bestbet Jacksonville Spring Series $2,500 Main Event
Day 1a Completed
2021 bestbet Jacksonville Spring Series
bestbet Jacksonville Spring Series $2,500 Main Event
Day: 1a
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
Players Info - Day 1a
2021 bestbet Jacksonville Spring Series
Buy-in
$2,500
Prize Pool
$898,242
Entries
401
Level
28
Blinds
50,000 / 100,000
Ante
100,000
Entries
143
Players Left
18
Raio Leads the Field on Day 1a of the bestbet Jacksonville Spring Series $2,500 Main Event
Level 14
: 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante
Day 1a of the bestbet Jacksonville Spring Series $2,500 Main Event has just wrapped up with 143 entries playing their way down to the hard-stop figure of 18 players only a few seconds before stopping the clock for the final few hands of the night. When that number was reached, Nick Raio was the one atop the counts with a stack of 448,000.
Raio's stack had a nearly all-upward trajectory from the time he joined the tournament around the end of Level 5 on the day. By the second break of the day some 40 minutes later, he had more than doubled his stack. An hour later, it had doubled again and he took a stack of over 200,000 into the dinner break. His ascent only continued from there, reaching its end point in the final level of the night after eliminating Michael Wang with two pair to a combo draw.
Jermaine Gerlin, known locally as "The Lion" finished the day second in chips with 401,000, winning the bulk of his chips in a double-knockout in which he had the second-nut flush draw on the flop and got stacks in against the nut flush draw and top two pair. Drawing thin, Gerlin found running backdoor gutshot straight cards to give him what was the chip lead at the time. January's WInter Open Day 1a chip leader Dustin Holladay finished the day in third in the counts (341,000) with another strong showing that puts him in good position to improve on his 10th-place finish from a couple of months ago.
A trio of WSOP bracelet winners in James Calderaro (201,000), Byron Kaverman (110,000), and John Gorsuch (51,000) also advanced, as did Justin Zaki (116,000). Others such as Scott Stewart, "Captain" Tom Franklin, Aaron Thivyanathan, Andrew Brinkley, and Eddy Mroczkowski were less fortunate and will have another chance at Saturday's second of two starting flights.
PokerNews will be back at it come noon Saturday for Day 1b with another almost-full day on the docket. See you then.
End-of-Day Chip Counts (full)
Level 14
: 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante
All chips are into bags and counts have been finalized with Nick Raio leading the final 18 of Day 1a. Raio finished with a stack of 448,000. A full set of chip counts has been provided below and a recap of the day will be posted shortly.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
448,000 | -6,000 |
|
401,000 | -81,000 |
|
341,000 | 159,000 |
|
321,000 | 59,000 |
|
303,000 | |
|
255,000 | 255,000 |
|
237,000 | 237,000 |
|
201,000 | -59,000 |
|
194,000 | |
|
163,000 | -14,000 |
|
156,000 | 156,000 |
|
119,000 | 119,000 |
|
116,000 | 39,000 |
|
110,000 | 110,000 |
|
107,000 | 84,000 |
|
51,000 | -86,000 |
|
43,000 | 43,000 |
|
42,000 | 42,000 |
Strout Busts; Night Ends a few Minutes Early
Level 14
: 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante
The floor has just instructed dealers to finish the hand they are playing and stop with 10:11 remaining as Stephen Strout has just been eliminated in 19th place, reaching the hard stop just seconds before drawing for a number of hands to finish the night.
According to tablemate Dustin Holladay, Strout open-jammed with 
for his last 20,000 and received action from Justin Zaki with 
. Strout flopped both an open-ended straight draw and flush draw to give him life, but got no further help on the turn and river to cause play to end for the night.
A complete list of chip counts and recap of the day's action will be provided shortly.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
Busted |
One Away from a Hard Stop
Level 14
: 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante
Another elimination has ensued and 19 players now remain. If one more player is knocked out in the next six minutes, Day 1a will stop early. Otherwise, a number of hands will be drawn at the ten-minute mark to complete play for the day in traditional fashion.
Stella Davila Wins Ladies Only Event #7: $360 NLH
Level 14
: 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante
While PokerNews is offering live updates from this Main Event, there have been several other side events playing out this past week at the 2021 bestbet Jacksonville Spring Series.
Event #7: $360 No-Limit Holdem Ladies Only attracted a field of 49 entries to create a prize pool of $14,945. It was an All-Florida final table and Palm Bay's Stella Davila came out on top, earning her a payday of $5,028. Davila defeated Jacksonville's Tammy Groff heads up for the trophy.
The top seven places were set to make it into the money, but all players agreed to pay the entire final table, resulting in eighth place getting back their $360 buy-in.
Event #7 Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Hometown | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stella Davila | Palm Bay, Florida | $5,028 |
| 2 | Tammy Groff | Jacksonville, Florida | $3,334 |
| 3 | Joyce Kosak | Gainesville, Florida | $2,205 |
| 4 | Rebecca Lindner-Like | Jacksonville Beach, Florida | $1,514 |
| 5 | Felicia Walker | Jacksonville, Florida | $1,080 |
| 6 | Cara Swayze | New Smyrna Beach, Florida | $802 |
| 7 | Davina Haigh | St. Augistine, Florida | $622 |
| 8 | Mary Darnell | Crawfordsville, Florida | $360 |
Wang Among Recent Eliminations
Level 14
: 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante
A flurry of eliminations has marked the beginning of Level 14 with Michael Wang, Chuck Clement, Tom Franklin, and Scott Misterek all falling to bring the field down to 20, just two bust outs away from reaching the hard-stop figure of 18.
According to James Calderaro and Nick Raio, Wang was knocked out by Raio after he shoved a double gutshot straight draw and flush draw into Raio's turned aces up. Raio went into the tank, saying he gave him "the speech" about not being good enough to fold before tossing in chips to call.
Wang had too many outs to hit, and he was eliminated as a result. Raio now has over 450,000 and is one of the top two stacks among the 20 remaining players.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
454,000 | 119,000 |
|
|
260,000 | 73,000 |
|
Busted | |
|
Busted | |
|
Busted | |
|
|
Busted |
Late Night Photos from Day 1a of the 2021 bestbet Jacksonville Spring Series $2,500 Main Event
Level: 14
Blinds: 2,000/4,000
Ante: 4,000
Gerlin Overtakes the Chip Lead
Level 13
: 1,500/3,000, 3,000 ante
Yells of "LION!!!" were heard from Table 44 and Jermaine Gerlin had turned away from his seat to clap his hands in celebration. More commotion ensued, with yells that Gerlin had just taken down a three-way pot for half a million.
According to Nicholas Gee, Gerlin opened under the gun and received a call from Lawrence Brown on the button. Gee then defended his big blind and all of the chips got into the middle on a flop of 
. Gee had a shot to triple his stack of around 100,000, while Brown eyed a chance to more than double.
Nicholas Gee: 
Lawrence Brown: 
Jermaine Gerlin: 
Gerlin was the least likely to win of the three but an improbable running 
came to give him a king-high straight. As a result, Gerlin earned the double knockout and pot which turned out to be closer to 400,000; but nonetheless, the man known as "Lion" has overtaken the chip lead. Furthermore, the pair of eliminations has brought the field down to 24, and three tables now remain. If the field is reduced to 18 before the end of Level 14, a hard stop will come into effect and end play early for the evening.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
482,000 | 280,000 |
|
|
Busted | |
|
|
Busted |