Brian Arbaugh open-jammed for 21,000 in early position and action folded around to Heng Zhang, who was on the button and re-jammed for a bit more. All remaining players folded and the two were off to the races.
Brian Arbaugh:
Heng Zhang:
Arbaugh picked up four more outs on the flop but ran dry as the turn and river completed the runout to spell his elimination from the tournament shortly after the dinner break. Meanwhile, Zhang now finds himself with a stack of 54,000.
The start of Level 10 some handful of minutes ago marked the end of the late registration period for Day 1a. A total of 143 entries were logged for the day and 49 players remain in contention.
The final seconds of Level 9 have ticked off the clock and the tournament is now on a one-hour dinner break. Play will resume at 7:35 p.m. local time and registration will close when Level 10 begins. This is the last chance to play Day 1a for all who wish to do so.
Currently, 138 entries have been logged and 44 players remain.
A player in the big blind got the last of his chips into the middle preflop and received action from Howard Bolte, who was in early position.
All-In Player:
Howard Bolte:
An ace on the flop left the all-in player needing to hit running eights to stay alive and they were done by the turn. Bolte is now up to 56,000 after earning the pot and the knockout.
Justin Zaki was just involved in a heads-up pot in which he took a player's stack. Zaki was in the hijack and his opponent was in the big blind, with the balance of the big blind's chips going in on the river with a board of .
All-In Player:
Justin Zaki:
The big blind had flopped trips but Zaki turned a higher full house and wound up stacking his opponent as a result.
Sunday night, eight players will make the final table of the bestbet Jacksonville Spring Series $2,500 Main Event. Come that time, the tournament will be live-streamed on bestbet LIVE until a winner has been declared.
The local duo of Eddy Mroczkowski and Eric "1k" Steinbaugh will be in the booth calling the action (unless one or both make the final table, of course).
More than Just Playing Poker
Of the two, Mroczkowski was the one to get his foot into the door of the broadcasting booth, so to speak. bestbet Jacksonville held a contest in January 2018 in search of a worthy commentator for its live stream, and having been around the local poker scene for over a decade, Mroczkowski proved himself well-versed enough to win the contest.
Commentating has become another poker-related hobby for Mroczkowski, but it is still secondary to playing. With over $450,000 in lifetime earnings on his Hendon Mob database, Mroczkowski said the dream is to travel to play poker tournaments and then jump into the booth should they fall short of the final table. A win-win situation.
Eddy Mroczkowski and Eric Steinbaugh aka "The E-Train"
The E-Train Enters the Station
As soon as Mroczkowski got onto the broadcast, he knew that bringing his friend Steinbaugh into the booth would work well, and as of around a year and a half ago, the E-Train pulled into the station for the first time. COVID-19 prevented the two from working together in 2020, and regardless they are often busy in their own lives. Still, they try to get together on stream as often as possible, and certainly for every big event at bestbet Jacksonville.
Both Steinbaugh and Mroczkowski know poker well enough to talk about it on air and are able to entertain while staying focused on the game. They get along great in the booth because it is an extension of their friendship away from the game of poker, one Mroczkowski's wife actually predicted years prior to the two crossing paths.
Mroczkowski's wife and Steinbaugh worked together at Daytona's poker room and she told him that the two would get along well. Years later, they found themselves in Las Vegas together one summer for the World Series of Poker and immediately connected. Now, they travel the world together, having visited destinations domestic and international alike such as Utah, Colorado, London, and Amsterdam.
For more updates all tournament long, stay tuned to PokerNews to catch all the action. Also, be sure to catch the live stream on the bestbet LIVE Twitch Channel.
The following players are no longer occupying their seats, nor are they visible among the seven tables now left in play. However, registration is still open until around 7:30 p.m. local time so all of the following still have the opportunity to re-enter if they wish in addition to playing tomorrow's Day 1b flight.
but ran dry as the turn 
and river 
completed the runout to spell his elimination from the tournament shortly after the dinner break. Meanwhile, Zhang now finds himself with a stack of 54,000.
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