It was a busy day at 888poker LIVE Coventry, where two more opening flights of the £888 Main Event provided some dramatic moments as the field continued to grow.
Day 1b saw a total of 107 entries, with Jiang Pu leading the remaining 15 players after another 14 levels of action at Coventry Building Society Arena. That brings the overall total to 23 survivors for Day 2 to this point, with plenty more to be added as the week continues and players chase the £500,000 guaranteed prize pool.
Pu steadily built his stack throughout a busy day, finishing with 413,000 chips. That sits ahead of Tuan Van Le, who needed several bullets on the day to finally catch fire and bag up a stack of 313,000. That represents almost as many chips as Le has registered for, but he’s happy to have one of the larger stacks heading into Saturday.
“If I had the chance to pay cash for that amount of chips, I would do it” Le told PokerNews as he was bagging up for the night. His total is good for second on the day, just in front of Tony Harman, with each carrying 52 big blinds.
Everyone is still looking up at Brandon Harris, who amassed 599,000 chips by the time Day 1a wrapped up on Wednesday. That set the benchmark for the week, with three more starting flights still to come on Friday and Saturday.
Day 1b Top 10 Chip Counts
| Place | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jiang Pu | United Kingdom | 413,000 | 69 |
| 2 | Tuan Van Le | United Kingdom | 313,000 | 52 |
| 3 | Tony Harman | United Kingdom | 311,000 | 52 |
| 4 | David Lopes | Portugal | 263,000 | 44 |
| 5 | Jamie Walker | United Kingdom | 232,000 | 39 |
| 6 | Adam Neal | United Kingdom | 227,000 | 38 |
| 7 | Paul Tait | United Kingdom | 220,000 | 37 |
| 8 | Majid Nadeem | United Kingdom | 214,000 | 36 |
| 9 | Ali Abdulzahra | United Kingdom | 193,000 | 32 |
| 10 | Chris Eddleman | United Kingdom | 175,000 | 29 |
A number of 888poker team members joined the action on Day 1b, including Ian Simpson who was fresh off a victory Wednesday night in the the £200 Rumble for £4,380.
Simpson and fellow team member Nick Eastwood battle in a pair of big spots, starting with Eastwood making a hero call midway through the day.
Simpson got the last laugh between the pair, knocking out Eastwood in a cooler before the final break of the night. Simpson was unable to survive from there, losing a pivotal hand to Harman and led to his elimination shortly after.
Other 888poker team members to hit the felt were Jack Dean, Dave Brady and Lucia Navarro. None of them managed to find a bag, but opportunity still awaits before Day 2.
Among the notables to survive for Day 2 is Stephen Barnes (127,000), who is looking to repeat after claiming the Main Event title at 888poker LIVE Manchester in August for £58,000. He's joined by Waheed Ashraf (132,000), who posted a 17th-place finish in the 2023 888poker LIVE London Main Event.
The first turbo flight also began on Thursday, as Day 1c was still in progress with more players looking to find a bag for Day 2. That leaves three more flights, with the next chance starting at 12:00 p.m. local time on Friday for Day 1d.
Day 2 kicks off Saturday, October 20, with late registration closing at the start of play. As always, PokerNews will have all of the action covered as we crown a champion in Coventry this weekend.
