Canterbury Park

Day 1B of the latest MSPT Canterbury Park attracted 165 runners, which along with the 112 from 1A brought the total field up to 277 entries with Day 1C still to go.

By the end of the night, just 22 remained with Kanat Ozturk and his stack of 393,000 leading the way. That is ahead of MSPT Season 7 Player of the Year Rich Alsup, who led the Day 1A flight with 320,500 in chips.

Other big stacks were MSPT Hall of Famer Kou Vang (383,500), 2017 MN Poker Mag POY Todd Melander (224,000), MSPT Season 7 Canterbury Park champ Jon Kim (217,500), and Tyree Johnson (216,500), who round out the top five.

Thus far 36 players (14 from 1A, 22 1B) have punched their ticket to Sunday’s Day 2. From 1B, they included three-time MSPT champ Carl Carodenuto (196,000), MSPT champ Mark Sandness (162,000), MSPT Season 7 Meskwaki champ Keith Heine (125,000), MSPT Season 9 Canterbury Park Regional Event winner Saad Ghanem (123,000), and George Sanford (33,500).

Among those to try and fall on Day 1B were WSOP bracelet winner John Reading, four-time WSOP Circuit ring winner Mark Fink, two-time MSPT champs Ben Marsh and Jeremy Dresch, and current Kimo Sabe Mezcal MSPT Season 9 POY points leader Aaron Johnson.

Just one more flight remains for the MSPT Canterbury Park. Day 1C will get underway at Noon local time on Saturday. Late registration will remain open until 9:10 p.m. The surviving players from all flights will then return at 11 a.m. on Sunday to play down to a winner.

Also, on Saturday there will be a final $250 TURBO satellite at 9:00 a.m. That satty features 15-minute levels with 20% advancing to the Main Event.

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

Two-time MSPT champ Ben Marsh raised to 7,000 from the cutoff and three-time champ Carl Carodenuto three-bet to 17,000. Action folded back to Marsh and he jammed for roughly 55,000. Carodenuto snap-called.

Carodenuto:
Marsh:

Carodenuto had the better pocket par and it held as the board ran out .

Carl Carodenuto - 175,000 (58 bb)
Ben Marsh - Busted

Mark Sandness raised to 7,500, then called the three-bet shove for 21,000 from Rajesh Mehta in middle position.

Sandness:
Mehta:

Sandness ended up with a full house on a board and sent Mehta packing.

Mark Sandness - 150,000 (50 bb)
Rajesh Mehta - Busted

Cody Espeseth (pictured, left) raised to 5,500 from the button, and Mark Sandness (pictured, right) three-bet to 18,200 from the small blind. Espeseth called.

Action checked through the flop, and Sandness bet 12,000 on the turn. Espeseth raised to 30,000 and Sandness called.

Sandness checked the river, and Espeseth gathered up a bet of 35,000 and slid it in the middle, which Sandness snap-called.

Espeseth tabled for fours-full and Sandness mucked.

Cody Espeseth - 240,000 (100 bb)
Mark Sandness - 70,000 (29 bb)

Steve Shanks raised to 7,500 from middle position and the player in the cutoff called. Cody Espeseth then three-bet to 26,000 from the button, both blinds folded, and Shanks four-bet jammed for 58,500.

The cutoff folded and Espeseth made a quick call.

Espeseth:
Shanks:

It was a flip and Shanks was looking to hold to stay alive. He did just that as the board ran out . With that, Shanks gave a fist pump and stacked the pot.

Steve Shanks - 120,000 (50 bb)
Cody Espeseth - 115,000 (48 bb)

Kou Vang raised to 5,200 from the cutoff, and was called by George Shabatura on the button.

Vang led out for 6,800 on the flop, and Shabatura immediately raised to 25,000, leaving himself 25,000 behind. Vang didn’t take long to fold his face-up, and Shabatura took down the pot.

Kou Vang - 225,000 (94 bb)
George Shabatura - 75,000 (31 bb)

Rodney Colson ripped his last 31,400 from middle position, and Jon Kim three-bet shoved for 80,000 to isolate, folding out the rest of the field.

Colson:
Kim:

Both players paired their kickers on a flop, meaning Colson was reduced to two outs to survive and continue the comeback. The turn and river were no help, however, and Colson made his exit.

Jon Kim - 120,000 (50 bb)
Rodney Colson - Busted