Rob Zaenglein Tops Summer Slam 2018 Main Event Day 1a Field as 15 Survive
After 15 levels of play on Day 1a, just 15 of 103 entries secured a seat for Day 2 of the $200,000 guaranteed Summer Slam 2018 Event #8:$ 600 Main Event. Leading the as the chips went in the bag was Rob Zaenglein.
Zanglein maintained a spot among the top stacks for the majority of play on Day 1a and climbed the ranks in the latter stages. Zaenglein picked up pocket aces during the penultimate level and busted Seneca regular Dan Wagner en route to bagging 347,500.
Justin Canazzi bagged second-best with 333,500 as him and Zaenglein were the only players to eclipse the 300k-mark. RJ Mineo (270,000), Matt Murray (262,500), Omar El-Nasrallah (231,500), Anthony Carbone (210,000), and Summer Slam 2018 High Roller runner-up, Tyler Dietz (209,000) round out the top of the leaderboard.
The 2014 Summer Slam Main Event champion, Buck Ramsay is also in the mix. Ramsay led the field for a large portion during the middle stages and had over 300,000 after dinner. Ramsay wasn't able to maintain the big stack but will return comfortably on Day 2 with 162,500.
Day 1a drew a total attendance of 103 entries. More than a quarter of the $200,000 guarantee has been collected with $54,951 already in the prize pool.
Matt Marcinkiewicz and Peter Raimondi were two of the early casualties on the day, seeing their chips dispersed amongst their table tablemates before the first break. Victor Smith, Brad Girdler, DJ MacKinnon, Alex Visbisky, Andy Spears, Rob Bourkney, and Chris Gras were just some of the other notables to miss the mark before the end of play.
Day 1b will have an earlier start with cards hitting the felt at 11 a.m on Friday. Another 15 levels are scheduled. Any player that did not make it through on Thursday or does not like the size of their stack may try again on Friday.
Stay tuned to the Summer Slam live reporting blog as PokerNews will be on the floor providing live coverage throughout the main event.
