Feder Bags Big Chip Lead in Day 1a of bestbet Winter Open Main Event
After a fast-paced day of action that actually ended early, it’s Brett Feder of Jacksonville, FL leading the final 17 players from Day 1a of the $2,000 bestbet Winter Open Main Event with 650,000 chips, almost 200,000 more than his closest competition, Rodney Turvin.
Feder had a middling stack for a good portion of the day until a big hand in level 10 where he flopped a set of threes against Steven Ruighaver who held top pair, to double-up to over 200,000 chips.
From there, Feder would ascend to the chip lead, while Ruighaver would end up being the final elimination of the night with 13:12 left in level 14, leaving the final 17 players (12.5%) advancing to Day 2 on Sunday.
Maxwell Young also bagged a big stack of 444,000, thanks in part to a huge hand in level 13 that saw him hit a one-outer on the turn with pocket kings to eliminate a pair of players.
Day 1a Top Ten Chip Counts
| Place | Name | Hometown | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brett Feder | Jacksonville, FL | 650,000 |
| 2 | Rodney Turvin | Cairo, GA | 457,000 |
| 3 | Maxwell Young | Portland, OR | 444,000 |
| 4 | David Tuthill | St. Petersberg FL | 324,000 |
| 5 | Toby Boas | Slyva, NC | 316,000 |
| 6 | Matthew Johnson | Smyrna, TN | 285,000 |
| 7 | Talesh Patel | St. Augustine, FL | 213,000 |
| 8 | Russell Quick | Jacksonville, FL | 197,000 |
| 9 | Dane Cass | Booneville, NC | 191,000 |
| 10 | William Davis | Jacksonville, FL | 149,000 |
In total, 131 entries filled seats in the bestbet Jacksonville poker room throughout the day to start the prize pool with $232,525, with a big Day 1b field expected Saturday to boost that number significantly.
Among those that busted Friday and will have to return Saturday in hopes of finding a bag for Day 2 included two-time WSOP Circuit ring winner David Dibernardi, Michael Jagroo, who won the Lodge Spring Mayhem Main Event for over $250,000 last year, and local husband and wife duo of Kelley Slay and Kelly Slay.
Day 1b will start Saturday at noon local time with players starting with 30,000 chips for another 14 levels of play or again until 12.5% of the field remains.
PokerNews will be on site for that and all the action from the Winter Open Main Event until a champion is crowned Monday on the bestbet Jacksonville live stream.