Tom Middleton Chases a Second Trophy as Keith Johnson Bags the Chip Lead on Day 1b
British poker superstar Tom Middleton proved he wasn’t satisfied with just one trophy today on Day 1b of the £1,100 888poker Live Manchester Main Event.
Middleton won the High Roller event earlier in the day and then immediately jumped into the Main Event. While he was forced to fire a second bullet, he made the most of the opportunity by ending the day with 227,500, good for fourth place among the 19 surviving players. Middleton picked up queens to send Matthew Davenport to the reentry cage, then won a flip to bust Lewis Day on the last level of the night.
Keith Johnson spent most of Day 1b near the top of the leaderboard and ended it as the top stack with 297,000. Johnson seized the chip lead early when he called Maxim Fana’s river shove with two pair. He later made a full house with pocket fives to bust another player.
Day 1b Top 10 Chip Counts
| Place | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Keith Johnson | United Kingdom | 297,000 | 99 |
| 2 | Thomas Erentz | United Kingdom | 278,000 | 93 |
| 3 | Simon Davidson | United Kingdom | 244,500 | 82 |
| 4 | Tom Middleton | United Kingdom | 227,500 | 76 |
| 5 | Qasim Zia | United Kingdom | 220,500 | 74 |
| 6 | Enea Soumpasi | United Kingdom | 178,000 | 59 |
| 7 | Bashir Ali | United Kingdom | 168,000 | 56 |
| 8 | Matthew Davenport | United Kingdom | 132,000 | 44 |
| 9 | Timothy Slater | United Kingdom | 130,000 | 43 |
| 10 | Ian Simpson | United Kingdom | 112,000 | 37 |
Thomas Erentz (278,000), Simon Davidson (244,500), and Qasim Zia (220,500) round out the top five. Bashir Ali made a miracle full house to stun Arian Hassankashani late in the day on his way to bagging up 168,000, while Davenport (132,000), Yucel Eminoglu (68,000), and 888poker Live Madrid runner-up Juan Lyons (60,500) also survived the day. 888poker Ambassador Ian Simpson doubled up with kings versus the queens of Mark McDade and finished with 112,000. He’ll be joined by fellow team pro Vivian Saliba (76,500) on Day 2.
Among the notables to bust on Day 1b were Dean Hutchison, Team 888poker members Nick Eastwood, Lucia Navarro, Josh Manley, Dave Brady, and Jack Dean, as well as UFC veteran Terence Etim and Sinead Priestley. Navarro busted when Zia made a running straight to crack her flopped top set, while Manley ran a flush into Keith Cheung’s higher flush to bust.
The 19 remaining players will combine with the three survivors from the opening flight when Day 2 begins on August 24 at noon local time. They’ll be joined by players from Day 1c tomorrow at noon, as well as from the turbo Day 1d flight that begins at 8 p.m. Late registration remains open until the start of Day 2. The 84 entries on Day 1b have boosted the field to 107 through two starting flights, but that number will grow considerably tomorrow.
Stay tuned to PokerNews tomorrow for all the updates from the last two starting flights.