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