Khomutetsky & Brown Lead After Days 1B/C of 2019 Ante Up Poker Tour Tampa Bay Downs
Two more flights in the 2019 Ante Up Poker Tour Tampa Bay Downs $250 Main Event played out on Friday. Day 1b and 1c attracted 86 and 87 runners respectively, which along with 1a’s 89 entrants brought the total field up to 262 entries with two flights still to go.
After 14 levels of play in the 1b flight, just 14 remained with Hyndi Khomutetsky and her stack of 284,000 leading the way. On 1c, 15 players bagged with Donald “Doc” Brown and his stack of 288,000 on top. Those are both behind Day 1a chip leader Peter Chang, who bagged up 296,500.
Top 10 Day 1a/b Chip Counts
| Position | Player | Count |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Peter Wang | 296,500 |
| 2 | Donald Brown | 288,000 |
| 3 | Jin Chen | 220,000 |
| 4 | Troy Bercot | 209,500 |
| 5 | Saul Andrade | 201,000 |
| 6 | Anthony Astarita | 190,500 |
| 7 | Efim Kochner | 189,000 |
| 8 | Marv Karlins | 187,500 |
| 9 | Trey Harrell | 181,500 |
| 10 | Jeff Sheldon | 161,500 |
The day started off a bit shaky for Brown as his pocket aces were cracked twice and pocket kings even lost as well in the early going. However, he managed to hold on to some chips and found some crucial spots for double ups and even tripled up once. It was a strong push near the end where he eliminated Aaron Thivyanathan to take over the chip lead.
Others to bag big in the 1c flight were Neil Lawson (244,000), James Wood (202,500), Alex Ivan (177,500), and Michael Minyard (175,500), who round out the top five. On 1c, Mike Taylor (231,500), Jin Chen (220,000), Saul Andrade (201,000), and Efim Kochner (189,000) finished as the big stacks.
Others to bag between the two flights were Marv Karlins (187,500), Patrick Stewart (154,500), Jen Haselton (129,000), Mike Lu (115,000), Bill Melms (89,500), Bran Torok (83,000), and Bob Greene (68,000).
Among those to play and fall on Friday were Joe Mole, Tammy Leonard, Brian Kelly, Matt Adibi, Walter Schoderbock, Mark Winchell, Jason Block, Garth Fudens, and Charles Sauter.
Two more flights will take place on Saturday with 1d at 1 p.m. local time and 1e, the final flight, at 6 p.m. The surviving players from each flight will then return at 1 p.m. on Sunday to play down to a winner.
PokerNews continues its coverage straight from the tournament floor of the Silks Poker Room at Tampa Bay Downs in our live blog.
