2011 World Poker Tour Jacksonville Day 1b: Vedes Vaults into Top Spot
Action at the 2011 World Poker Tour Jacksonville continued on Saturday with Day 1b, with 205 players entering the field. They joined the 188 from Day 1a and created an overall field of 393. At the end of play, 90 remained and former WPT champion Tommy Vedes on top of the counts, bagging 209,200 in chips.
In 2009, Vedes won the WPT Festa al Lago Main Event for $1,218,225. Although he was the only player to bag over 200,000 on Day 1b (and during either starting day for that matter), a couple of other players finished with some large stacks. Imari Love wrapped up the day with 172,000, Barry Wiedemann bagged 162,100 and Michael Swimelar finished on 158,100. Love was actually the first player to 200,000, according to the WPT Live Update Team, but couldn't keep his stack there to close out the night. The chip leader, Vedes, was also the last player to register for the tournament. He showed up just as registration was closing.
Vedes was able to earn the chip lead towards the end of the night when he eliminated James Calderaro. Calderaro's aces were cracked by Vedes' pocket queens after all of the money went in preflop. Vedes hit a queen on the flop and Calderaro never improved.
A few players who were eliminated on Day 1b included Allen Kessler and Todd Terry. Both of them also played on Day 1a and took advantage of the re-entry format. Unfortunately, others took advantage of them and won their chips. Kessler got his money in with pocket aces, but lost to his opponent's runner-runner straight holding KxQx. Vedes played Day 1a as well and busted, but as you already know, he did much better. Will "The Thrill" Failla and Lee Markholt were double-bustees as well.
Former WPT champion and Player of the Year Andy Frankenberger was also sent home on Day 1b. His AxKx failed to win a very important flip against pocket jacks of his opponent and he was eliminated. Allen Carter, Antony Spinella, T.K. Miles, Kyle Bowker and John Dolan joined on the rail as well.
Of those who advanced to Day 2 from Day 1b include Jared Jaffee, Raj Vohra, Maurice Hawkins, John Racener, Harrison Gimbel and Victor Ramdin.
Day 2 will commence on Sunday at 1200 EST (1700 GMT). Be sure to stay tuned to PokerNews for the daily recap of the action. First place is worth $325,928 and you won't want to miss out on any of the coverage from here on out.
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