The 2018 MSPT Poker Bowl II at The Venetian attracted 827 entries (268 on 1A, 559 on 1B) – up from last year’s 695 entries – which blew by the advertised $500K guarantee by creating an $806,325 prize pool. That will be paid to the top 90 players with a min-cash being worth $2,096 and first $157,234.
After 15 levels of play on Day 1B, 80 players bagged and tagged with Valentin Vornicu and his stack of 633,500 leading the way. That is way ahead of Day 1A chip leader Dylan Thomassie, who advanced with 324,000.
Vornicu is seeking his first MSPT cash on his already impressive résumé. You see, Vornicu is currently tied with Maurice Hawkins for most gold rings (10) on the World Series of Poker Circuit. All told, Vornicu has won over $1 million playing tournament poker, which includes a career-high $269,430 for finishing 23rd in the 2016 WSOP Main Event.
Rounding out the top five big stacks from the 1B flight are Wilson Chan (402,500), MSPT regular Mike Lang (353,500), former November Niner Joseph Cheong (349,500), and WSOP bracelet winner Eric Baldwin (305,500).
Others to advance to Saturday’s Day 2 are Sal Dicarlo (304,000), WPT & WSOP champ Scott Clements (165,000), WSOP bracelet winners Leo Wolpert (161,000) and Anthony Spinella (160,500), Maury Solano (145,500), 2017 MN Magazine Player of the Year Todd Melander (122,000), and Jeff Fielder (97,000).
Of course, not everyone was so lucky. Among those to try and fall on 1B were former MSPT champs Andy Rubinberg, Keith Heine, Jon Kim, Jason Seitz, Mike Shanahan, and Bobby Sanoubane. Likewise, defending champ Jordan Young fell today when he ran ace-queen smack dab into the ace-king of Tony Ruberto.
Day 2, which will see 115 players return to action (35 from 1A, 80 from 1B) will get underway at 11 a.m. local time on Saturday and play down to a winner.
Be sure to join us tomorrow as we bring you all the actions and eliminations straight from The Venetian tournament floor.