600
Marcin	Plewinski	153,400
David	Bell	145,500
Michael	Newman	143,800
Jacob	Snider	143,400
Michael	Graffeo	142,900
Bradley	Ruben	137,000
Adam	Goldberg	135,700
Joseph	Palma	129,600
Josh	Beckley	119,700
Kobi	Ribak	111,000
Joshua	Lowing	110,200
Keith	Nassetta	106,800
Gregory	Fishberg	105,400
Elliott	Zaydman	104,100
Elilton	Gouveia	101,200
Daniel	Blum	99,500
John	Ambrosi	95,000
Robert	Salaburu	89,200
Cory	Zeidman	88,500
David	Maslowski	88,100
Vincent	Aloi	86,200
Michael	Amato	84,400
Charles	Alexander	80,100
Mark	Dube	76,900
Ian	O'Hara	75,800
Shea	Smith	73,600
Glenn	Becker	70,600
Brandon	Miller	70,200
Derek	Bounano	67,300
Alex	Thomas	64,100
Mark	Wasserman	60,000
Charles	Bury	56,200
Javier	Sarache	54,800
Rafael	Calero	54,600
Hans	Winzeler	53,000
Richard	Rice	50,800
Dmimitry	Agrachov	41,800
Alexander	Turyansky	41,600
Robert	Campbell	31,000
Jeff	Rodriguez	24,500