The Venetian

Day 1A of the Mid-States Poker Tour’s inaugural $1,100 Poker Bowl at The Venetian in Las Vegas drew 253 entrants, which puts the tournament on pace to double the advertised $300,000 guarantee.

After 14 levels of play, the field was whittled down to 36 survivors with Mark Darer and his stack of 257,000 leading the way. Darner, who barely edged out Tony Utnage (255,000) for the lead, is a well-known poker grinder who has amassed $865,828 in tournament earnings dating back to 2011. That includes a lone MSPT cash – 282^nd in the MSPT Venetian last summer for $2,546.

Others who bagged and tagged were Darren Rabinowitz (170,500), WPT Five Diamond champ James Romero (137,000), MSPT Season 2 Running Aces champ Jason Seitz (129,000), MSPT Season 7 Meskwaki champ Ken Komberec (61,500), and three-time bracelet winner Dutch Boyd (13,500).

Among the throng of players to falls on Day 1A were World Series of Poker bracelet winners Ryan Laplante, Eric Baldwin, and Kathy Liebert, 2010 WSOP Main Event third-place finisher Joseph Cheong, World Poker Tour champs Jordan Cristos and Craig Varnell, and former MSPT champs Rodger Johnson, Joe Matheson, and John Sun.

All of those players and more will have the chance to fire on Day 1B, which will kick off at Noon local time on Friday. Among those who traveled from the Midwest to play in tomorrow’s flight are MSPT Canterbury Park champ Jonathan Kim, MSPT Running Aces runner-up Vic Peppe, and tour regular Mike Holm.

Be sure to check back tomorrow as we bring you all the latest and greatest from the 2017 Poker Bowl straight from the tournament floor at The Venetian!

The tournament staff just announced the remaining players will play eight more hands before bagging and tagging for the night. Stay tuned for a list of survivors with chips counts, as well as a full recap of the Day 1A action.

Alan Snow of Lynnwood, Washington got his last 30,000 or so all in preflop and found himself at risk against Jeff Tanouye.

Snow:
Tanouye:

Snow was looking to dodge an ace, clubs, or some other such nonsense, and he did as the board ran out a lackluster .

Alan Snow - 65,000

Jordan Young got his last 35,000 all in preflop and found himself racing for his tournament life.

Young:
Opponent:

Young needed to hold, and that’s exactly what he did after the board ran out .

Jordan Young - 75,000

Mark Darner -250,000
Tony Utnage - 150,000
Heinz Kleissner - 150,000
Derrick Mokedi - 140,000
Jared Hamby - 65,000
Steve Chanthabouasy - 55,000
Jefferson Lasecki - 50,000
Ken Komberec - 30,000
Anthony Wynn - 25,000
Tim West - Busted

Back in December, James Romero took down the 2016 Five Diamond World Poker Classic at the Bellagio for $1,938,118. Today, he’s in action looking to claim the MSPT Poker Bowl title.

In a recent hand, with the board reading , the player in the big blind jammed for 31,300 and Romero called from under the gun.

Romero:
Opponent:

Romero had the better pair, and it held after the was run out on the river.

James Romero - 169,000

Jefferson Lasecki bet 4,500 on a flop. Darren Rabinowitz called and both players checedk the on the turn.

When the dealer put out the on the river, Lasecki bet 10,000.

Rabinowitz stared at Lasecki for over a minute before releasing his hand.

Jefferson Lasecki - 60,000

Darren Rabinowitz - 161,000