Jon Turner Leads in WSOP 2011 $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em Event

Jon ‘PearlJammer’ Turner leads the $1,000 no-limit Hold’em event after day two following a big call at the World Series of Poker (WSOP) in Las Vegas.

Turner – who lives in the Nevada city – sits on 749,000 chips following the exit of 4,118 players to leave just 60 remaining in the Amazon Room.

Not too far behind, after 563 players exited on day two, are Kyle Speake, from Kansas, on 573,000 and Texan Hunter Frey (535,000), while some other big names still remain in with a shout, including Ana Marquez, Valerie Cross, Jordan Young, John Eames, Albert Kim, Jonathan Duhamel and Young Phan.

Turner was back in the bunch until close to the end of play, when he secured a good-sized pot to take the chip lead on 613,000. Of course, he added another 136,000 chips before the day was out, but it was the following hand that moved him top.

With a flop showing 2s-3d-2c, Turner check-called a bet. The turn was Qh and once again Turner check-called a 20,500 bet from a single opponent.

Then came the Kh on the turn and Turner’s adversary bet 60,500, before Turner – who made a quick chip count calculation – called.

His opponent was impressed, saying: “You’re good”, before showing A-8 for an ace high. However, Turner showed 10s-10c to take the pot down and move into the chip lead, which he increased before play was halted.

It was all action on day two as bust-outs arrived at regular intervals, with poor Nick Gibson the unfortunate bubble boy as 423 players made the money.

Some well-known faces exited well down the money last night, including Darryll Fish in 93rd and Layne Flack in 95th for $3,873, while Michael Pesek (294th) left with $2,143, and Sam Barnhart (385th) and Jason Koon (412th) took $1,880 each.

Leading chip counts in the WSOP 2011 $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em event:

1. Jon Turner (USA) – 749,000
2. Kyle Speake (USA) – 573,000
3. Hunter Frey (USA) – 535,000
4. Sadan Turker (UK) – 487,000
5. Brandon Shane (USA) – 482,000
6. Christopher Goggin (USA) – 464,000
7. Young Ji (USA) – 425,000
8. Daniel Haglund (Sweden) – 301,000
9. Valerie Cross (USA) – 297,000
10. Min Ku (USA) – 275,000