Peter Darlington, who has often joked that his nickname is "three-bullet Pete", looks to have a pretty good run today, bagging the biggest from the Day 1c players at just over a million. That's almost twice as much as the second-place stack of Olivier Vieira Dos Santos with 515k. Four players, including Mal Hagan, bagged in the 400k range.

Day 1c Qualifying Stacks

Day 1c is now over with 14 players still alive. The bags are now coming out as Wayne Hoffert was the bubble to Day 2 today. Stay tuned for the 14 qualifying stacks shortly - the cashing players from today are below.

They are down to 15 players left now, and the next elimination will bring out the bags. Level 18 has just begun so it seems unlikely they'll make it to the end of this level.

They are now down to 16 players left in Day 1c, just two off the end of the night. Peter O'Leary, who final tabled Event #2 yesterday, was among the recent busts.

They are down to 18 players left now on the final two tables, putting them just four players away from the end of the day. There are just under 20 minutes to play in Level 17 and among the recent busts were Zeyu "Skytrain" Huamg, Hari Aujla, DV, and Michael Smith.

The final 21 players are out for their final break of the day. When they return for Level 17 in about 15 minutes they'll be seven players off the end of the evening.

They are down to 24 players left in 1c now with just over 20 minutes to play in Level 16. They'll take their final break following this level and while there are four more levels scheduled after the break, it seems very unlikely they'll need to use all of them before the bags come out at 14 players.

Among the recent players to collect Day 1 money were JJ Johnstone, Alexander Meer, Ben Locker, Ross Wilson, and John Hansmeyer.

They are down to 27 remaining in 1c now and they've just completed the three-table redraw. There are just under 5 minutes to play in Level 15 and they are now 13 eliminations away from the end of the day.

They are down to 33 left in Day 1c now with Level 15 just beginning. Among the players to hit the rail for Day 1 cash so far are Shawn Caron, Kendrick Banks, Brian Killick, and Maddie Sharma. I'll post a complete list of cashers at the end of the evening.

They played four hands while the clock was paused before they lost a player, but there are now just over 8 minutes left in Level 14 with all players in the money and the clock running normally again. They are now 26 eliminations or 6 levels away from the end of the night.

They are now on the bubble with 41 players left in the action and 16:31 remaining in Level 14. The clock is now paused with 2 minutes coming off the clock manually for each hand played until they lose the next player.

1c is now three players off the money spots with Level 14 about to begin. It seems likely they'll go hand-for-hand sometime in this level.

Level 13 has just begun with 50 players left in the action. That puts them 10 off the money spots with play continuing tonight until there are 14 players left or they reach the end of Level 20, whichever comes first.

It seems likely they'll hit the bubble late in this level or early in Level 14, but that remains to be seen.

The player with the biggest chip stack in Day 1b has requested anonymity for now, but the big stack from 1b was more than 1.1 million. Behind the DNR stack are Frank Shi with 853k and Deven Lane with 668k, while all the other qualifying stacks are 303k or lower.

Day 1b Qualifying Stacks

Day 1b is now complete with 12 players advancing. It will be a while before I get eyes on the qualifying chip stacks, but in the meantime, the players who cashed out on Day 1b are listed below.

I've moved from Sundance into Chrome as 1b is preparing to get the bags out with 13 players left. I'll update the final 1b prizes and qualifiers a bit later in the evening.

Meanwhile, the 1c prizes are in with the 1c field confirmed at 263 for 689 total across all three days. That puts $227,370 into the prize pool so far with 1d expected to be even bigger than 1c.

There will be at least 14 players advancing from 1c later tonight, with 40 players sharing in the prizes either tonight or on Sunday's Day 2. See below for a look at the full 1c payouts.

Level 17 has just begun and, in theory, there are four more levels of poker to play. However, with just 15 players left alive now and the game bagging at 12, it seems unlikely they'll need more than two of the remaining levels.

1c entries just closed with the board reading 263 entries for today. If that holds, it puts the three-flight total at 689 for prizes of $227,370. It should mean that 40 players from 1c will get paid something, with at least 13 of them having to wait until Sunday's Day 2.

Day 1b is down to the final two tables now with 18 players left. That puts them six players off the end of the day with a bit more than 15 minutes to play in Level 16. There is a final break scheduled after this level, with four more levels on the schedule for tonight after that, but it seems pretty unlikely they'll need them all.

The 1c flight over in Chrome is now up to 247 entries with action in the final level of registration. That puts the total field size at 673 across all three starting days at this point for prizes of $222,090.

They are down to 21 left in Day 1b now with payouts up to the $708 level now complete. See below for a look at the 1b prizes so far.

They are now about to redraw for the final three tables, but it looks like they went from 28 to 26 on the same hand. Ryan Smith, Mason St. Martin, Jerome Makonen, and Thomas Taylor were the busts to bring the field to 26 left in 1b.

1b is down to 30 players now, with action today scheduled to continue until there are 12 players left, or they reach the end of Level 20, whichever comes first. Russ Sluchinski, Clair Ramsey, and Micthell Bruce are the busts to bring the field to 30 left.

1b Players are now in the money with two players splitting the 35th place min-cash. There are now 33 players left in the game after Adam Chipiuk and Jonathan Chimuk split 35th place and Doyoon Hyon took 34th place.

Day 1b is still hand-for-hand on the bubble with 3 more hands left to play in Level 13.

The Chrome room is filling up with more than 200 entries on the board in Level 5. There are just under 2 hours left to get into 1c and the current total field size is up to 630. Whether they can find another 70 entries in those two hours to hit 700 is an open question, but they'll almost certainly cap 650 before today's entries end.

They are down to 36 players in 1b now and action is finishing on all tables before the clock is paused for the bubble play.

The 1b players are back from their dinner break now and are approaching the money bubble with 38 players left alive. The clock will pause for hand-for-hand play after two more players hit the rail.

The prize pool just capped $200,000 for the three starting days so far with 181 entries on the board for Day 1c. They are now less than five minutes away from their first break of the day which puts about 2.5 hours left in registration.

With 181 1c entries, that puts the combined field at 607 for total prizes of $200,310.

The 1b players are on their dinner break now with 38 players left. That means they'll come back from dinner 3 off the money and two away from hand-for-hand play.

Across the way in the Chrome room, 1c is up to 167 entries, putting the combined field size at 593 with Level 4 just beginning.

They are now 4 away from the money in Day 1b with 39 players left in their seats. They'll go hand-for-hand at 36 players and start paying out money at 35th place.

Day 1b is now down to 42 players left in action, just 7 off the money spots, so it looks likely the bubble will burst shortly after the dinner break concludes. The 45-minute break comes in just over 15 minutes following this level.

Meanwhile, over in the Chrome room the 1c field is up to 157 entries now which puts the total field size so far at 583 for total prizes of $192,390.

Day 1c is up to 143 entries now in Level 2, while 1b is down to just 54 players left in the action. Total entries are now pushing toward 600 for the three flights so far, and by the end of entries for 1c, it seems likely it will be flirting with 700 total.

Level 11 is just finishing here in 1b.

Day 1c is now in Level 1 and there are 99 entries on the board. That pushes the three-day total to 525 for prizes of more than $170k. Entries for 1c are open until 8:30 pm and it seems likely the 1c field will flirt with 300 entries.

The numbers are confirmed with 227 entries for 1b. That means 35 players will be getting a piece of the prizes today with at least 12 players bagging chips for Day 2. Once again, just a reminder, the Payouts section will be blank until Day 2 as there is no provision in the backend for Day 1 payouts, however, I'll post the completed grid later tonight or tomorrow for the 1b cashers.

There are 72 players left in Day 1b now with Level 9 coming to a close. Day 1c will be kicking off shortly (in the Chrome room) so the total number will be increasing again. From here out, I'll try to remember to use a Day 1c header for posts that reference that flight, but all the numbers tally up into the same pool anyway.

Also note that the blind levels today will be Day 1b levels. Once 1b ends, I'll use headers on the posts to indicate blind levels for 1c.

The players are back in their seats for Level 9, and entries for 1b are now closed. The final number on the board was 227 entries, but that is still unconfirmed. If it holds, it should mean 35 players share in the $74,910 collected today, with at least 11 or 12 making it through to Day 2.

I'll confirm all the numbers once the 1b prizes are posted. At the current numbers, the two-day totals are now 426 entries for total prizes of $140,580.

The players are now on their second break of the day following Level 8, and when they sit down for Level 9 in a bit more than 10 minutes, entries for 1b will be closed. Right now there are 220 entries on the board for today with 99 players still in action. That puts 419 entries in total across both days for total prizes of $138,279 right now, and $72,600 of that coming from 1b entries.

If these numbers hold through the end of entries, it will mean that 33 players share in the 1b prize pool with at least 11 players finding a bag for Day 2. Action for 1b will continue until they hit 11 players, or the end of Level 20, whichever comes first, meaning the 1b bags should be out by about 10:30 PM at the latest.

There are just over 15 minutes left in Level 8 here in 1b, which means the reg-desk will close in about 30 minutes for this flight. That said, it will still be open for entries into 1c, which kicks off at 4 PM this afternoon, and while I won't be following that action very closely till later in the day, I'll be doing all the updates for both of today's flight in this thread.

Level 8 is about to begin and this will be the final level of entry for Day 1b. That said, there are still two more starting flights for this one, with 1c scheduled to begin at 4 PM today.

I'll be doing 1b and 1c updates in this same thread together, as I think that will make it easier both for me to keep track of what flight I am in, as well as easier for viewers to follow both flights without having to flip tabs.

They just hit 400 entries across both starting days with 201 on the board now for 1b. That puts the prizes at $132k with two full flights yet to run. Last May this event got 964 entries, and considering 1c and 1d are traditionally quite a bit bigger than 1a/b, it looks pretty food to meet or beat last year's number.

Level 7 has just begun which means there is now just over an hour left to get into today's flight. There is another flight starting at 4 PM today for anyone who couldn't make it for the early flight, or who loses their chips after late entry for 1b closes, and players will be able to enter 1c until about 8:30 PM toniight.

1b is now at 190 entries with about 15 minutes to play in Level 6. That brings the two-day total to 389 for $128,370 in prizes. It looks pretty certain today's flight will go bigger than 200, with the total field likely capping 400 by the end of entries on 1b.

Among the other players I spotted in the field on my last trip around the room were Amir Khan, Zeyu Huang, Takuma Bergeron, Neil McFayden, Ben Locker, Trevor Simpson, Andrew Goosen, Weimin Hou, Daniel O'Leary, Russ Sluchinski, Qingwei Meng, Alexander Meer, and Shane Brotherwood.

With a bot more than 5 minutes to play in Level 5, the 1b field is now up to 178 entries with 138 players in their seats. That puts the two-day total at 377 for $124,410 in total prizes so far. Brothers Michael Smith and Ryan Smith are among the players in action today, and joining them are players like Andy Truong, Tyler Thomas, Ty Adams, Nadav Bitton, Michael Malm, and Kali Shuali.

Ed Seagris is using another of his free tickets today for Day 1b. He's down a bit from start stack right now, but still grinding it out looking for a deep run. After he won the prize, he realized that "playing every event" in a series is exceedingly difficult, if not impossible. Even for the serious grinders, there are days with three events when it's very possible they'd be deep in one event until after reg ended on the later games, making it impossible to enter ALL events.

As a result, Seagris and the casino came to the agreement that he could use whatever value was left on his ticket package in the next series, so he's not so worried about having to grind every single event this week to get value out of his prize.

The Day 1b players are on their first break of the day, and they'll return to the felt in just under 10 minutes for Level 5. They have four more levels of late entry with the desk scheduled to close for today's flight around 3:30 PM.

I forgot to post the Day 1 payouts from 1a last night, so here are the players who picked up some cash last night but failed to bag a stack.

Day 1a Cashing Players

The combined prize pool is now up to $121,110 with 168 entries on the board for 367 in total across both days. A few of the other players I've spotted in today's action include Calgary's version of Paul Brar, JJ Johnstone, Dylan Descheneaux, Graham Lupton, Hassan al Ghunaim, and Dave Howat, who was third in Event #1 earlier in the week.

The two-day prize pool is now up to $109,230 with 132 entries for 1b and 331 in total across both starting days. Today's flight is already significantly brisker than yesterday so it looks like a reasonable bet that the field today will easily cap 200 entries.

The combined prize pool is now over $105k with 122 entries on the board in Level 2. There are about 5 minutes to play in this level and about 3.5 hours left to enter the game. Among the players I've spotted early in the game are Haven Taylor, Thomas Taylor, Stephen Dauphinais, Claire Leclerc, and Hair Aujla, who looks to be in from the west coast for his first event of the series.

Event #3: $400 4-Flight ($330 + $70)

Date: Day 1a/c: May 2/3, 2024, 4 PM, Day 1b/d: May 3/4, 2024, 11AM
Start Stack: 20,000
Blinds: 30 Min
Late Entry: 8 Levels (~8:30 PM/3:30 PM)
Day 1 Ends: 20 Levels or 5% of the field (Level 20 should end about 3 AM/11:30 PM)

The 4-Flight is among the most popular events of the series, and previous editions of the game have crushed local field size records. In January of this year, the field across all 4 starting days topped out at an astonishing 1,715 entries while last May's numbers hit 964.

The first flight gets going at 4 PM on Thursday with two more flights on Friday and a final shot at a bag on Saturday morning. Day 2 will pay out the big money on Sunday, but 15%-5% on Day 1 will also be heading home with money as Day 1 play goes until there are 5% of the field left, or until the end of Level 20, whichever comes first.

Entries are open for the first 8 levels of play on Day 1, which will put the last chance to enter at either 8:30 PM for the late start days, or 3:30 PM for the early start days. Day 1b & c of this event will be my focus on Friday, but for today, Day 1a won't get much coverage until after Event #2 is complete.