bestbet Jacksonville Winter Open $2,000 Main Event Day 1a | 2021 bestbet Jacksonville Winter Open

01-29-2021 21:54 UTC-4

Pupillo Runs Into The Goods

HillKerby

Level 11 : 1,000/2,000, 2,000 ante

Action folded around to the hijack, who opened to 5,000. Pete Theodocion three-bet to 15,000 in the cutoff and Nick Pupillo cold four-bet to 35,000 in the small blind. Action folded back to Theodocion and he announced he was all in, with Pupillo immediately committing his remaining stack just the same.

Nick Pupillo:
Pete Theodocion:

Pupillo was in trouble, needing to improve to stay alive. Unfortunately for him, even a queen in the window of the flop left him in even worse shape due to Theodocion also flopping a set. The one outer was not in store this time as the turn and river completed the runout leaving his hand second best.

Theodocion appeared to be ahead by a decent chunk, and it was confirmed as much by Pupillo's stack of 119,000 being outnumbered slightly by solely the large-denomination chips in Theodocion's stack. As a result, Pupillo was eliminated while Theodocion now finds himself as one of the top stacks in the room with nearly 300,000.

Player	Chips	Progress
Pete Theodocion	285,000 285,000	285,000
Nick Pupillo	Busted

Tags: Nick Pupillo Pete Theodocion

01-29-2021 22:26 UTC-4

"I've Never Seen Two Faster Folds In My Life!"

HillKerby

Level 12 : 1,500/2,500, 2,500 ante

Action folded around to Scott Stewart in the hijack and he opened to 5,000. Both Taylor Howard on the button and Dapo Ajayi in the big blind called.

"The three amigos, huh?" said Stewart as the dealer fanned a flop of . Ajayi checked over to Stewart, who continuation-bet 4,000 and saw Howard make it 12,000 to go.

Ajayi confirmed the amount and then sat still for a handful of seconds before reaching for chips and tossing in a check-three-bet to 32,000. Stewart and Howard both folded before Ajayi's chips hit the felt.

"Slow down!" Ajayi said, prompting some laughter from his two opponents across the table. A little more back-and-forth ensued with Ajayi showing and chiding the two to at least let him get the impression they were thinking about their decisions.

"I had already thought about my decision when you reached for chips!" laughed Howard.

"I've never seen two faster folds in my life!" responded Ajayi.

Player	Chips	Progress
Scott Stewart	182,000 -13,000	-13,000
Taylor Howard	158,000 77,000	77,000
Dapo Ajayi	138,000 18,000	18,000

Tags: Dapo Ajayi Scott Stewart Taylor Howard

01-29-2021 23:02 UTC-4

Zaki Sends One To The Showers And Takes The Chip Lead

HillKerby

Level 13 : 2,000/3,000, 3,000 ante

Chad Brown saw action fold to him in the hijack and opened to 8,000. Justin Zaki called in the small blind and the big blind defended, taking three-way action to a flop of .

Zaki checked and the big blind bet 20,000. Brown asked how much he had left and the player told him not much, moving his hands to display 7,000 behind. Brown took one more look at his cards and then shot them to the middle of the felt face-down, putting action back onto Zaki, who raised and received an all-in call for less.

"You're gonna win," said the all-in player as he turned over . Zaki tabled [jts] and was already well ahead.

The turn gave Zaki the nuts and the river completed the runout to make the hand official, earning him the pot and the knockout, and he now a few tall piles of chips totaling about 350,000, which is the largest stack in the room at present moment.

Player	Chips	Progress
Justin Zaki	350,000 195,000	195,000
Chad Brown	105,000 -48,000	-48,000

Tags: Chad Brown Justin Zaki

01-29-2021 23:49 UTC-4

Chen Falls In The Final Level

HillKerby

Level 14 : 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante

Huilin Chen was down to his last 28,000 and open-shoved from the cutoff. Ken Stacy was on the button and called after asking for the amount and receiving confirmation, prompting two quick folds behind to bring about the runout.

Huilin Chen:
Ken Stacy:

Chen quickly rolled over his bullets and Stacy acknowledged, saying that Chen was ahead but that he had "the aces cracker."

The flop certainly gave him a shot, one that would become even more real on the turn after he picked up two pair. Chen was unable to find an ace or counterfeit paired board to reimprove on the river and was eliminated from the tournament, standing up and making his way from the tournament area as the pot was shipped to Stacy.

Twenty-seven players now remain with 25 minutes remaining in the level. The tournament clock will be paused in 15 minutes or two eliminations, whichever comes first.

Player	Chips	Progress
Ken Stacy	248,000 21,000	21,000
Huilin Chen	Busted

01-30-2021 00:50 UTC-4

Dustin Holladay Leads Day 1a of 2020 bestbet Jacksonville Winter Open $2,000 Main Event; Stewart, Zaki, Ezaguirre Also Bag Big

HillKerby

Level 14 : 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante

Day 1a of the 2020 bestbet Jacksonville Winter Open $2,000 Main Event played through its scheduled 14 levels to completion Friday night, drawing 195 entries and ending with 27 players making it through the day. Of those 27, Dustin Holladay was the one to find himself on top of the leader board with a stack of 365,000.

Holladay was one of the 81 players in their seats from the get-go, and he took advantage of a full day at the felt. He chipped up early thereafter and was the first player in the field to reach the 100,000-mark on the day, doing so in Level 6 before the afternoon's second break. He maintained that stack through the next several hours before chipping up to 200,000 and proceeded to put an exclamation mark on the day with a late-night surge to his final total for the night.

Ken Stacy follows in the counts with 361,000, just a hair behind Holladay. Stacy also found a late-night heater that was fueled by a string of knockouts including the likes of Dapo Ajayi and Event #1 winner Huilin Chen. Four more players bagged north of a quarter-million: Scott Stewart (339,000), Christopher Laieta (336,000), Justin Zaki (326,000) and Ricardo Eyzaguirre (281,000).

Others to advance were Pete Theodocion (228,000), Brian Arbaugh (194,000), Taylor Howard (141,000), and David Jackson (125,000). Plenty more players of note were seen throughout the day that did not advance, including Darren Elias, Nick Pupillo, Timothy Miles, Mark Hodge, and Howard Hankin.

All who have did not make it through Day 1a will have another chance to advance on Saturday's Day 1b, the second and final of two starting flights for the Main Event. Just like the first edition, Day 1b will begin at noon and play 14 levels of 40 minutes apiece.

Also just like Day 1a, PokerNews will be on the floor from start to finish bringing you all of the action as it unfolds. See you then!

Tags: Brian Arbaugh Christopher Laieta Dapo Ajayi Darren Elias David Jackson Dustin Holladay Howard Hankin Huilin Chen Justin Zaki Ken Stacy Mark Hodge Nick Pupillo Pete Theodocion Ricardo Eyzaguirre Scott Stewart Taylor Howard Timothy Miles