Francis Obadun and Ryan Otto should be quite familiar to each other by now.
Not only did they share a table for most of Day 1c of the £888 888poker LIVE Coventry Main Event, but it was just a few months ago that they both made a run at a title, making the top three at the 888poker LIVE London Main Event. Obadun finished second, while Otto claimed third.
They’re both back at another shot of capturing a title, ending Day 1c near the top of the leaderboard. Otto (366,500), who was also runner-up in the High Roller last night, doubled up with a set of sevens against Nathan Jones, then busted Jones on the last hand of the night with ace-king. Obadun (314,000) found his own double up earlier in the day, making a straight with a pair of sixes, then won a big pot off Otto when he cracked a set with a turned flush.
Day 1c Top 10 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Danny Pyke | United Kingdom | 400,000 | 133 |
| 2 | Ryan Otto | Australia | 366,500 | 122 |
| 3 | Francis Obadun | United Kingdom | 314,000 | 105 |
| 4 | Matthew Eardley | United Kingdom | 298,000 | 99 |
| 5 | Jiaze Li | United Kingdom | 250,000 | 83 |
| 6 | Min Ji | United Kingdom | 250,000 | 83 |
| 7 | Wendy Watson | United Kingdom | 247,000 | 82 |
| 8 | Richard Pearson | United Kingdom | 239,000 | 80 |
| 9 | Patrick Donohue | United Kingdom | 225,000 | 75 |
| 10 | Florin Gavilrescu | United Kingdom | 205,500 | 69 |
Otto and Obadun may be looking up at Danny Pyke on the leaderboard, but that’s far from certain. Pyke didn’t bother to count his stack at the end of the night and just put down “400-ish” on his bag. Matthew Eardley ended up in fourth place with 298,000 after busting 888poker Ambassador Ian Simpson with a straight against two pair early in the day.
It took Niall Farrell multiple bullets, but he finally managed to bag up 106,500 for tomorrow’s Day 2. Nim Rattan (192,500), Paul Vas Nunes (105,500), and Tom Middleton (58,500) were also part of the 67 players who survived Day 1c. Those who didn't survive include yesterday's High Roller champion Ludovic Geilich, Florian Duta, and Leo Worthington-Leese.
A total of 288 players entered Day 1c, combining with the 265 who entered the first two starting flights to create a field of 553. There is still the turbo Day 1d flight ongoing, which has so far attracted 94 entries and pushed the field past 600 players and the £500,000 guaranteed prize pool. Late registration remains open until the start of Day 2, so there is a chance for the field to grow even larger by the time the prize pool is confirmed.
The 118 players who have navigated through one of the first three starting flights will return tomorrow at 11 a.m. local time for Day 2. Blinds pick up on Level 15 at 1,500-3,000 and a 3,000 big blind ante. Levels will be 60-minutes long from this point on.
The race to the final table will be on tomorrow, and PokerNews will follow all the action and provide live updates from inside the Coventry Building Society Arena.
