The survivors from Days 1A and 1B of the World Poker Tour (WPT) Jacksonville BestBet Open combined into a single field Sunday, with half of the original 320 players sitting down for the start of Day 2. The field was trimmed almost exactly in half again, with 55 players making the cut for today’s Day 3 at BestBet Jacksonville, Florida’s newest poker room. Farid Jattin finished the day with the lead, holding 718,000 chips, while the chip leader going into Day 2, Darren Elias, fell just one spot to second, sitting behind a stack of 636,000 chips. The two are well ahead the rest of the field, as the next closest player is over 200,000 chips behind.
Every poker tournament is filled with stories of big hands, hands which shot players up the leader board, and hands which sent others to the rail. It is not often, though, that you have a hand that defies explanation. Late in the afternoon Sunday, the WPT Jacksonville BestBet Open had just that.
Zack Bird, whose emotions had gone off the rails some time before, moved all-in from the button pre-flop for just shy of 40,000 chips. Risky move, to be sure, but here’s the rub: the dealer was still shuffling the cards. With the entire table befuddled, Matt Brady requested the opinion of the floor. The floorperson ruled that the move was valid as long as nobody ended up raising pre-flop before what was to have been Bird’s turn. After the cards were finally dealt, Brady limped in for 1,200 and Darren Elias called. When the action got around the Bird, his all-in had to stand, as the only moves prior were to the two limps. When the action got back to Brady, he thought for a bit before finally calling Bird’s shove. Bird was confused as to why Brady would limp and then think about his move, but Brady implied that he had to consider Elias acting behind him. Elias ended up folding pocket Sixes.
Brady flipped over Qc-Qd and King revealed Jd-Tc to both himself and the rest of the table for the first time. King mustered an open-ended straight draw on the flop, but that was it and he was eliminated from the tournament. Oh wait…no he wasn’t. When the dealer counted the chips, he informed King that he still had 6,200 chips remaining. No matter. King said he didn’t want them and left.
With 320 players, the prize pool of the WPT Jacksonville BestBet Open reached $1.504 million. First prize will be $400,600 plus a $25,500 in the WPT World Championship. A total of 36 players will make the money, so the bubble will definitely burst on Monday.
Play picks up at 2:00pm Monday as the remaining 55 players march towards poker glory.
World Poker Tour Jacksonville BestBet Open – End of Day 2 Chip Leaders
1. Farid Jattin – 718,000
2. Darren Elias – 636,000
3. Shawn Cunix – 411,000
4. James Dempsey – 404,500
5. David Tuthill – 381,000
6. Peter Campo – 341,500
7. Will Failla – 335,000
8. Byron Kaverman – 282,000
9. Barry Hunter – 275,000
10. Matt Giannetti – 274,500