Srini Godavarthy Bags the Overall Chip Lead in the $1,650 Ante Up World Championship
The second of two Day 1 flights is complete in the $1,650 Ante Up World Championship, as Day 1b is a wrap from the Thunder Valley Poker Room. A total of 316 entries registered for Day 1b, which played down to the money as 40 players made it through the night.
Those 40 players will advance to Sunday’s Day 2 flight, along with the 20 survivors of Day 1a. The combined field of 60 total players will return Sunday for a noon restart as the tournament plays down to a winner. The first-place prize of $135,798 will be on the line, and all players in the field will earn at least a min-cash of $2,480.
The combined Day 1a and Day 1b fields added up to a total of 469 entries for the tournament. That brought the total prize pool to $685,678, well over the $500,000 guarantee.
Bagging the biggest stacks at the end of Day 1b were Srini Godavarthy (952,000), Martin Verdegaal (741,000), Noel Rodriguez (733,000) and Alfie Poetra (615,000) . Those players will join Day 1a big stacks such as Jeff Griffiths (609,000) and Jon Cohen (557,000) to lead the field at the start of Sunday’s action.
Other notables making it through Day 1b includedImad Allahham (260,000), last year's champion in this event.
Play will begin at Level 15 Sunday, with the blinds at 3000/6000 and a 6,000 big blind ante. Follow along with the PokerNews live reporting team as the $1,650 Ante Up World Championship plays to its conclusion.