Potawatomi Casino

Day 1b of the MSPT Potawatomi attracted 327 runners, which means along with Day 1a’s 269 the total field stands at 596 entries. That makes this the second-largest major poker tournament ($1,000+ buy-in) in Wisconsin history only behind the MSPT Potawatomi in Spring 2015, which drew 635 entrants.

The total prize pool of $596,000 -- well ahead of the advertised $200K GTD -- will be distributed to the top 54 players. A min-cash will be worth $2,306 while the eventual winner will walk away with $138,385.

The player best positioned to make a run at it is Jill Bryant, who led the 62 surviving Day 1b players with 371,000. That is quite a bit ahead of Day 1a chip leader Songjie Zhou, who bagged 283,000.

Others who advanced from Day 1b were Alex Aqel (352,500), Eric Maier (206,500), two-time MSPT champ Jeremy Dresch (199,500), poker author Jim McManus (174,000), Rob Wazwaz (114,500), 2016 MSPT Iowa State Poker champ John Sun (98,500), former MSPT champs Dan “DQ” Hendrickson (86,000), Andy Rubinberg (78,000), and Rodger Johnson (75,000).

Of course not everyone was fortunate enough to make it through the Day 1b field. Among those to try and fall were three-time MSPT champ and current Season 7 Player of the Year leader Carl Carodenuto, MSPT Pro Blake Bohn, “To Hell w/ Howard’s” Howard Hankin, and former MSPT Potawatomi champs Jason Mirza, Dan Goepel, and Travis Lauson.

On Sunday at 11 a.m. local time, the 62 surviving Day 1b players will join the 49 from Day 1a to play down through the money on the way to crowing a champion. We’ll be here to bring you all the action, so be sure to join us then.

We missed the elimination of MSPT FireKeepers champ Aaron Massey, but he informed us that he fell in the third to last hand of the night when he got his stack al in preflop holding against an opponent with .

A on the turn put Massey on the ropes, but he did pick up a club flush draw. Unfortunately for him, the river was a brick and he fell just short of advancing to Day 2.

Aaron Massey - Busted

The tournament staff just announced the remaining players will play four more hands before bagging and tagging for the night. Stay tuned for Day 1b chip counts, a full recap, and the Day 2 seat draw.

On a flop, MSPT Pro and two-time tour champ Blake Bohn got his stack of approximately 80,000 all in and found himself at risk against poker author Jim McManus (pictured), who barely had him covered.

McManus:
Bohn:

Bohn had a kicker problem, but it got resolved when a spiked on the turn.

Unfortunately for him, his lead was short lived as a spiked on the river to give McManus a bigger two pair.

Jim McManus - 170,000
Blake Bohn - Busted

A short-stacked Chris Roth moved all in for 10,900 from late position and the player in the small blind called. Kirby Rogers then moved all in over the top for roughly 100,000 and the small blind folded.

Rogers:
Roth:

Roth was way out in front, but not after the flop paired Rogers. That said, Roth did pick up a diamond draw, and while the turn was a blank, the river was not. Roth spiked a diamond and stayed alive in the MSPT Potawatomi Main Event.

Kirby Rogers - 90,000
Chris Roth - 30,000

A short-stacked Rick Syverud got his last 18,000 all in preflop and found himself in a bad spot against Potawatomi regular John Sun, who currently sits third on the MSPT Season 7 Player of the Year leaderboard.

Sun:
Syverud:

The flop left Syverud drawing to running sixes, and that long shot disappeared when the turn delivered Sun quads. The meaningless was run out on the river and Sun was pushed the pot.

“At least I lost to quads,” Syverud joked before making his way to the exit.

Rick Syverud - Busted

Earlier this year, Potawatomi Hotel & Casino’s poker room, headed by Poker Room Manager Jeff Gemini, lauched a dedicated Twitter account, @paysbigpoker.

In addition to tweeting about the MSPT this weekend, the room will also be tweeting Bad Beat Jackpot updates, poker room promotions, and more.

We recommend you give them a follow by clicking here.

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