The Venetian

Day 1A of the $1,100 buy-in, $500,000 GTD MSPT Poker Bowl II at The Venetian Las Vegas attracted 268 entries, up from 253 the year before. After 15 levels of play, the field was whittled down to 35 players with Dylan Thomassie and his stack of 324,000 leading the way.

Thomassie is no stranger to the MSPT. He has three cashes, two of which have come here at The Venetian. Back in 2014 during the MSPT’s first-ever visit to the venue, Thomassie finished in eighth place for $19,328. Last summer, he finished 191^st in what was the largest MSPT in history – and also the biggest tournament ever held at Venetian – for a more modest $3,208.

Rounding out the top five Day 1A big stacks are William James (322,500), Kevin O’Donnell (291,500), Matthias De Cercq (269,000), and Vincent Moscati (229,000)

Others to advance to Saturday’s Day 2 are MSPT Season 8 Grand Falls champ Ahmed Taleb (206,500), WPT champ Jordan Cristos (195,500), Jon “Pearljammer” Turner (168,500), Colin Lovelock (145,500), Kathy Liebert (130,000), Jerry Cunniff (120,500), Darren Rabinowitz (100,000), WSOP bracelet winners Ben Keeline (98,000) and Ryan Laplante (96,000), and MSPT Season 3 Running Aces champ Rodger Johnson (83,500).

Of course, not everyone was so lucky. Among those to try and fall on 1A were five-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner Allen Cunningham, former November Niner Joseph Cheong, last year’s runner-up Ankush Mandavia, and defending champ Jordan Young.

Likewise, former MSPT champs Dan “DQ” Hendrickson, Keith Heine, and Mike Shanahan all hit the rail, as did tour regulars Hank Mlekoday, Vlad Tkachuk, John Morgan, “Big” Al Hedin, Sammy Aweida, Loki Abboud, Griff Woodman, and Jeff Fielder.

The good news is that all of those players will have the opportunity to try again if they so choose as there’s still another flight to go. Day 1B will kick off at Noon local time on Friday (registration is open now. Late registration and re-entries will remain open through Level 9, which is roughly 7 p.m.

Be sure to join us tomorrow as we bring you all the actions and eliminations straight from The Venetian tournament floor.

The tournament staff just announced the remaining players will play five more hands before bagging and tagging on Day 1A. Stay tuned for a list of chip counts as well as a recap of the day’s action.

Darren Rabinowitz raised to 6,500 from early position and Wesley Harper three-bet to 15,000 from the hijack. Lokesh Garg cold-called from the cutoff, and after the button and blinds folded, Rabinowitz folded as well.

Harper jammed his last 16,900 on a flop, and after about thirty seconds in the tank, Garg made what looked to be a reluctant call.

Harper:
Garg:

“I almost folded!” Garg exclaimed, surprised that his opponent held just a gutshot.

Garg avoided a ten with a turn and river, and he busted a player and continues his climb up the chip counts as Day 1A comes to a close.

Lokesh Garg - 180,000 (60 bb)
Wesley Harper - Busted

Dylan Linde raised to 7,000 under the gun and Schuyler Thornton called one spot over. Jordan Cristos, who was next to act, called from the hijack and then Michael Foley three-bet all in for 29,900 from the small blind.

Linde folded, Thornton moved all in over the top, and Cristos got out of the way.

Thornton:
Foley:

Foley was in trouble and it got worse when the flop paired Thornton.The turn left Foley looking for a king and a king only on the river to survive, and wouldn’t you know it, he got it when the spiked.

Michael Foley - 85,000 (28 bb)

Colin Eric Lovelock raised to 7,400 from the button, and found one caller in Mike Harvey in the big blind.

Harvey chose to lead right out into Lovelock on the flop, betting 10,000. Lovelock was undeterred, raising to 21,500. Harvey thought for a bit, then made the call.

Harvey checked the turn over to Lovelock, who jammed his last 50,000 in the middle, which put Harvey in the tank.

“I’m going to want to rabbit hunt this one,” he said, before mucking face-up.

There’s no rabbit hunting in tournaments, but Lovelock did him one better, showing Harvey , meaning Harvey had Lovelock dead to three outs on the river. Harvey just grimaced upon seeing the hand, and Lovelock raked in the pot with a smirk on his face.

Mike Harvey - 210,000 (70 bb)
Colin Eric Lovelock - 115,000 (38 bb)

Three players each put in 12,000 preflop and saw a flop of .

Wisconsin’s Ken Gigstead checked from the under-the-gun position and Lokesh Garg did the same from the cutoff. MSPT Season 8 Grand Falls champ Ahmed Taleb then bet 12,000 from the button.

Gigstead folded and Garg hit the tank. “Aces again?” he asked before making the call.

Action then went check-check on the river.

Garg moved all in for 45,700 and Taleb snap-called.

“Full house,” Garg said before showing the .

“You got lucky,” Taleb told him before showing his for a flopped straight.

Ahmed Taleb - 175,000 (58 bb)
Lokesh Garg - 150,000 (50 bb)

Rodger Johnson raised to 6,000 from the cutoff, and was called by Charlie Nguyen on the button, before Drew Schulz three-bet shoved for 55,700. Charlie Workman tanked for a bit in the big blind before waking up with a four-bet shove for 140,000, which was enough to shake Johnson and Nguyen from the pot.

Schulz:
Workman:

Schulz’s squeeze ran into the ladies of Workman, and the flop brought no immediate help to Schulz. The gave Schulz eight new outs with an open-ended straight draw, but the river gave Schulz the winning hand with a set, propelling him up the leaderboards while knocking Workman from the six-figure plateau.

Drew Schulz - 125,000 (52 bb)
Charlie Workman - 90,000 (37.5 bb)

In the third episode of the LFG Podcast, Jamie Kerstetter and MSPT Media Director Chad Holloway catch up on the latest mid-tier tour news and chat with Kimo Sabe Mezcal MSPT Season 8 Player of the Year Chris Meyers. The Buffalo native absolutely killed it on the tour in 2017, which included final tabling the two biggest events ever held in the state of Michigan.

We didn’t see how the chips went in, but we do know that with around 20,000 in the pot and a flop of , Patrick Colceri got his stack of roughly 75,000 all in against William James.

James:
Colceri:

Colceri let it ride with the nut flush draw, but it cost him his tournament life after the blanked on the turn followed by the on the river.

William James - 255,000 (106 bb)
Patrick Colceri - Busted