Michael Curry Grabs Overall Chip Lead in Event #1: 400 NLH at the bestbet Summer Heater Poker Series
Friday’s flights have come to an end and Michael Curry is the overall chip leader in Event #1: $400 NLH at the bestbet Jacksonville Summer Heater Poker Series. Two more flights follow on Saturday before the field is set for Sunday’s Day 2.
Day 1b drew 122 players and generated a prize pool of $40,870, and 15 players bagged for Day 2. Day 1c drew 137 players and sent 18 runners to Day 2 while adding $45,865 to the overall prize pool. The grand total after three flights sits at $113,900.
Day 1b and Day 1c Combined Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Chip Count | Day 2 Big Blinds |
| 1 | Michael Curry | 441,500 | 110 |
| 2 | Joshua Hill | 295,000 | 74 |
| 3 | Greg Robinson | 261,500 | 65 |
| 4 | Hunter Wroten | 247,000 | 62 |
| 5 | Paul Petraglia | 244,500 | 61 |
| 6 | Kyle Besaw | 234,000 | 59 |
| 7 | Johnny Culver | 230,500 | 58 |
| 8 | Jeremy Paetsch | 218,500 | 55 |
| 9 | Kerry Goldberg | 215,000 | 54 |
| 10 | Clayton Adams | 209,000 | 52 |
Curry is the overall chip leader of the opening three flights after running hot all day, especially in the closing levels. He is followed at the top of the leaderboard by Paul Petraglia and Kyle Besaw. Petraglia picked up a portion of his chips with pocket jacks in a clash with Curry, while Besaw came on strong in the closing levels to bag big. The top five of Day 1b is rounded out by Jeremy Paetsch and Kerry Goldberg.
Joshua Hill led the way in the latter flight of the evening, thanks in part to winning one of the biggest hands of the night.
Ey Bori limped in from under the gun and a player in the cutoff shoved for 44,000. Hill flat-called from the big blind and Bori shoved his entire stack of 119,000.
Hill went deep into the tank for several minutes before he slid out the chips to call. Action was three-handed with Bori and the cutoff at risk.
Cutoff: 
Ey Bori: 
Joshua Hill: 
The board ran out 
and Hill made tens full of nines to take the entire pot and score the double knockout.
The hand put Hill above 400,000 for the day, and while he ran into a bit of trouble in the closing level his final tally of 295,000 was still good enough for the flight’s chip lead.
Hill is followed on the Day 1c leaderboard by Greg Robinson and Hunter Wroten. Robinson got off to a slow start but he picked up momentum in the middle levels and bagged 261,500 on the day. Wroten was in the middle of the pack for most of the day until he held on with pocket threes to bust an opponent in Level 11. From there, Wroten went on a red-hot run that saw him pick up nearly 200,000 chips over the final two levels to finish with 247,000.
Other players returning for Day 2 include Lunique Petiote, Spring Series Mystery Bounty champion Nick Raio, Willard Cutler, Timothy Forsberg, Edward Mroczkowski, William Davis, and Travis Simpson.
All surviving players will return on Sunday for Day 2, but Saturday offers two more opportunities to get in on the action. Day 1d will kick off at 12 p.m. local time and play 13 30-minute levels. Day 1e will follow at 6:00 p.m. under the same format. Players will once again start with 20,000 chips and unlimited reentries are available until the beginning of Level 7 in each flight.
The payouts for the event will be based on unique entries, not total entries, and prize pool details are expected to be announced shortly after the close of registration on Day 1e.
Be sure to keep it with the PokerNews team all weekend long for live coverage from the floor at the opening event of the bestbet Jacksonville Summer Heater Poker Series.