Event #1: $365 No-Limit Hold'em Re-Entry

Hammond, Indiana (October 17, 2016) — Jason Ramos is the champion of Event #1 at Horseshoe Hammond, defeating a huge field of 2,121 entries to earn his first gold ring. In addition to the jewelry, Ramos collected the top prize of $97,061 and 50 points toward the race for seats in the Global Casino Championship.

Ramos is a 35-year-old salesman from Carol Stream, Illinois. His family and his career come first, but he’s been putting in a bit more time as he’s started to accumulate some significant results over the last three years. This one is his most significant so far, though, and the timing was just right for the champ.

“I’m just overwhelmed,” he said in the postgame interview, letting out a big sigh at the end of a long and successful day of poker. “I feel great. I have a fiancé and three little girls at home, and we’re looking to get a house. This is just breathtaking and overwhelming. It absolutely couldn’t have come at a better time. This is a downpayment.”

Ramos’ job meant he was unable to play Day 1A or Day 1B, but he showed up for Saturday’s Day 1C with a few entries in his wallet. As it turned out, he only needed one. “I played one entry,” he said proudly, holding up a single finger. “One flight. One bullet.” Ramos bagged up the day’s third-biggest stack of 242,600 chips, good enough for fourth place on the overall leaderboard heading into the combined Day 2.

Things tried to unravel a bit during the decisive Day 2, but Ramos refused to let it come undone. “Ups and downs today,” he said after the fact. “It was a roller-coaster ride. I was short a couple times, but I just maintained my composure. I was just trying to pick my spots right. Play smart, and don’t get unlucky.”

Ramos’ big boost came midway through the day when he doubled up with aces versus queens for about 10 percent of the total chips in play. He was back among the top stacks by the time the field redrew for the final three tables, and it was mostly smooth sailing from there on out.

In the wee hours of Monday morning, Ramos found himself heads-up with a big chip lead against Art Harb, and although both men held fairly deep stacks, the match was over within just a few hands. Harb got the last of his chips into the middle preflop with ace-nine of diamonds, but Ramos found a dominating ace-queen to put his opponent at risk. Five blanks later, it was all over, as Ramos posed for photos with all the chips stacked in front of him.

When asked if this victory encourages him to devote more time to the game, Ramos let out another big smile. “Yeah, I’m going to play,” he said. “I’m going to play for the rest of the week. I’m going to call work and use some vacation time, and I’m going to play in the rest of the events here. I want to win Casino Champion.”

He’s off to a good start on that goal. Ramos is the early front-runner with the top score of 50 points on the Horseshoe Hammond leaderboard.

With the elimination of Philip Williams (pictured) in third place, Jason Ramos and Art Harb are now heads-up for the ring in Event #1. Ramos begins the duel with a significant chip lead:

Jason Ramos - 15,700,000 (98 bb)
Art Harb - 5,500,000 (34 bb)

Blinds are 80,000/160,000 with a 20,000 ante in the current level, putting more than 130 total big blinds in play.

Less than a week ago, S.J. Van Dalsen was doing some serious work in Southern Indiana, winning his first gold ring in the series' penultimate event. During his postgame interview and photo session, he beamed as he mentioned that he'd be attending this stop in Hammond for the duration, having saved up paid vacation time for his annual year-end poker trip.

The run-good seems to have made the trip north with the new ring winner. Van Dalsen was part of the Day 2 restart this afternoon, and he's still in contention as the field shrinks to the final three tables. The remaining players have just returned from a break, and Van Dalsen is currently sitting just below the chip average with about 700,000 chips.

With 27 players left, everyone everyone is now guaranteed to earn at least $3,366.

From a starting field of more than 2,100 entries, just 72 players remain in Event #1. They're just returning from the break, and the 8,000/16,000 blinds put the average stack at just about 18 big blinds.

Everyone left is now guaranteed to earn at least $1,362.

As was the case for both of the previous days, the clock is paused with ten minutes left in the level, and each table is playing their final few hands of Day 1C. Once complete, the survivors will bag up their chips for the overnight soak, having punched their tickets to tomorrow's combined Day 2. There are about 130 players remaining in this flight at the moment.

A full list of survivors' chip counts and the Day 2 seat draw will be published following the close of play.

Registration is now closed for Event #1, and this Day 1C flight has unofficially drawn a field in excess of 1,000 entries. That should bring the total field size to more than 2,100 entries across all three starting flights combined.

The staff is in the process of finalizing the numbers, and the prizepool information will be posted as soon as it's made available.

Two of the three starting flights are complete for Event #1, with Days 1A and 1B drawing a total field of nearly 1,100 entries so far. From those, 128 players have advanced to Day 2.

Saturday is Day 1C, the final chance to earn a seat for Day 2, and it is expected to draw a huge crowd as the weekend arrives in Chicagoland.

Here are the vitals for what will likely a busy day at the Horseshoe:

• Players begin with 10,000 chips
• Levels 1-12 are 30 minutes apiece
• Levels 13-21 are 40 minutes apiece
• Late registration and unlimited re-entry is available until the start of Level 9 (~4:30 PM)
• There is a 45-minute dinner break after Level 12
• Day 1 concludes at the end of Level 15
• View the structure sheet.

Cards go in the air at noon.