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Patel Claims $2,000 Bonus for Bagging Lead Among 31 Day 1a Survivors

Day 1a of the Mid-States Poker Tour bestbet Jacksonville blew away expectations by attracting 197 entries, which surpassed last year's 185 in the opening flight and nearly met the $200,000 guarantee. With another starting flight to go on Saturday, the guarantee will be obliterated and chances are good last year's field of 421 will fall by the wayside.

After 14 levels of play, just 31 players bagged and tagged with Talesh Patel and his stack of 344,000 leading the way, a distinction that earned him a $2,000 bonus. Others who bagged big stacks were Blake Whittington (243,500), fresh off winning the MSPT bestbet Jacksonville Regional for $45,492 earlier this week, Atlanta's James Kirk (217,500), and local Jason Cummings (199,500).

As for Patel, he built a big stack early, leveled off in the middle levels, and then came on strong in the last level of the night. For instance, with less than 20 minutes remaining Patel raised to 5,100 and another player piled in for 49,000.

Action folded back to Patel and he contemplated for a few minutes, saying, “I know you think I’m weak, and I am.”

Eventually the $2,000 chip leader bonus swayed Patel into calling with the . He was behind his opponent's , and it got worse when the flop gave his opponent a flush draw. The turn gave Patel three three more outs, and amazingly the gave Patel a winning straight!

Of course not everyone was so fortunate. South Carolina's Scott Cooper, a Blue Shark Optics Team Pro and co-host of the QuadKingz Show on Hold'em Radio, made it to the dinner break but busted shortly thereafter after getting his stack all in preflop holding pocket kings against an opponent's ace-queen. No ace would appear, but the board ran out connected cards to give Cooper's opponent a winning straight.

"I'm a fan of these, so I'm sure I'll see you guys around," Cooper said of his first-ever MSPT experience. Others who joined Cooper on the rail were Jonathan Abla, Will "Monkey" Souther, MSPT Season 7 POY contender Jason Bender, and last year's runner-up Jeff Klein.

While many fell, a lucky group managed to punch their ticket to Day 2 including Tri Van Tran (173,500), Mel Lyon (163,000), Ryan Dunn (127,000), Sean Small (70,500), and MSPT Team Pro Matt Alexander (43,000).

Day 1b of the MSPT bestbet Jacksonville will kick off at Noon local time on Saturday. Be sure to join us then as we bring you all the action and eliminations straight from the tournament floor.

Here’s a look at those who advanced from Day 1a:

Talesh Patel - St. Augustine, FL 344,000
Blake Whittington - Jacksonville, FL 243,500
James Kirk - Atlanta, GA 217,500
Jason Cummings - Jacksonville, FL 199,500
Danny Romano - Jacksonville, FL 191,500
Steven Snyder - Charlotte, NC 181,000
Tri Van Tran - Statesboro, GA 173,500
David Pozorski - Savannah, GA 171,500
Jeffrey Chang - Bethesda, MN 171,000
Bob Beck - Santa Rosa, FL 165,000
Timothy Miles - Tallahassee, FL 163,000
Mel Lyon - Moore, SC 163,000
Arthur Andrade - Tampa, FL 147,000
Ryan Dunn - Tallahassee, FL 127,000
Brian Woods - Jacksonville, FL 124,000
David Yeazell - Florence, SC 123,000
Dave Rittenhoose - York, PA 104,500
Robert Keller - Gulf Shores, AL 99,000
David Mitchell - Jacksonville, FL 90,000
Ariel Lauer - Jacksonville, FL 90,000
Rod Rodrigue - Longwood, FL 80,500
James Mankowski - Palm Coast, FL 77,500
Jeffrey Kinser - Duluth, GA 76,000
William Davis - 71,000
Sean Small - Douglasville, GA 70,500
Roger Perkins - Longwood, FL 65,000
Mike Morris - Fleming Island, FL 55,500
George Levin - Jacksonville, FL 49,500
John Dubard - Tallahassee, FL 45,000
Matt Alexander - Minneapolis, MN 43,000
Willie Reid - Augusta, GA 20,500

Seven More Hands

The tournament staff just announced the remaining players will play seven more hands before bagging and tagging for the night. Stay tuned for a full recap of the Day 1a action as well as a list of chip counts.

"I Know You Think I'm Weak, and I am..."

Talesh Patel raised to 5,100 and his lone opponent piled in 49,000.

Action folded back to Patel and he contemplated for a few minutes, saying, “I know you think I’m weak, and I am.”

Eventually the $2,000 chip leader bonus swayed Patel into calling with the . He was behind his opponents , and it got worse when the flop gave his opponent a flush draw. The turn gave Patel three three more outs, and amazingly the gave Patel the winning straight!

Patel now sits with 250,000 and is in the running for the $2,000 bonus.

Davis Gets It In with Fish Hooks

William Davis of Jacksonville jammed his final 23,600 with the and got a call from Jeffrey Chang, who tabled the .

Davis pumped his fist after fading a three on the runout to stay alive with a much needed double.

Davis chipped up to 50,000 while Chang dropped to “just” 200,000.

Snyder Stays Safe

With 42 players remaining in the tournament, Steven Snyder called an opponent’s all-in preflop shove.

Snyder was way ahead with the versus his opponent’s .

“Don’t worry man, you’re against the right person, I’m not very good at this game,” said Snyder.

The board produced some chop outs, but the was a safe card for Snyder and he stacked the chips to chip up to 170,000.

Patel Eliminates Another, Back Over 200k

Talesh Patel was on a downswing after being the commanding chip leader early on, but he was just able to fend off and eliminate another opponent with against .

The board ran out a clean and Patel is back up over 200,000.

Tran Picks Up Kings at Just the Right Time

Last level was rough on Tri van Tran, who ran into aces a couple times to get cut down to size. However, variance has swung back his way as he’s been on a tear in Level 13.

Most recently, Tran nearly doubled to 240,000 -- which appears to be the big stack in the room -- after holding pocket kings. We missed the action, but we do know the chips went in on a queen-high flop and Tran’s opponent held . The kings held and Tran eliminated his opponent while almost doubling in the process.

Andrade with the KO

With blinds at 1,000/2,000/300, there was four-way action to the flop that landed .

The player in Seat 3 opened the betting at 4,000. On his immediate left, Seat 4 shoved his last 25,000. The next player folded and Arthur Andrade of Tampa announced himself all in. Seat 3 quickly folded.

Andrade tabled the for a flush draw, which he needed to hit to crack his opponent’s .

The turn did it, and after the meaningless river was put out Andrade increased his stack to over 100,000.

Bluffing with the Best Hand

On a board of , David Pozorski fired out an 8,000 bet, which was quickly called by his lone opponent.

The appeared on the river and both players opted to check.

“Ace high?” his opponent asked, showing . Pozorski laughed and showed the , which thanks to his kicker was enough to pick up the pot and bring his stack up to 200,000.

Snyder Sniffs Out the Bluff

With blinds at 800/1600/200, Ariel Lauer puts in a raise to 7,000 from UTG+1. Action folds to Steven Snyder in the small blind and he calls the 7K. The player in the big blind then folded.

Snyder yelled out, “Check in the dark” prior to the flop coming down . Lauer wasted little time in checking behind.

The on the turn createed no action as both players elected to check once again.

When the appeared on the river, Snyder tossed out a 12,000 bet and Lauer quickly raised to 24,000. Looking somewhat disgusted, Snyder thought the hand through in his head and then stated, “I thought you’d just call with ace-high.”

Snyder decided to call and Lauer showed for king-high. Snyder then excitedly flipped over the for the win.

With that, Snyder is up to 140,000, while Lauer dropped to 55,000.