Spencer Dickinson Bags the Chip Lead on Day 1 of the $35,000 Championship
Spencer Dickinson has a trip to Las Vegas lined up, but first he and 15 others have to prepare for tomorrow after Day 1 of the $35,000 Eastern Poker Tour Championship.
Dickinson bagged up the chip lead with 913,000 as 16 players out of 250 entries survived the day, securing a seat into the Bar Poker Open in Las Vegas. Anthony Burns finished behind him with 805,000, while Mike Kelly (744,000), Rob Keizo (662,000), and Richard Rollka (654,000) round out the top five.
Day 2 Qualifiers
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Spencer Dickinson | United States | 913,000 | |
| 2 | Anthony Burns | United States | 805,000 | |
| 3 | Mike Kelly | United States | 744,000 | |
| 4 | Rob Keizo | United States | 662,000 | |
| 5 | Richard Rollka | United States | 654,000 | |
| 6 | Wilmer Colon | United States | 453,000 | |
| 7 | Nancy St. Laurent | United States | 418,000 | |
| 8 | Steve Miller | United States | 399,000 | |
| 9 | Sonya Harrison | United States | 395,000 | |
| 10 | Joe DiCruttalo | United States | 296,000 | |
| 11 | John Foley | United States | 193,000 | |
| 12 | Owen Balcarcel | United States | 166,000 | |
| 13 | Jeff Dallaire | United States | 163,000 | |
| 14 | Kelly O'Hare | United States | 160,000 | |
| 15 | Alex Rancore | United States | 137,000 | |
| 16 | Joe Holland | United States | 46,000 |
Note: chip counts do not carry over to Day 2
Dickinson was faced with an all-in shove against Sam Ho and called for 145,000 with a pair of nines, while Ho had straight and flush draws. Dickinson managed to dodge all of Ho’s outs and earned the double up. Burns, meanwhile, spiked two pair on the river against Joe DiCruttalo to earn his double up and vault up the leaderboard.
Keizo enjoyed a banner day inside the DoubleTree by Hilton in Milford, first making the final table of the $1,200 New England Poker Championship where he bowed out in seventh place for $6,000. He was multi-tabling this event at the same time and managed to bag up another big stack.
Wilmer Colon (453,000) brought the night to a close when he cracked Ho’s queens with a flush. Nancy St. Laurent (418,000), Sonya Harrison (395,000), Owen Balcarcel (166,000), and Kelly O’Hare (160,000) are also among those collecting $150 for advancing to Day 2.
The remaining 16 players will be joined by monthly leaderboard qualifiers, regional points leaders, and other wild card spots when action resumes tomorrow at 10 a.m. The chip counts they ended today with won’t carry over, but instead each player will start the day with 100,000. Anyone who double-qualified for Day 2 gets an additional 100,000.
A champion of the 35th season of the Eastern Poker Tour will be crowned tomorrow, and PokerNews will be back to follow all the action and provide live updates.