JUST A FEW MORE

The day has turned to night and now to early morning ... and @RatesByJohn is calling for play to come to a close in Day 1B @HPTpoker $1650 Main Event @AmeristarEC.

He's not sending everyone home - or to their hotel room - just yet, though, as he's paused the play clock at 10 minutes, calling for five more hand of the pokers before bagging up the chips.

Check back here at a wee bit after 2am for full player-provided chipcounts of those advancing to Sunday's Day 2

Saturday's Day 1C - the final starting flight - begins at noon, note this is two hours earlier than Thursday or Friday's starting times.

Level - 15
BB Ante - 4k
Blinds - 2k/4k
Remaining - 3x/185

-- Dan Ross, Hold'em Live Updates

RAYMER'S NIGHT ENDS

Day 1B was not Greg Raymer's day on the felt. He did not chip up substantially at any point in the flight, the final chips departing just before Level 14 came to a close in the HPT East Chicago $1650 Main Event.

Here's the 280-or-fewer-character description of how the night came to an end for the former WSOP Main Event champ.

Sad end, patiently waited for a good spot, shoved KT when down to 10xBB, called by 77, lose the flip, out of day 1b @HPTPoker @AmeristarEC. Will have to do it in day 1c tomorrow now.

— Greg Raymer (@FossilMan) September 1, 2018

There was a LevelUp as I wrote this, players now in to their final 40 minutes of play before the Bag-n-Tag takes place.

Level - 15
BB Ante - 4k
Blinds - 2k/4k
Remaining - 39/185

-- Dan Ross, Hold'em Live Updates

BIG GROUP OF BIG STACKS

42 players left in Day 1B @HPTPoker East Chicago, there's 5.5 million chips in play and four of the players have 1.9 million between them.

Neil Patel, Mike Prendergast and Raed Kurdi would all appear to be in position to bag more than the 434,000 of last night's chipleader Ossama Estafanous.

It's gonna take a lot of work for any of them to catch Jerry Siemienas, though ....

Jerry	Siemienas	680,000
Neil	Patel	410,000
Mike	Prendergast	410,000
Raed	Kurdi	380,000

Level - 14
BB Ante - 3k
Blinds - 1500/3k
Remaining - 42/185

-- Dan Ross, Hold'em Live Updates

NO BRAKE PEDAL CAN BE BAD

So, remember Darrell The Punisher Haywood? Remember I said he does not have a brake pedal, right?

Well, you see, what happened was.

Level 13 began and Haywood moved to 380,000 - well clear of the field.

30 minutes later and Jerry Siemienas - who went to dinner break with 41,000 - has all of Haywood's chips and is sitting with a 680,000 stack.

That's 272BB to you and me.

Just how did this happen?

Siemienas had done well since dinner break, moving up about 5x to 200,000.

Late in Level 13, Haywood ran in to the two pair of Siemienas in one hand, and still with 200,000 behind, Haywood and Siemienas had all the chips in the middle on a Jack_High flop. Haywood with Ace_Jack, but Siemienas had Pocket_Aces.

One orbit and Siemienas moved to 680,000. That is a post-dinner-break heater.

Level - 14
BB Ante - 3k
Blinds - 1500/3k
Entries - 47/185

-- Dan Ross, Hold'em Live Updates

THAT JUST HAPPENED

So, you have Pocket_Queens and Darrell 'The Punisher' Haywood on your immediate right, who has already opened. He calls your 3-bet and off to the flop you go.

Q-4-5 and you both check.

Turn is a 2, river King, Haywood bets, you move all in and he snap-announces, "call," almost before the word, "in," is verbalized.

Ace_Three for Haywood ... a wheel ... an elimination ... The Punisher.

Darrell Haywood - 320,000

Level - 13
BB Ante - 2500
Blinds - 1500/2500
Remaining - 56/185

-- Dan Ross, Hold'em Live Updates

WHO IS ALREADY ON TO DAY 2?

Thursday's opening flight in the @HPTpoker @AmeristarEC Main Event drew a 131-entry field with 20 players making it through the 15 levels of play.

Here's the 20 moving on to Sunday's noon start for Day 2.

Ossama Estafanous - 5th here last January, 6th last Labor Day Weekend and 12th on Labor Day Weekend 2015 - bagged 100k more than any of his challengers. Randall Pace (pictured) bagged 310,000.

Ossama	Estafanous	434,000
Michael	Shanahan	330,000
Jason	Mangold	323,000
Randall	Pace	310,000
David	Sesso	304,000
Kevin	Saul	291,000
Shane	Slovick	256,000
TM	Williams	238,000
Richard	Bai	228,000
Ralph	Massey	219,000
Barry	Schmiess	170,000
Jacob	Bazeley	126,000
Frank	Cerminara	109,000
Tim	Simpson	104,000
Jim	Bauner	97,000
Mike	VanderWoude	95,000
Edgar	Lopez, Jr.	94,000
Bekr	Ali	85,000
Brendan	Shiller	71,000
Geoffrey	Ferrer	57,000

Level - 13
BB Ante - 2500
Blinds - 1500/2500
Remaining - 59/185

-- Dan Ross, Hold'em Live Updates

LEVEL 12 CHIPCOUNTS

The face tonight is soooooo much slower than the hurry-up-and-get-to-the-rail movement last night in the @HPTpoker $1650 Main Event @AmeristarEC. More than 50 percent of the field was eliminated in the first two hours after dinner.

Tonight, however, fewer than 30 percent are gone as Level 12 draws near its end.

Here's some updated chipcounts before players take their final 15-minute break of the night.

David	McGowan	250,000
Darrell	Haywood	190,000
Andres	Garcia	145,000
Todd	Ivens	140,000
Neil	Patel	135,000
Voytek	Glab	130,000
Steve	Fox	120,000
Jeff	Fielder	105,000
George	Deitz	100,000
Kenny	Baime	95,000
Ravi	Raghavan	90,000
Ed	Sebesta	90,000
Gary	Herstein	80,000
Aaron	Massey	75,000
Mark	Geith	70,000
Ross	Guthrie	52,000
Greg	Raymer	40,000
Nick	Davidson	36,000
Ajay	Gnanasambanthan	32,000
Jerod	Smith	31,000
Jerry	Siemienas	30,000
Scott	Sisler	19,000

Level - 12
BB Ante - 2k
Blinds - 1k/2k
Remaining - 62/185

-- Dan Ross, Hold'em Live Updates

FROM THE TWITTERATTI

Greg @fossilman Raymer provides an update on how his Day 1B @HPTpoker @AmeristarEC main event is going.

Here's his updates in 280 or fewer characters. You too can report from your table, just post to Twitter and include @HPTupdates in your Tweet.

#gross player open shoves 31K at 1600 big blind, I call from blind. AQ<A9. worst part is now I have only 40K, so I've lost a lot of my tools and ability to maneuver. @HPTPoker @AmeristarEC day 1b #sigh

— Greg Raymer (@FossilMan) September 1, 2018

Level - 12
BB Ante - 2k
Blinds - 1k/2k
Remaining - 66/185

-- Dan Ross, Hold'em Live Updates

NEW CHIPLEADER

The volume has decreased substantially in the tournament room ... I don't know if that means there's a delayed Food Coma or whether #TheGrindIsReal is here.

What I do know is David McGowan's 250,000 stack is the biggest in the room now.

McGowan was 14th here last May and 26th in January 2017.

Level - 11
BB Ante - 1600
Blinds - 800/1600
Remaining - 67/185

-- Dan Ross, Hold'em Live Updates

RECENT DEPARTURRES

Aaron Johnson, Darryl Ronconi and Kenny Nguyen are among the group of players eliminated in the first 40 minutes after returning from dinner break.

17 of the 90 dinner-break returnees have found the rail so far, a slower pace than the rush of bustouts last night ... maybe dinner was better tonight? Try the $10 pork tacos palte at Stadium, just sayin'.

Level - 11
BB Ante - 1600
Blinds - 800/1600
Remaining - 73/185

-- Dan Ross, Hold'em Live Updates

QUADS IS ENOUGH

I showed up on the flop, 9-K-K already out on the felt, and the bets from @JSmith84Poker and his challenger already pulled in by the dealer.

The challenger - palming a 5k and a 1k chip in one closed-hand, makes an exaggerated check-pound on the table when an Ace comes on the turn and Smith (pictured) checks as well.

Before the dealer peels the river card, the challenger has that closed-hand back out again, hovering over the felt. As soon as the Queen hits, he drops the 6,000 bet.

Smith asks to see how many chips this person has behind, then announces all-in, and he gets a snap-call.

Smith turns over one black King and one red King to reveal he flopped quads.

The challenger mucks face down, with the dealer revealing Ace_Jack as Smith receives the chips.

Level - 10
BB Ante - 1200
Blinds - 600/1200
Remaining - 74/185

-- Dan Ross, Hold'em Live Updates

316 THROUGH 2 FLIGHTS

Registration has closed on the second of three starting flights in the @HPTpoker $1650 Main Event at @AmeristarEC and the board shows 185 entries, a Day 1B record for this Labor Day Weekend event.

Combine this with the 131 from Day 1A (also a record turnout for that flight) and the field is at (yep, another record) 316 entries through two flights.

Saturday flights the last two Labor Day Weekends drew 248 (2016) and 257 (2017), making an $800,000-plus prize pool definitely within reach.

Play continues until the end of Level 15 at about 145am. Saturday's Day 1C begins at noon.

Level - 10
BB Ante - 1200
Blinds - 600/1200
Entries - 185

-- Dan Ross, Hold'em Live Updates

DINNER BREAK CHIPCOUNTS

The Punisher is the first player to crack the 200k mark. Darrell Haywood leads the way as Day 1B @HPTpoker @AmeristarEC players are on their hour-long dinner break.

Here's some very rough-estimate chipcounts for more than a handful of the notables in today's field.

Play continues until 145am - the end of Level 15, just as last night's Day 1A did - when the Bag-N-Tag takes place.

Remember, people, tomorrow's Day 1C - the final starting flight - begins at Noon, two hours earlier than days 1A/B.

Darrell	Haywood	225,000
George	Deitz	158,000
David	McGowan	146,000
Ravi	Raghavan	127,000
Jeff	Fielder	123,000
Voytek	Glab	122,000
Kenny	Baime	100,000
Nick	Davidson	96,000
Aaron	Massey	95,000
Todd	Ivens	91,000
Greg	Raymer	72,000
Ed	Sebesta	68,000
Mark	Geith	67,000
Harold	Evans	63,000
Darryl	Ronconi	55,000
Rob	Wazwaz	54,000
Ross	Guthrie	52,000
Jerod	Smith	51,000
Gary	Herstein	50,000
Neil	Patel	48,000
Jerry	Siemienas	41,000
Steve	Fox	36,000
Ajay	Gnanasambanthan	23,000
Kenny	Nguyen	11,000

Level - 10
BB Ante - 1200
Blinds - 600/1200
Entries - at least 182

-- Dan Ross, Hold'em Live Updates

PUNISHER AT IT AGAIN

Darrell Haywood often plays while wearing a hat and other gear dedicated to the Netflix series The Punisher. His playing style mimics the name, lacking a brake pedal and punishing those in pots with him ... or sliding large stacks of his own over to opponents.

Well, today is Punisher 2.0, as Haywood - runner-up in the 2017 Labor Day Weekend HPT East Chicago Main Event, falling to Gary Herstein - is building stacks.

He's up to 165,000 midway through Level 9, the tallest stack in the room right now.

Level - 9
BB Ante - 1k
Blinds - 500/1k
Entries - 181

-- Dan Ross, Hold'em Live Updates

FIELDER SENDS AJAY TO RAIL

Down to little more than towers of 100 chips, Ajay Gnanasambanthan moves all in from middle position, with Jeff @FielderDream tossing in a 7,200 calling stack. The rest of the table steps aside and it is time for the cards to go face up.

Fielder is ahead with   against the   of Gnanasambanthan, and extends his lead by flopping a flush draw.

The end comes with  on the turn, flush for Fielder, who moves to 120,000 and one of the room's top stacks at 4x.

Level - 8
BB Ante - 800
Blinds - 400/800
Entries - 178

-- Dan Ross, Hold'em Live Updates

TRIPLE-DIGIT TERRITORY

Harold Evans moves to 120,000 as Level 8 begins, joining an elite group - including Kenny Baime, , Jeff Fielder, George Deitz and the 2017 Labor Day Weekend main event runner-up Darrell Haywood - who have moved to 100,000 or more betting units in Day 1B.

On the opposite end, Ryan Olisar returns from the registration cage to get a new 30k starting stack from RozTheTD as he looks for better RunGood than his initial entry today.

Level - 8
BB Ante - 800
Blinds - 400/800
Entries - 176

-- Dan Ross, Hold'em Live Updates

EXTRA BREAK

Nick Pupillo and Garrett Riley are among the recent eliminations right after returning from break.

Both players - and everyone else looking to take a shot at Day 1B - have until the end of the dinner respite at about 930pm - when RozTheTD puts cards in the air for the start of Level 10.

.... and just like that, Pupillo is back. See folks, that's how it is done.

The field is now officially at more than 300 entries - the largest combined Day 1A/B Labor Day Weekend HPT field in the last three years (maybe more, but I only have access to 2016/17 numbers).

Level - 7
BB Ante - 600
Blinds - 300/600
Entries - 172

-- Dan Ross, Hold'em Live Updates

BACK HERE FOR SEASON CHAMPIONSHIP

@HPTpoker returns to @AmeristarEC Nov. 1-13 for the 2018 Season Championship series, including the $2,500 buy-in championship event Nov. 9-13.

The schedule for the championship features a full weekend of Day 1's Friday, Saturday and Sunday, with Day 2 on Monday and the final table on Tuesday, Nov. 13.

Ameristar St Charles hosted the 2017 event, with Thunder Valley Casino the 2016 host.

Meanwhile, back at today's main event, where players are heading out on their second 15-minute break of the day. When play resumes, action moves to

Level - 7
BB Ante - 600
Blinds - 300/600
Entries - at least 162

-- Dan Ross, Hold'em Live Updates

LEVEL 6 CHIPCOUNTS

This year's @HPTpoker @AmeristarKC champ Jeff @FielderDream has joined Kenny Baime atop the leaderboard midway through Level 6 in Day 1B of the $1650 HPT East Chicago Main Event.

Here's a look around the room at some of the chipstacks for players looking to find that elusive Day2Bag.

Kenny	Baime	95,000
Jeff	Fielder	95,000
Ross	Guthrie	90,000
Garrett	Riley	70,000
Todd	Ivens	55,000
Harold	Evans	53,000
Greg	Raymer	50,000
Gary	Herstein	48,000
Ed	Sebesta	46,000
Mark	Geith	46,000
Ryan	Julius	46,000
Darryl	Ronconi	45,000
Scott	Sisler	44,000
Rob	Wazwaz	44,000
Jerry	Siemienas	43,000
Jerod	Smith	42,000
Shawn	McCracken	40,000
Steve	Fox	35,000
Alan	Cutler	35,000
Nick	Pupillo	35,000
Bryan	Skreens	32,000
Deborah	Farmer	31,000
Ryan	Olisar	31,000
Neil	Patel	30,000
Aaron	Massey	30,000
Nick	Davidson	28,000
Craig	Casino	28,000
Aaron	Johnson	26,000
Darrell	Haywood	22,000
Ajay	Gnanasambanthan	22,000
Andy	Rogowski	16,000
Jacob	Baumgartner	15,000
Mike	Kamenjarin	15,000

Level - 6
BB Ante - 500
Blinds - 200/500
Entries - 162

-- Dan Ross, Hold'em Live Updates

GEITH GRABS A POT

Mark Geith and one challenger were mixing up in a pot, Geith facing a 3-bet to 2,500 on the  
 board.

Geith paused, and made the call.

The river was , Geith adds 3,400 more and gets paid off as he turns over   for trips and the win, moving to 46,000 as Level 6 fires up.

There's a 15-minute break at the end of this level, a 60-minute dinner break after Level 9, with registration closing when Level 10 begins at about 930pm.

Level - 6
BB Ante - 500
Blinds - 200/500
Entries - 153

-- Dan Ross, Hold'em Live Updates

LATE ARRIVALS

Add in the likes of Jeff Fielder, Ravi Raghavan and Jason Ramos to the field and Day 1B @HPTpoker @AmeristarEC has reached 143 entries - exactly the same number for Day1B from the 2017 HPT East Chicago main event.

Registration is open until 930pm - 4.5 more hours, so how high will this number go?

Level - 4
BB Ante - 300
Blinds - 100/300
Entries - 143

-- Dan Ross, Hold'em Live Updates

ONE MORE FOR JULIUS

Ryan Julius is looking to move a few steps up the pay ladder from last week at the @HPTpoker main event at @AmeristarSC where he finished 7th for $16,655.

Well, he just ran in to the wrong end of an all-in against former @MSPTpoker champ Kenny Baime and Julius is now looking for that second-buyin magic to get himself to Day 2 and beyond.

Baime is one of the top stacks now at 85,000.

Level - 4
BB Ante - 300
Blinds - 100/300
Entries - 141

-- Dan Ross, Hold'em Live Updates

FIRST BREAK CHIPCOUNTS

Here's an early look at a variety of very unofficial chipcounts from around the upstairs tournament area at @AmeristarEC in Day 1B of the @HPTpoker $1650 Main Event.

Scott Sisler just went Boat Don't Lie to take the chiplead as players head off for their first scheduled 15-minute break of the day.

Registration is available until the start of Level 10 at about 930pm, with end-of-day arriving at the conclusion of Level 15 at 145am. Day 1B - the largest starting flight - begins two hours earlier tomorrow with cards in the air at noon and registration closing at 730pm.

Scott	Sisler	85,000
Shawn	McCracken	64,000
Jerry	Siemienas	61,000
Bryan	Skreens	50,000
Steve	Fox	46,000
Gary	Herstein	45,000
Ed	Sebesta	44,000
Mark	Geith	38,000
Ross	Guthrie	37,000
Nick	Davidson	34,000
Deborah	Farmer	33,000
Jerod	Smith	32,000
Jacob	Baumgartner	28,000
Ajay	Gnanasambanthan	27,000
Ryan	Julius	27,000
Greg	Raymer	26,000
Mike	Kamenjarin	25,000
Todd	Ivens	24,000
Howard	Evans	22,000
Nick	Pupillo	21,000
Aaron	Johnson	19,000
Darryl	Ronconi	17,000
Craig	Casino	13,000
Aaron	Massey	11,000

The BB Ante kicks in when play resumes, action moving to

Level - 4
BB Ante - 300
Blinds - 100/300
Entries - 130

-- Dan Ross, Hold'em Live Updates