Sindler Finishes Day 1a On Top
Day 1a of the 2013 PPC Aruba World Championship $2,500 Main Event concluded on Saturday following the completion of the first 12 levels of play. A total of 43 entries were tallied on the first starting day, meaning the event has already surpassed the field size that it attracted last year (31 entries). The field was whittled down to 13 players with Stephen Sindler emerging as the chip leader. He bagged up 211,600 in chips.
From the start of the day, it was all Sindler. He grabbed the chip lead very, very early on went he knocked out the first player of the day. Then it was big pot after big pot pushed his way while everyone else seemed to be playing catch up.
Sindler busted the defending champion of this event, Joe Serock, when his 
cracked Serock's pocket queens. All is not lost for Serock's title defense, though, as reentry is allowed until the start of Day 2, so he'll have all of Day 1b to fire away and try and build a stack.
Speaking of reentry, Ryan Franklin was the only player to bust on Day 1a and reenter, but the choice looked like it was a good one. After busting relatively early in the day, Franklin took another shot, and ran his second attempt up to 102,200 in chips.
In the latter half of the night, Sterling Savill really started making moves, but as soon as he took the chip lead, it was Sindler who earned it right back. In two big pots in the last couple levels of the night, Sindler busted Edie Norman first and then shortly thereafter sent Catherine Dee to the rail.
Plenty of notables came and went as well, including David Tuthill, Chris Bolek, Hayden Fortini, Joe Ebanks, and Andy Seth. Bolek and Fortini were casualties on the same hand, and it was a large one indeed. Bolek, Fortini, and Jimmy Peters found themselves all in on the 
flop. Bolek had the 
, Fortini had the 
, and Peters had the 
. Following the 
on the turn and the 
on the river, Peters' hand held up to send Bolek and Fortini out the door.
While 12 players remained at the end of the night, another starting flight — the second and final starting flight — will take place on Sunday beginning at 3 p.m. local time. PokerNews and the PPC will see you back here then for more action from the felt.