Mindaugas Kurlenskas opened to 65,000 in middle position and was called by Alex Todd in the hijack. The rest of the table folded and the dealer flipped over the 8♣J♥9♦ flop.
Kurlenskas continued for 60,000 and the call was made. Kurlenskas led out again on the 5♥ turn, this time for 125,000.
Todd took a moment before making the call. Another bet from Kurlenskas followed the 6♦ river, sliding out 275,000.
After using a time bank card, Todd stuck in the call. Kurlenskas slowly revealed 9♠9♣ for a flopped set of nines, good enough to take down a sizeable as Todd mucked.
James Bott opened to 75,000 in middle position before Christopher Guertin moved all in on the button. Tony Harman then shoved his small stack in the small blind and Bott made the call.
Tony Harman: Q♠5♠
Christopher Guertin: A♠K♦
James Bott: Q♣Q♥
The J♥6♣4♠ flop left Bott's queens in front, but the 3♠ turn gave Harman flush and straight draws. The dealer revealed the 7♥ river, completing Harman's straight while seeing Guertin lose the side pot to end his tournament run.
Ian Simpson and Alex Montgomery were heads up to the 6♣9♦Q♠K♥ turn. Montgomery check-called from the big blind after Simpson slid out a bet of 10,000 from middle position.
Montgomery checked again on the 10♦ river and Simpson moved all in. Montgomery made the call and the hands were revealed.
Simpson showed A♠6♠ and nodded his head as Montgomery tabled J♥9♥ for a straight.
Shengsu Xu moved all in from under the gun for his last 45,000 and Darius Demetriou took some time before shoving his bigger stack of 95,000 from middle position.
Ravi Sheth made the call in the small blind and the hands were turned up.
Shengsu Xu: A♦10♥
Darius Demetriou: K♠K♥
Ravi Sheth: Q♠Q♥
Demetriou pumped his first as the K♦2♠2♣ flop was revealed, making a full house. The Q♣ turn gave Sheth an inferior full house, while the 8♠ river completed the board.
Demetriou stacked a bunch of new chips while Xu hit the rail.
The £888 Main Event attracted a total of 812 entries, creating a prize pool of £617,120. That represents the largest prize pool at an 888poker LIVE Main Event since 2020.
The top 101 players will earn at least £1,700, with tomorrow's champion taking home the top prize of £125,000.
After six starting flights this week at 888poker LIVE Coventry, the remaining field will finally combine for Day 2 of the £888 Main Event at 5:15 p.m. local time.
With the final turbo flight running today at Coventry Building Society Arena, the total field climbed well above 700 entries to smash the £500,000 guaranteed prize pool. Full payout information will be posted after the start of play, as the money bubble looms this evening.
The overall chip leader is Brandon Harris, who collected a massive stack of 599,000 chips on Day 1a. Harris will bring 100 big blinds into play today, in great position to make a deep Main Event run.
Among the chip leaders is 888poker StreamTeam member Ricardo Mateus, who navigated a busy Day 1d flight to finish with 395,000, good for 66 big blinds.
Day 1a-1d Top 10 Chip Counts
Place
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Brandon Harris
United Kingdom
599,000
100
2
Oliver Braddock
United Kingdom
497,000
83
3
Longmao Fan
China
488,000
81
4
Mo Romanowicz
United Kingdom
432,000
72
5
Christopher Johnson
United Kingdom
420,000
70
6
Jiang Pu
United Kingdom
413,000
69
7
Ricardo Mateus
Portugal
395,000
66
8
Yucel Eminoglu
Turkey
379,000
63
9
Philip Broughton
United Kingdom
356,000
59
10
Mindaugas Kurlenskas
United Kingdom
351,000
59
Among the other names with a big stack are Day 1d chip leader Oliver Braddock (497,000), Longmao Fan (488,000), Mo Romanowicz (432,000), Christopher Johnson (420,000) and Jiang Pu (413,000), who set the pace on Day 1b.
888poker AmbassadorLucia Navarro made it through the massive flight last night, bagging up 253,000 chips to return with 42 big blinds.
Fellow team member Ian Simpson will also take a seat on Day 2, but will have some work to do sitting with 69,000 after the Day 1c turbo flight.
Ian Simpson
Action resumes at 5:15 p.m. with the start of Day 2, where late registration will close and the total prize pool will be set. Those who join the tournament today will begin with a starting stack of 30,000 chips, with Level 15 blinds at 3,000/6,000 and a 6,000 big blind ante.
The scheduled plan is to play 12 more levels lasting 40 minutes each, with breaks after every three levels. Those that remain will then return for the final day of action, beginning at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday, October 20.
As always, the PokerNews live reporting team has you covered on our website and social media channels so be sure to tune in all night long.
