2014 PPC North America Championship at Tampa Downs Day 1a/b: Stone and Panesis Lead
The 2014 PPC North America Championship Main Event at Tampa Downs kicked off on Friday with the first batch of starting flights. Day 1a and 1b played out, and the field size grew to 181 entries in the $580 Main Event that boasts a $200,000 guarantee.
At the end of Day 1a, Arri Stone topped the 17 advancing players with 250,100 in chips, and then at the end of Day 1b it was Evan Panesis atop the 11 that advanced from the second flight. Panesis bagged up 235,300 in chips.
Day 1a/1b Top 10 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arri Stone | 250,100 |
| 2 | Evan Panesis | 235,300 |
| 3 | Tom Clements | 228,600 |
| 4 | Song O | 204,800 |
| 5 | Michael Baize | 193,900 |
| 6 | Gregg Fund | 193,500 |
| 7 | Anh Lu | 159,400 |
| 8 | Bobby Dugan | 150,800 |
| 9 | Richard Hope | 139,900 |
| 10 | Todd Whitaker | 136,100 |
The overall leader, Stone, took fifth place in the $125 Bounty No-Limit Hold'em event on Tuesday and will be looking to better that finish in the Main Event when play resumes on Sunday. Panesis boasts $90,361 in live tournament earnings including a 10th-place finish in a World Series of Poker event in 2010.
Also surviving to Day 2 were Eddie Koffler and Bill Burdick. Koffler, a former minor league pitcher in the Tampa Bay Devil Rays farm system that won the main event here in 2013 for $33,952, moved on with 94,000 in chips. Burdick finished with 129,700 and will be looking to add to his $317,016 in live tournament winnings.
Of those that were eliminated and will need to try again in one of the later flights are Alex Outhred, Anthony Brammer, Nick Nardello, Lucinda Martinez, John Pappas, and Jason Sallman.
Day 1c of the 2014 PPC North America Championship Main Event at Tampa Downs is scheduled to kick off at 1 p.m., and you can follow along with the coverage by clicking here.
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