Jonathan Roberts Runs Away With the Chip Lead on Day 1a of the 888poker Live Manchester Main Event
Jonathan Roberts had a day on the felt that most poker players can only dream of on his way to bagging up the massive chip lead on Day 1a of the £1,100 888poker Live Manchester Main Event.
Roberts went on a rush of eliminations and big pots as he built up a stack of around 450,000 at one point during the day. A few late hits dropped him to 376,500 to end the night, but still far away the chip leader of the three players who managed to survive the day.
Roberts’ day began when he cracked Stephen Cherry’s aces on the river. He then picked up aces against Craig Rimmer’s queens to earn a double up that put him into the chip leader. He busted Oliver Hutchins by spiking a flush on the river to beat top two pair, hit a queen to crack Lin Chen’s eights to hit the 300,000 milestone, then rivered trips to bust Leslie Kearney and pull clear of the field.
Day 1a Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jonathan Roberts | United Kingdom | 376,500 | 126 |
| 2 | David Kingsley | United Kingdom | 166,000 | 55 |
| 3 | Zhicheng Miao | United Kingdom | 147,500 | 49 |
It took Zhicheng Miao five tries before he managed to bag up for Day 2. Miao busted four times earlier in the day, but on his fifth bullet doubled up with a full house against Roberts’ flush to finish with 147,500. David Kingsley, who doubled up off Roberts on one of the last hands of the night when he picked off a bluff with a pair of aces, rounds out the field with 166,000.
Day 1a attracted a total of 23 entries. Several big names spent the day playing the High Roller event, including 888poker Ambassadors Ian Simpson, Vivian Saliba, and Lucia Navarro. They’ll have to wait for another day to make an appearance in the Main Event. There are still three opening flights remaining. Day 1b begins tomorrow at 1 p.m. local time, while Day 1c is on August 23 at noon. There is also a turbo Day 1d flight later that day at 8 p.m. with 20-minute levels. Players can also register at the start of Day 2 on August 24 at noon.
Just three remain, but there are still plenty of opportunities for the field to grow larger here in Manchester. PokerNews will be back tomorrow providing all the live coverage from the second starting flight.