Golden Gates Casino

Day 1b of the MSPT Golden Gates drew 183 entries to Black Hawk, Colorado, which along with Day 1’s 98 brought the total field up to 281 entrants. As such, the advertised $200,000 guarantee has been surpassed, and with $279,000 already in the prize pool and a whole other flight still to go, there’s no telling how big it could grow.

After 13 levels of play, 39 players had advanced to Day 2 with Jackson McAllister and his stack of 257,000 leading the way. That is a bit behind Day 1a chip leaders Scott Stewart and Bobby Garcia, who bagged 351,400 and 296,300 respectively.

Others to find a bag on Day 1b were MSPT Season 6 Golden Gates champ Kane Lai (243,200), 2016 MSPT Michigan State Poker Championship runner-up Cy Church (116,700), poker pro Josh Turner (101,500), WSOP Colossus II champ Ben Keeline (89,800), former MSPT Running Aces champ Mark Sandness (79,400), WSOP Milly Maker champ Adrian Buckley (51,000), and MSPT Pro Matt Alexander (43,500).

Day 1b wasn’t so kind to the likes of TJ Thupten, who currently sits third on the MSPT POY leaderboard; April’s MSPT Golden Gates runner-up Jason Vanstrom; former MSPT champs Phanora Prom and Rodger Johnson; and Al Giardina, who at the time worked at Canterbury Park when he gave a new tour a chance (Hint: it was us) way back in 2009.

At Noon local time on Saturday, the third and final starting fight of the tournament will kick off. We expect it to be the biggest flight yet, so be sure to join us then as we bring you all the action and eliminations straight from the floor of Golden Gates Casino in Black Hawk, Colorado.

The tournament staff just announced that the remaining players would play four more hands before bagging tonight. Stay tuned for a full list of chip counts along with a recap of the Day 1b action.

Adrian Buckley, who won the 2015 World Series of Poker Millionaire Maker for $1 million and a bracelet, got his last 24,000 all in preflop and

McAllister:
Buckley: Xx

Presumably, Buckley had shoved after looking at just the ace, and he asked if anyone cared is the card remained secret. Neither McAllister nor any other players objected, and the dealer ran out the board .

Buckley needed another ace in the hole to stay alive, but it wasn’t there as he flipped over the .

Jackson McAllister - 260,000
Adrian Buckley - Busted

Players are now on their last 10-minute break of the night. When they return they’ll play one more level before bagging and tagging for the night.

WSOP Colossus champ Ben Keeline raised to 3,800 under the gun only to be met by an all-in three-bet to 26,300 by Danny Gonzalez in middle position. Action folded back to Keeline and he called.

Keeline:
Gonzalez:

It was a flip, and Gonzalez was looking to hold to score a double. That’s just what happened as the board ran out .

Danny Gonzalez - 55,000
Ben Keeline - 22,000

Action folded to former MSPT champ Rodger Johnson on the button and he moved all in for roughly 20,000. The player in the small blind folded, but then Ali Aminian called from the big.

Aminian:
Johnson:

Johnson’s best shot of surviving was to catch an ace, but the flop actually improved Aminian to a set. The turn left Johnson drawing dead, and he headed for the exit as the dealer put out the on the river.

Ali Aminian - 145,000
Rodger Johnson - Busted