Joon Park mentioned to me earlier in the series that he was worried his "Huge Hammer" was withering, but it appears to be back in force, if it ever left. He bagged the chip lead from Day 1a with more than 2 million chips, 500k ahead of the next closest player, Dwayne Reid with 1.58 million. Six other players bagged at least 1 million chips today.

Day 1a played until 18:44 remaining in Level 22.

Day 1a Qualifiers

The numbers are in with 450 entries confirmed for Day 1a. There are now 82 players left in the action in Level 16 and the Day 1a pay will start at 68th place today. They'll be playing down to 23 players or the end of Level 24, whichever comes first. See below for a look at the 1a prizes.

Day 1a was truly a monster with 450 entries for prizes of $148,500. I believe those numbers are official, and if so, it will mean 68 players getting a piece of the Day 1a money with at least 23 advancing to Day 2 from this flight.

They'll play until the end of Level 24 tonight, or until they have 23 left, whichever comes first.

They are just a few minutes from the dinner break in Day 1a, with the registration desk set to close when they return from dinner. There are 440 entries on the board now, more than 100 above last year's Day 1a total, so this is looking to be a big one with nearly $150k in prizes already collected.

It's a Monster field for 1a in the Monster Stack with 420 in the field already with more than a full level plus dinner to enter the game. That puts this year's field 90 over last year for Day 1a so it's looking like this will be quite the Monster.

Day 1a of the Monster Stack is well ahead of the field size from May 2023 now. They got 330 entries last year on Day 1a and there are already more than 40 extra in today's flight with 2.5 hours left to get into the game.

Level 6 is just beginning in the Monster Stack Day 1a and the prizes are already over $100k. There are still just under fours hours to enter today's flight, plus a full 1b flight tomorrow.

Last May, 1a of the Monster got 330 entries, and the game as a whole saw 842 in total for prizes of $277,860. With 308 on the board already for today, it looks like a good bet that this year will be significantly bigger than last year.

Event #9: $400 Monster Stack ($330 + $70)

Date: Day 1a/b: May 7/8, 2024, 11 AM
Start Stack: 40,000
Blinds: 30 Min
Late Entry: 12 Levels (~6:15 PM)
Day 1: 24 Levels or 5% of the field (~12:45 AM)

The Monster Stack usually gets a Monster field as well. The first of two flights for the Monster Stack gets underway on Tuesday at 11 AM, with Day 1b going on Wednesday with the same start time. Day 1 players start with 40k in chips and play 30-minute levels on Day 1.

There are 12 levels of late entry, meaning the last chance to enter should be about 6:15 PM, and they'll play for 24 levels, at most, on Day 1. This is a Day 1 pay event, so they'll play down to 5% before they bag early and players who finish from 15%-5% will get some cash before they leave Day 1. If they hit 5% before the end of Level 24, they'll bag up at that point. Otherwise, whoever is left after 24 levels will get a bag.

Day 1b of this event will have most of my focus on Wednesday, but my Tuesday attention will likely be focused on Day 2 of the $1k and then the $1k Turbo. I will be sure to update numbers on this one as I can through Tuesday and get the Day 1a pay and qualifiers sorted out after Day 1a bags.