Level four is about to finish, meaning we’ll have our first chip count soon for the Day 1D flight. It’s early on, but with 220 entries already, plenty of chips are floating around the tables, making the accumulation of some early big stacks possible.
With all the poker taking place at the WSOP-C Playground, the building is buzzing with activity.
Players from Day 1D of the Closer have filled up most of the available tables in the tent at the rear of the building, with 168 still at their seats from a total of 185 entries – and we’re only in level three! The crowd will definitely keep growing as the evening wears on. Here are some photos of the field.
Only three levels of play remain on Day 1C.
There are now 101 players competing for the nearly 7 million chips in play. When the action resumed in level 12, Benjamin Croteau had a healthy lead over the field thanks to his stack of roughly 162 big blinds.
The chip average provides about 42 big blinds so there is still lots of room to maneuver, but it remains to be seen whether or not the players will try to simply survive to the end of the flight or try to run up their stacks to potentially challenge the overall Day 1 chip leader Anthony Ribeiro who bagged 581,000 on Day 1A.
| First Name | Prénom | Last Name | Nom | Stack | Tapis |
|---|---|---|
| Benjamin | Croteau | 260,400 |
| Rami | Jaber | 212,800 |
| Michel | Gariepy | 176,000 |
| Patrick | Corrigan | 167,000 |
| James | Moseley | 160,600 |
| Lam | Nguyen | 159,000 |
| Weituoxin | Wu | 147,000 |
We’ve seen a lot of action at the WSOP-C Playground over the last 10 days, and today is no different. This evening marks the final flight of the $300 + $30 Closer. This evening’s event, Day 1D, is likely to see a high number of entrants, especially since it is the very last chance to qualify for Day 2 and the guaranteed prize pool of $300,000.
This is a 10-handed event, and players will start off with 20,000 chips. There are unlimited re-entries until the beginning of level 9, which should kick off around 10:30pm. Competitors will play 14 levels, with blinds increasing every 30 minutes.
We’ll be keeping an eye out for some of our returning players, those who either tried and failed to qualify over the past few days in one of the other Day 1 flights, or those who qualified and want to improve their Day 2 starting position.
This is your last chance to get in on the action. Cards are in the air – let’s play!
The late registration and re-entry period has just closed on Day 1C, but there was time to collect 347 entries before play resumed in level nine. The huge turnout has put nearly seven million in chips in play, enough to ensure that there will be many big stacks advancing from this flight.
The current chip leader is Douglas James, who is sitting on a stack of more than 160 big blinds. He is closely followed by former chip leader Alan Hamza.
The Closer has effectively become a freezeout for the remainder of this flight so the play dynamics will likely shift away from the loose action of the early levels to a tighter tournament grind to the end of level 14.
Here are the current chip leaders:
| First Name | Prénom | Last Name | Nom | Stack | Tapis |
|---|---|---|
| Douglas | James | 128,500 |
| Alan | Hamza | 125,000 |
| Pierre Olivier | Robinson | 116,000 |
| Jean Yves | Demers | 103,000 |
| Philippe | Laudy | 95,000 |
| David | Martin | 83,000 |
| Michel | Vigneault | 82,500 |
Players continue to join Day 1C of the Closer at a steady pace, pushing the total number of entries beyond the 300-mark with roughly 40 minutes left to go in the late registration and re-entry period. There have been 70 re-entries so far, showing that the players do not want to let this flight pass them by. A starting stack still provides more than 30 big blinds, enough to give new joiners room to maneuver, even at this stage.
Here is an updated look at the field from level seven:
The players have just returned from their first break of the day, as new players continue to join the field. There are now over 5 million in chips in play and two hours left in the late registration period. There will be many more chips in play by the time late registration comes to a close at 4:30pm so there is a good chance that a new overall chip leader will emerge from this flight.
The current chips leader on Day 1C is Alan Hamza, who managed to more than triple his starting stack during the first four levels of play and now has over 230 big blinds at his disposal.
Here are the chip leaders at the first break.
| First Name | Prénom | Last Name | Nom | Stack | Tapis |
|---|---|---|
| Alan | Hamza | 70,000 |
| Eric | Leblond | 61,000 |
| Fabrizio | Bruno | 57,000 |
| Robert | Gariepy | 55,000 |
| Satish | Surapaneni | 54,000 |
| Galal | Tadros | 49,000 |
Day 1C of the Closer has just entered its fourth level of play.
New players and re-entries are adding up by the minute to put over 4 million in chips in play at this early stage. With nearly three hours remaining in the late registration and re-entry period, 24 re-entries have already occurred so expect many more as the flight continues. Day 1C is already the largest starting flight yet, having just surpassed Day 1B’s total entries.
Here is a look at the field from level three:
Day 1C of the $300 + $30 Closer has begun!
The Closer is an unlimited re-entry event that starts players with 20,000 in chips in their quest to get part of the $300,000 guaranteed prize pool. Each Day 1 plays 14 30-minute levels. Late registration and re-entries are available until the beginning of level nine, which will arrive at 4:30pm on Day 1C.
With two of four starting flights already in the books, the Closer has collected 399 entries so far, a figure which will likely be surpassed by today’s flights. The final starting flight, Day 1D, runs tonight at 6:00pm. To see the combined Day 1 results, click here.
Good luck to all!
It’s a wrap for Day 1B of the $300 + $30 Closer.
After seeing 213 entries into this evening’s flight (including 52 re-entries) only 50 players now remain at their seats, all of them eligible for Day 2. At the top of the Day 1B heap is Collin Loyer, who was able to collect 226,500 chips over the course of the night. Well done!
At this point, Collin sits in third of the overall leaderboard – although that will likely change, as there are still two flights to be played. Those flights take place tomorrow, at 12:00pm (Day 1C) and 6:00pm (Day 1D), and we expect a large crowd at both games. All qualifiers will come together to play in Day 2 of the Closer, which will kick off on Monday, September 2nd at 1:00pm.
Keep in mind, players are allowed to enter as many Day 1 flights as they want. Those who make Day 2 more than once are free to show up and play with their largest qualifying stack (with any other qualifying stacks forfeit). So whether you’re coming in for your first crack at the Closer or you’re back more, trying to improve your Day 2 odds, make sure you get down to Playground tomorrow and take your shot at a piece of of the guaranteed $300,000 prize pool.
See you soon!
Below are photos of some of our other players with substantial finishing stacks.
Collin Loyer recently found himself in a hand against a few others at table 76, but he managed to muscle his way to a win without even seeing the flop. It started with an under-the-gun 4,800 chip bet from Jessie Wheatley, which was raised by Duane Fernandez (below, left) on her left to 14,000. Not to be outdone, Collin (below, right) re-raised over top of them both to 38,000, obviously confident in his hand.
The table folded around to Jessie, who let it go. It didn’t take Duane long to make the same choice. When you’re down to the last 30 minutes of play, it pays to be cautious, especially when a birth in Day 2 is so close. That said, without a significant chip stack to start with on Day 2, caution doesn’t do much for you.
Play continues…
Collin needed one more look at his cards before raking in his winnings from the hand.
As the blinds keep rising, the field keeps shrinking. From a total of 213 entries into this evening’s flight, the group of players has now been reduced to only 66. And it’s not too big a surprise, frankly, as over the last several minutes it seems as if there has been an all-in shove every few seconds!
And yet, strangely enough, here at the end of level 12 we don’t see any particular player running away with things. Based on the latest chip count, it was clear that the chips have been spread fairly democratically amongst the players, with only three of them appearing to have more than 100,000 chips. That trend is likely to change, however, as we enter the last two levels. We expect the group to number closer to 40 by the end of the level 14, which should wrap in approximately one hour.
