The first of two Day 1 flights for the 2012 Sands Bethlehem DeepStack Extravaganza $500,000 Guaranteed Main Event played out on Friday, with Chris Klodnicki emerging as the Day 1a chip leader among the 25 players who survived the day, bagging a stack of 228,000 at night’s end.
Day 1a Top 10 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chris Klodnicki | 228,000 |
| 2 | Daniel Wach | 200,100 |
| 3 | Suraj Dalal | 197,700 |
| 4 | Tanner Millen | 153,200 |
| 5 | Alan Kraut | 136,900 |
| 6 | Richard Allen | 126,700 |
| 7 | Scott Baumstein | 115,000 |
| 8 | Mikhail Alkhazov | 104,300 |
| 9 | Matthew Burnitz | 100,500 |
| 10 | Denis Gnidash | 96,200 |
The $2,500 buy-in no-limit hold’em event features a unique format that allows players multiple opportunities to reenter the tournament should they bust. Day 1a players were able to reenter as many times as they wished during the first five one-hour levels, then also have an option to reenter for tomorrow’s Day 1b.
All told, Day 1a featured 70 entries. There were a few players on Friday who entered and fell twice, including Mohamad Saadeghvaziri, Pradeep Deshpande, Kenneth Longacre and Cherish Andrews, all of whom can still come back for Day 1b. Meanwhile, there are many who busted on Day 1a after buying in just once who could also still return on Saturday, among them Dan Buzgon, Theo Tran, Matt Glantz and David Paredes.
David Dawson, Suraj Dalal and Daniel Wach took turns occupying the top spot during the early hours of play on Friday. Dawson was soon quickly to be eliminated, while Wach would continue to steadily increase as the day turned to night.
Dalal would surge in front to become the first player over 150,000, but soon thereafter Klodnicki began to push his way up the leader board to challenge Dalal. His move was ignited in part by a big three-way hand involving himself, Tran and Edward Harris.
In that one, Klodnicki led with a bet after a 
flop, then along with Tran check-called a bet from Harris after the 
turn. The river brought the 
and it checked around to Harris, who bet. Tran called the bet, then Klodnicki check-raised all in, forcing Harris to fold but eventually earning a call from Tran. Klodnicki showed 
for the flush, bumping up close to 100,000.
From there Klodnicki picked up more chips, knocking out Harris and Michael Kemeter along the way to building a stack 228,000 by the end of play. Wach would remain close, ending the night with 200,100. And Dalal would score one last knockout of David Zemel to end Day 1a with 197,700 chips.
One other twist in the format for this event allows for players ending Day 1a to come back and “reenter” on Day 1b if they wish, even if they finished Day 1a with chips. If they should survive on Saturday, they would then continue on Day 2 with the larger of the two stacks they accumulate.
Day 1b gets started at 12:00 p.m. ET on Saturday. Check back starting then for live updates on PokerNews as coverage of the 2012 Sands Bethlehem DeepStack Extravaganza $500,000 Guaranteed Main Event continues.
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