Day 1a of the inaugural $1,100 Diamond Poker Championship MAJOR Event at Talking Stick Resort in Scottsdale, Arizona, is in the books with the first flight tallying a whopping 717 entries, and the large field that entered came to play as action at the tables proved to be eventful from start to finish.

Over 15 full levels were needed to hit the hard stop of 79 players as 24:02 minutes remained in Level 16 (4,000/8,000/8,000) when pens hit the slips, with Minnesota’s Gennady Shimelfarb seizing the moment with an impressive 844,000, edging out Kurt Wildin (831,000) and Zavier Warrell (796,000) for the top stack.

Following hot on Warrell’s tail was Michael Faloney, who ended the night with 756,000, as he was the only other player to clip the 700k mark, while John Andriulli (680,000) rounded out the top five stacks after the first flight.

Other players to survive the first flight included David Levy (599,000), Season 16 Player of the Year Jake Long (402,000), John Morgan (400,000), MSPT Hall of Famer Josh Reichard (292,000), and WSOP bracelet winner Brad Jansen (285,000), just to name a few.

Others who took their shot but fell on 1a include MSPT Hall of Famer Aaron Johnson, two-time MSPT Champ Carl Oman, four-time WSOP bracelet winner Josh Remitio, three-time MSPT Champ Nick Barksdale, Shiva Dudani, and back-to-back Arizona State Poker Champion Ryan Stiner.

Those players, as well as any newcomers, have two more starting flights to jump back into action.

Day 1b will kick off at 10:15 a.m. local time on Friday, while the third and final flight, Day 1c, will take place at the same time on Saturday.

The surviving players from each flight will then return at 10:15 a.m. on Sunday to play down to a winner.

Join us tomorrow as we continue to bring you all the action and eliminations straight from the tournament floor of Taking Stick Resort!

MSPT Season 17 Diamond Poker Championship Remaining Schedule