The first of three starting flights of the Season 10 MSPT Golden Gates Main Event drew 48 runners, but after just over 14 levels of play just 5 remained with Brian Leitch and his 276,000 stack leading the way. Leitch, has five career MSPT cashes, all here at Golden Gates, and is looking to improve on November’s MSPT Denver Poker Open finish, where he came in 31st for $2,229.

Others to bag include Stephen Patch (209,500), Andrew Peragallo (187,500), Krzysztof Stybaniewicz (146,000), and Wally Printz (141,500).

Not everyone managed to earn a Day 2 bag, and some of those that fell short include WSOP Colossus II champ Ben Keeline, Svetlana Martie, Greg Geller, Rich Dixon, and MSPT Golden Gates Regional champ Stephen Zipprich.

The Day 1B flight will get underway at Noon local time on Friday, with 1C to follow at the same time on Saturday. The surviving players from each flight will then return on Sunday at 11 AM to play down to a winner.

The entirety of the Main Event will be live reported here in the blog, while the final table action will also be live streamed worldwide on a 15-minute delay with hole cards and commentary.