Frei Leads the Way on Day 1a of HPT Golden Gates
Twelve hours and 15 levels are in the books on Day 1a of the Heartland Poker Tour Golden Gates $1,650 Main Event, with 16 players advancing to Sunday’s Day 2 out of a total 102 entries.
Aaron Frei (408,000) ended the day as the chip leader after a surge to the top of the chip counts in the last two hours of the night. Frei had 81,000 before the last break of the night with blinds going up to 1,200/2,400/2,400. He then found a double up with pocket aces, chipped up a bit further, and then found pocket aces again and took down a huge pot against Steve Wilkie to put him over 400,000 in chips.
Tan Hoang (331,000) and Andreas Ramadanis (315,000) round out the top three. Both Hoang and Ramadanis experienced relatively smooth days, watching their stacks grow steadily as play went on. Other players to advance include Brian Leitch (214,000), John Beauprez (87,000), and Ben Keeline (72,000).
Some players who did not advance were recent HPT Golden Gates champions Wendy Freedman and Austin Peck as well as Will Berry, Chris Moon, and Danny Gonzales.
Two more starting flights remain, with Day 1b starting Friday at noon local time. Come back to PokerNews for updates throughout the rest of the tournament.