Stephen Martines Tops Gateway Poker Classic Day 1a
The St. Louis opening flight drew 105 players, and only 13 advanced with chips.
Stephen Martines led Day 1a of the RunGood Poker Series Gateway Poker Classic $800 Main Event after bagging 615,000 chips at Hollywood Casino & Hotel in St. Louis. The opening flight drew 105 players, and only 13 made it through with chips.
Cameron Dugan finished just behind him with 611,000. PokerNews reported that Dugan made a quick climb late in the day, helped by a double through Justin Coliny with kings and another big pot against Jeremy Drewery with aces.
Martines built his stack early and kept growing it. He doubled in the first level by hitting trip tens a few minutes into Day 1a, then later won a large pot from Jeffrey Copeland when he rivered a set of aces to beat two pair.
Drewery also ended well, bagging 462,000. Casey Blakeley finished with 413,000, Muharem Dulic with 399,000, Copeland with 260,000, and Coliny with 130,000.
The flight ended with 25 minutes left in Level 18, with blinds at 8,000/16,000 and a 16,000 big blind ante. Among those to fall short of the money on Day 1a were Chris Audrain and Mark Lafata.
Any of those Day 1a survivors can still enter later flights, but if a player bags twice only the best stack moves on to Day 2. The official schedule has Flight 1B at 5 p.m. Friday, Flight 1C at 11 a.m. Saturday, and Flight 1D at 5 p.m. Saturday, before Day 2 at noon Sunday.
The Main Event takes place Aug. 4-9 and carries a $200,000 guarantee. In March, Gabriel Attoun won the St. Louis $800 Main Event for $83,141 by beating a field of 647.
