Friday, May 29, 2015 6:34 PM Local Time
The first of four starting flights is now in the books as an estimated 850 players have bagged up their chips and advanced to Sunday's Day 2 session.
Of those surviving players, it looks like Mohammed Ayyash will end this Day 1A flight as the chip leader, as he's one of the only players near the 200,000 mark.
The players at his table were quick to explain how good he ran through this starting flight, saying he "knocked out at least 25 players today".
Kevin Grabel might not have scored that many knockouts, but he continues to hold his spot at the top of the Day 1A leaderboard, as he has finished today with just over 100,000. Daniel Strelitz, Carl Masters and Alfie Poetra are all also over the century mark.
In total, over an estimated 5,300 players registered for this flight, with an official number of total entrants and surviving players being provided later today.
For those players that failed to bag chips, a piece of the $5,000,000 guaranteed 'The Colossus' prize pool is still attainable, as there are three more flights set to run over the next day and half.
The first is Day 1B, which is set to begin at 7 PM. The final two flights will be held tomorrow, with Day 1C starting at 10 AM and Day 1D beginning at 7 PM.
Friday, May 29, 2015 6:29 PM Local Time
Players are now bagging up for the evening. Those who made it through Day 1 with chips will return at 5 PM on Sunday for Day 2.
Friday, May 29, 2015 6:27 PM Local Time
Facing a raise James Mackey shoves all in preflop and is called. Mackey is behind as he flips over
vs. his opponent's
. The board runs out
. Mackey fails to improve and is eliminated just before the rest of the field bags and tags for the night.
Friday, May 29, 2015 6:20 PM Local Time
With the tournament clock hitting 10 minutes remaining in Level 11, the floor has drawn a
meaning we will play three more hands before players bag and tag.
Friday, May 29, 2015 6:16 PM Local Time
A couple of people limp into a pot but before Eddy Sabat can also limp, the gentleman next to act raises out of turn. The dealer tells him to pull his bet back and Sabat decides to just go ahead and limp into the pot. The gentleman who raised out of turn kept the same raise of 2,000 and it folded around to Warner who is under the gun. He calls as well as Sabat. The flop is
. Warner bets out 2,600, Sabat folds and the other gentleman min-raises to 5,200 and Warner calls. The turn is
and they both check. The river the is
. Warner bets out 5,000 and is called. His opponent shows
and Warner shows
for two pair. His opponent expresses frustration but says nice hand.
Friday, May 29, 2015 6:16 PM Local Time
Daniel Strelitz has been mashing his Colossus flight members all day and that continues as Flight A winds down. He continues this strong play on a board reading . The small blind checks-raises Strelitz's bet of 2,600 to 7,200. Strelitz then puts him all-in for his last 7,000 chips. After quietly saying to himself all of the options for what Strelitz could have, the small blind folds and Strelitz climbs to 67,000.
Friday, May 29, 2015 6:07 PM Local Time
With the board reading , Lee Williams checks from the small blind. His opponent in the big blind checks back and Williams shows . The big blind checks his cards one last time before sending them into the muck.
Williams is now one of the biggest stacks in the room and looks ready to bag over 100,000 chips as we wind down here in the last level of the day.
Friday, May 29, 2015 5:52 PM Local Time
The remaining Day 1A 'The Colossus' field, which is estimated at just over 1,000 players, has just entered Level 11, which will be the final level of this starting flight.
This 40 minute level will be paused with 10 minutes remaining on the tournament clock, with hand for hand play taking the surviving players into the end of day.
Players will then bag and tag chips for Sunday's Day 2 session.
Updates will continue until the end of Day 1A, with WSOP.com then picking up Day 1B coverage when that begins at 7 PM.
Friday, May 29, 2015 5:49 PM Local Time
Level: 11
Blinds: 500/1000
Ante: 100
Friday, May 29, 2015 5:36 PM Local Time
On a board of four players are all-in, with Craig Mason jumping from his seat to give himself a high five.
Mason has tabled in front of him and he makes eye contact with us, saying, "That's a quadruple up! Needs to be on the blog right!" as the dealer counts out his chips.
The finally tally is at just under 15,000 and his opponents, who hold pocket tens and two variants of ace-king.
When the dust settles and their stacks are debited, Craig sits near the 50,000 chip mark with just under 15 minutes remaining in Level 10.
Friday, May 29, 2015 5:35 PM Local Time
On a board of with one player all in, middle position checks to Joseph Cheong. Cheong takes his time before putting out a bet of 4,800. Middle position checks his cards and folds, leaving Cheong heads up with the all in player.
Cheong:
All in:
The turn was the and the river the , giving Cheong the pot and the knockout. He is now playing just over 30,000 chips late in level 10.
Friday, May 29, 2015 5:35 PM Local Time
We came to table 200 and see two all-ins for almost the same stack. The cards are flipped over and we have
versus Mike Slutzky's pocket
. The board runs out
which gives Slutzky the queen high straight. He now sits with 29,000 in chips.
Friday, May 29, 2015 5:07 PM Local Time
Level: 10
Blinds: 400/800
Ante: 100
Friday, May 29, 2015 4:43 PM Local Time
Level 9 is complete, and players are now on their last break of the day. After break, there will be two more levels before the remaining players bag up their chips. There are roughly 1,200 players remaining heading into Level 10.
Friday, May 29, 2015 4:42 PM Local Time
Despite his hot start early in the day, Dan Sindelar is no longer in the Colossus. His went all-in before the flop against Josh Beckley's and did not improve and he has been eliminated. Beckley moves to 30,000.
Friday, May 29, 2015 4:40 PM Local Time
Steven Snyder from Charlotte, North Carolina has been keeping the floor staff busy with his requests for chip trays.
He's collecting the green chips - at a value of 25 - because: "My middle name is Patrick, so green is lucky for me."
Perhaps surprisingly, Snyder's heritage is not Irish, but rather a mix of Scottish, Welsh and German.
With almost 8,500 of his 30,000 chip count in greens, Snyder feels his luck is in.
Unfortunately for him, the end of the level means floor staff are racing the green chips out of play and the lowest denomination will be black chips at 100.
Friday, May 29, 2015 4:33 PM Local Time
Kevin Grabel was pegged as the leader earlier in this Day 1A flight and it looks like he's continued to hold that top spot heading into the final break of the day.
Grabel has moved tables a few times, which might interrupt some player's flow, but it hasn't stopped Grabel, as he's done nothing but build his stack over the rest of this straight flight.
He's currently, by the look of it, the only player over the 100,000 chip mark, with just over two levels remaining in Day 1A.
Friday, May 29, 2015 4:31 PM Local Time
Facing a raise of 5,000 Greg Raymer re-raises to 11,300 leaving himself just three green chips (75) behind.
"Please just call so that if I lose this hand I can potentially have the best comeback story in history. I will only bet the river with the stone cold nuts to avoid a one round penalty."
His opponent calls, tuning over , while Raymer shows .
The board runs out making his opponent a 10-high straight.
The next hand Greg announces he is playing for the antes as he places his three remaining green chips in front of him. A player in middle position shoves all in for 7,100 and everyone else folds. His opponent flips over . Raymer slowly flips over the and then the . The board runs out and Greg is eliminated.
Friday, May 29, 2015 4:30 PM Local Time
Sitting just to Jesse Silvia's left who was the 2012 Main Event runner up, Jonathan Rego doubles up through the chip leader at the table holding
to the other player's
. The board ran out
. Rego is now sitting at 7,500.
Friday, May 29, 2015 4:26 PM Local Time
Carl Masters and Kevin O'Donnell are playing a massive pot with the board showing . Masters bets 10,000 on the river and O'Donnell goes into the tank for over three minutes. He eventually does call and Masters turns over and takes the pot with aces full.
O'Donnell stands up and says, "I knew it!" as he pats himself on the back. He continues on saying, "What a read! I almost raised you! What a read!"
Masters turns to O'Donnell and says, "What a read? Huh? Maybe it would have been a good read had you folded!"
O'Donnell however seems plenty pleased with his decision on the river, even if it did cost him 10,000 in chips.
Masters- 85,000
O'Donnell- 35,000