The World Poker Tour continues its swing through the state of Florida during the month of April, landing in Jacksonville for the WPT Jacksonville BestBet Open, which kicked off yesterday with the first of two Day Ones.
WPT officials decided to make the $5000 buy in tournament a re-entry event, meaning that anyone knocked out on Day 1A of the tournament (or with less than the starting chip stack of 30K by the end of play on Friday) could re-enter the tournament on Saturday prior to the end of late registration. As such, the field for the first day of this new stop on the WPT schedule was a bit smaller than usual and final numbers are as of yet unknown. The tables around the BestBet Jacksonville card room featured some strong players, though, looking to take an early lead in the event.
After WPT announcer and Poker Hall of Famer Mike Sexton opened the proceedings with the traditional, “Shuffle up and deal,” he took his seat at the tables alongside his fellow WPT announcer Vince Van Patten and “The Raw Deal” host Tony Dunst. Joe Serock, fresh from his third place finish at the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Showdown and the leader of the WPT Player of the Year race, was in attendance, as were James Dempsey, Will “The Thrill” Failla and Phil Collins.
Making his mark from the start, Darren Elias would assume a chip lead that he wouldn’t let go of for the entirety of Friday. After a player limped in before him, Elias put in a raise, only to see Steven Merrifield push in a three bet. The limper departed and Elias called to see a 10-5-4 flop. Merrifield, in the small blind, put out a continuation bet and was met with another call from Elias.
Another five on the turn brought another bet from Merrifield and a call from Elias, but it was the four on the river that sparked the fireworks. After Merrifield moved out another stack of chips, Elias decided to make a stand and push all in. Merrifield made the call but was dismayed at what he saw. Elias turned up pocket tens for a flopped set and turned boat, while Merrifield showed his pocket Aces and headed to the exit.
While Elias was able to race off with a lead that he would hold until the end of the day, other players made their attempts to stay close to him on the leaderboard. David Paredes would come in with the second place stack, slightly more than 170K in chips, while Failla made his stab at reclaiming the WPT POY lead by finishing with 132,600. Other pros making it through the Day 1A minefield included Dempsey, Jonathan Little and Fred Goldberg, while Dunst and Sexton would move onto Day 2 without their fellow announcer, Van Patten.
1. Darren Elias, 213,600
2. David Paredes, 170,300
3. Darryll Fish, 140,800
4. Robert Gorocletsky, 139,600
5. Will Failla, 132,600
6. James Dempsey, 114,300
7. John Gordon, 113,700
8. B. J. McBraier, 112,900
9. David Paverport, 108,600
10. Matt Schulte, 100,800
62 players survived from the original 125 and, as stated earlier, it is unknown how many of the 63 players knocked out on Friday will come back for a second shot on Saturday afternoon. With late registration open until approximately 4:30PM on Day 1B, it is also unknown how many late arrivals will contribute to the prize pool. With another seventy five players, the prize pool would break the $1 million mark and guarantee that, more than likely, the final three tables would earn a payday.
