button in Safari"I'm Gonna Take This Win Home"; Grant Palmer Bursting With Confidence After Bagging Chip Lead on Day 1c of the RGPS Jacksonville Main Event
Players had an extra incentive to finish as chip leader of Day 1c of the RunGood Poker Series Golden Expedition Jacksonville $1,200 Main Event: a glass skull of vodka.
The player who claimed that memento was Grant Palmer, a local Jacksonville pro who went on a late tear of eliminations to end up with 550,000 and atop the leaderboard as 18 players survived the event’s final starting flight. For Palmer, who says he only started playing tournaments a few months ago, this would be a fitting start to his career.
“It would be great, actually. I started playing poker as my job like, two years ago, and started playing tournaments about six months ago. So it would be a great start to my tournament career,” he said. “This would be my biggest win. I mean, I’ve had some big cash wins, but tournament-wise, this would definitely be the biggest if I won.”
Day 1c Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Grant Palmer | United States | 550,000 | 138 |
| 2 | Johnny Landreth | United States | 415,000 | 104 |
| 3 | Corey Major | United States | 384,000 | 96 |
| 4 | Sokol Curri | United States | 362,000 | 91 |
| 5 | Ryan Sullivan | United States | 305,000 | 76 |
| 6 | Daniel Kusnerak | United States | 305,000 | 76 |
| 7 | Caleb Powell | United States | 297,000 | 74 |
| 8 | Katerina Lukina | Czechia | 281,000 | 70 |
| 9 | Stephen Strout | United States | 249,000 | 62 |
| 10 | Wissam Shaya | United States | 210,000 | 53 |
Palmer made the final table of the Tag Team event earlier this week, but he’s nearly surpassed his previous career total earnings of around $3,700 with just securing a min-cash. He began his ascent up the leaderboard when he hit a set of queens on the flop to bust Micah Cunningham in a big pot. He then won a flip with ace-king against Mark Wiser’s jacks, and picked up queens yet again to bust Charles Johnson. The day that started slowly picked up significantly at the end.
“It was tough at the beginning, but ended up running pretty good towards the end there and getting a pretty big bag. I think I’m like, third or fourth overall. So can’t complain, that’s for sure. And I got a new bottle of vodka,” he said.
Palmer will head into Day 2 among the top stacks, and despite his paucity of prior results, his confidence going into tomorrow is high. “Gotta get some good sleep tonight and come back early tomorrow. I’m gonna take this win home,” he said.
Johnny Landreth was the beneficiary of his own lucky flop to earn a bustout. He spiked a full house to crack Charlie Townsend’s aces as Landreth ended up in second place with 415,000. Corey Major, who made the final table of this event in 2024, sits in third place with 384,000, while Sokol Curri (362,000) and Daniel Kusnerak (305,000) round out the top five. Others through to Day 2 include Caleb Powell (297,000) and Kelley Slay (115,000), while Katerina Lukina will join husband Chris Conrad on Day 2 as she ended up with 281,000. Dimas Martinez, though, who won this event two years ago, was an early casualty today.
A total of 142 players spent Halloween inside bestbet Jacksonville competing for the championship, bringing the total field up to 394 entries over the three starting flights. The remaining 50 players have already locked up $2,067 out of the $409,760 prize pool, while the champion will take home $82,624. The action on Day 2 will pick up with 13 minutes remaining in Level 14 with blinds of 2,000/4,000 and a 4,000 big blind ante. Each subsequent level will be 40 minutes long. The final table will be live-streamed on the bestbet official YouTube channel.
PokerNews will be following along and providing live updates, so be sure to tune in tomorrow for the crowning of a new RunGood champion.