Scott Lewis Bags the Day 1a Chip Lead at the Ante Up Jamul Casino Main Event
A wild Day 1a of the Ante Up Poker Tour Jamul Casino $550 Main Event has come to close, and the action didn’t disappoint in the first of two opening flights.
A total of 57 entries made it to the Jamul Casino Poker Room to take part in the first day of the event, with 12 players making it through to Day 2. After 14 half-hour levels of play it was Scott Lewis bagging the Day 1a chip lead, finishing the night with 355,500 in chips.
Lewis, with a commanding chip lead against the rest of the Day 1a field, is followed on the leaderboard by Michael Zucchet (204,000), Grant Foster (195,000), Christopher Smith (194,000) and Yary Hing (167,000).
The $550 Main Event is the centerpiece of the Sweetwater Series, the first tournament series to ever run at the Jamul Casino Poker Room, which opened earlier in 2019. The series also marks the first time the AUPT has made a stop in Southern California.
The opening flight of the Main Event saw fast and wild action in the San Diego area venue. The first elimination of the day happened on the very first hand of the day, with Mark Feinberg coming from behind to hit a full house on the river, rendering Aaron Knapp’s straight no good and sending him to the rail in a hand that began with 300 big blind effective stacks. At the end of the day, however, Knapp surivived the flight on his second bullet, while Feinberg went out with just minutes remaining in the last level of the day.
The second elimination of Day 1a happened less than 10 minutes after the Knapp/Feinberg hand, and those rapid knockouts set the pace for the entire day. Just 19 players remained as the tournament went to the final break of the day.
The 12 survivors of Day 1a will come back Sunday, joining the surviving players of Saturday’s Day 1b flight. That combined pool will play down to a winner Sunday, with the first-place share of at least $100,000 guaranteed on the line.
Follow along with the PokerNews live reporting team as Day 1b commences Saturday at noon.