Sai Mudduluru Knocks Out Flight E Bubble, Ronnie Baturin Squeaks Through

With 73 players remaining in Flight E, Sai Mudduluru (pictured above) and his big stack was under the gun and had the player in the small blind all in for around 30,000, and at risk.

Mudduluru was in good shape with jacks against tens. The board came ace high with four clubs, but no club or ten on the river meant the field was in the money, and Mudduluru was up to 250,000 as one of the big stacks in the room.

Meanwhile one table over, Ronnie Baturin celebrated – and for good reason. Even with “a maniac on his left,” according to tablemates, Baturin managed to hold on with just 6,500 chips to squeak his way into the money.

A minimum payout in this flight is worth $544 and there is less than one level to go before they bag.

Final Two Event #1 Flights Speeding Along

Flight E is down to 120 players with just over three levels of play left in the night, as they inch closer to the money, which will hit at 72 players.

Meanwhile, Flight F is already over 280 entries before the end of Level 4. Registration will remain open until the start of Level 9, so players have until about 9:30 p.m. to get in. The total entries for Event #1 is growing ever closer to 2,000.

Some familiar faces battling in the final flight include Jason Ramos, Andy Rogowski, John Sun and David Plotkin.

Circuit Main Event Winner Blake Battaglia Building Piles in Flight E

Local boy Blake Battaglia is pretty fresh off the biggest win, and score, of his career after winning the WSOP Circuit Hammond Main Event in October 2017 for over $330,000. Before that, he had strung together plenty of scores, including a couple CPC side event wins in 2016 and some deep runs in 2017.

He’s back in Hammond, his home court, yet again today, firing in Flight E of Event #1 and he’s off to a good start. With five levels left to play, Battaglia is already closing in on 100K, up from the 10,000 starting stack.

Several other familiar faces are also trying to build stacks in this one, including Aaron Massey, Brek Schutten, Garrett Riley and Michael Kamenjarin. We’ll keep you posted on the progression as the field nears the money bubble.

72 Players Will be in the Money for Flight E

Only 180 remain in the fifth flight of this $500,000 guarantee for a $360 buy-in. The top 72 players will be in the money, guaranteed at least $544, while $39,828 is slated for first in this one.

However, once all survivors from Flights E and F bag, a Day 2 prize pool will be calculated. Last year’s winner, Jake Hommen, got more than $87,000 for first, so we will be expecting a bit more for this year’s winner with the field even bigger.

It’s a Packed House! And Look at Those Beauties…

It’s a full house today, with players fully surrounding the two brand new BMWs to be given away in the final weekend of the Chicago Poker Classic.

Flight E drew 652, meaning only 41 away from beating last year’s Event #1 crowd. And with 142 already in Flight F halfway through the first level, this year’s field has already surpassed last year’s by 100 players! And still more than seven levels of registration to go.

Only 210 remain in Flight E halfway through Level 10. Remember, they will play 16 full levels today. Prize pool information for that flight is expected to be posted shortly.

Flight E Going Strong, Final Flight at 5 p.m.

With one level of registration remaining, there are already 619 entries in Flight E, with one more flight kicking off at 5 p.m.

That puts the tally at 1,619, on pace to surpass the 1,793 from last year’s Event #1. Prize pool information for Flight E will be posted once registration closes.

Event #1: Chip Counts First 4 Flights, 2 More Flights Today, Jacob Baumgartner Leads Remaining 89

Flights C and D on Friday brought the total number of entries in Chicago Poker Classic Event #1 $360 NLH $500K guarantee to 1,000. That’s 98 more entries than this event had last year with two flights to go.

Only 89 players bagged chips for Day 2 so far, and Flight D chip leader Jacob Baumgartner has the biggest stack with 373,500. The only other 300K-stack also came from his flight, and it belongs to Craig Stout, who put 316,000 in the bag. Flight B leader Greg Koutelidakis sits in third with 289,800, followed by Flight C leader Jason Summers (285,000) and Cory Oshita (279,400).

Here’s a look at the 11 players over 200K:

1st	Jacob Baumgarter	373,500
2nd	Craig Stout	316,000
3rd	Greg Koutelidakis	289,800
4th	Jason Summers	285,000
5th	Corey Oshita	279,400
6th	Heath Muzslay	250,000
7th	Rob Richmond	242,500
8th	Jay Goldenberg	237,500
9th	Steven Federspiel	231,000
10th	Tomaz Gasiewski	204,000
11th	Yoon Kim	203,000

You can view the full counts so far here: Chip Counts Event #1- A-D

On Friday, three players min-cashed in Flight C for $544: Nicholas Reynolds, Ninos Awraham and Harry Scovil. Flight D saw nine players bust in the money before the final 22 bagged. They were Tera Cayabyab, Peter Rnich, Vasu Vandana, Jason Trezak, Andy Rogowski, Andrian Kulyna, Michael Shultz, Bryan Lehman and Casey Carroll.

The final two flights kick off at 12 and 5 p.m. Saturday with all qualifiers joining together for Day 2 Sunday at 11 a.m.

Jacob Baumgartner Bags Overall Event #1 Lead in Flight D

Flight D is a wrap and 23 of the 276 entrants bagged stacks for Day 2. Jacob Baumgartner (pictured above) bagged the biggest stack of the flight, and most chips overall with 373,500.

Craig Stout bagged second in chips with 316,000, and they are the top two stacks after the first four flights of Event #1.

Full chip counts from Flights C and D will be posted when they’re available. And don’t forget, there are still two flights left on Saturday and already 1,000 total entries in the first event of the 2018 CPC.

Entries at an Even 1,000 through First Four Flights

The numbers for Flight D are in, and the flight drew 276 entries, putting the total so far at a perfectly even 1,000.

The top 30 will be in the money, guaranteed at least $558. First for this flight is slated at $19,741, though the payouts will be recalculated once the remaining prize pools from all flights are combined for Day 2.

With five levels left to play before bagging, around 60 players remain.

HPT Champ Casey Carroll Stacking Chips in Flight D

2016 HPT Chicago champion Casey Carroll has been spotted in the Flight D field, and he’s doing what he does best – stacking chips. Carroll is up to a healthy stack of 84,000, double the average stack in Level 11.

Also in action are 2016 CPC Main Event champ William Luciano and Bellagio Cup and WSOP Circuit Foxwoods Main Event winner Kevin Saul. Local grinders Michael Kamenjarin and Andy Rogowski are also in Flight D, trying to run up stacks.