The opening flight of the Main Event is now complete with 16 players still sitting with chips at the end of Level 18. There were 182 entries on 1a which built a prize pool of $275,730.

The Day 1 payouts started at 28th place tonight and they burst the bubble during Level 17, the second-last level of the night. A few more than 5% of the field were still alive at the end of 18, so there will be six extra players coming back for Day 2 from 1a, and it seems likely that the remaining two flights won't make it to 5% either.

Toronto's Tommy Nguyen was the only player to bag more than 1 million chips from today's flight, and is the clear leader, with second place Zeyu 'Skytrain' Huang more than 300k behind with 880k. Hong Kong's Chun Kit Kwan, who was the winner of the Turbo $1k last night, bagged the third-place stack worth just under 700k. Eric Wasylenko, who has crushed both of the Pure Poker Tour Main Events so far this year, also bagged a top-five stack today.

Full chip counts for Day 1a qualifiers are listed under the Chip Counts for today, but bear in mind that the payouts won't entered into the backend until Day 2 rolls around. Below is a look at the players who cashed out today before the end of the night.

Main Event Day 1a Payouts

There is a bit more than an hour left to enter Day 1a of the Main Event with action now in Level 11. The field is up to 174 entries with 73 players still in the action.

There are 163 entries in Day 1a of the Main on the dinner break now. That puts the prizes at just shy of $250k with three more levels of late entry once they return from dinner.

They are into Level 6 in the Main Event and an overseas visitor has just arrived at the venue. Jack Hardcastle just arrived from the UK for hi "bi-annual trip to Calgary". He was in town back in 2022 for the Spring Super Stack Main Event here in Calgary, booking 5th place. With more than $2.2 million in wins in his career so far, Hardcastle will certainly be one to watch as he looks for his first Circuit ring to add to his already illustrious career.

Level 5 has just begun in Day 1a of the Main Event with the field up to 124. That puts the prize just shy of $190k with about 6.5 hours left to enter the game.

They are up to 111 entries in Day 1a of the Main now with action in Level 4. Entries for today are still open for more than 6 hours, and there are still two more flights tomorrow and Saturday.

They are up to 100 entries in Day 1a of the Main with action in Level 3. That puts the prizes so far above $150k, but no doubt that will grow substantially as the expected final prize pool in this one should exceed $1.5 million.

Level 1 is nearly complete and the prizes are already over $100k with 76 entries on the board. I won't be following this one very closely today until the Monster Stack has finished, but I'll try to keep the numbers update every hour or so, and I'll get the Day 1 payouts and qualifiers posted after the game ends later tonight.

Event #11: $1,700 Main Event ($1,515 + $185)

Day 1: May 9-11, 2024, 11 AM
Day 2: May 12, 2024, Noon
Day 3: May 13, 2024, Noon
Start Stack: 40k
Blinds: 40/60 Min
Late Entry: 12 Levels (~8:30 PM)
Day 1: 18 Levels (~1 AM)

The opening flight of the Main Event kicks off on Thursday at 11 am, the first of three Day 1 flights. Friday and Saturday will also have Day 1 flights before the remaining players come back on Sunday for Day 2 and Monday for Day 3 if required.

Players start with 40k in chips for 40-minute levels for Day 1, with blinds jumping to 60 minutes on Day 2 and 3. There will be 12 levels of late entry, meaning that players can enter Day 1 as late as 8:30 PM each day. Day 1 plays for 18 levels at most, and will do Day 1 payouts if they hit 15% of the field before the end of 18. At least 5% of the field from each Day 1 will bag for Day 2 and play will end early if they hit that number.

Thursday's opening flight likely won't get much of my attention as I'll be focused on Day 2 of the Monster, but starting Friday, my attention will be firmly focused on the Main Event.