FireKeepers Casino

Day 1A of the MSPT FireKeepers Casino in Battle Creek, Michigan attracted 285 runners. That made it the largest 1A flight in the tour’s 11 visits to the property and puts the field on pace to once again eclipse a seven-figure prize pool with two starting flights still to go.

After 16 levels of play, just 34 players remained with Steven Williams and his stack of 426,000 leading the way. Williams has made two deep runs in past MSPT FireKeepers Main Events. Back in Season 5, he took 30^th for $2,500, and the following year he finished 17th for $4,055. He’ll look to improve on those deep runs come Sunday.

Others to bag big stacks were WPT champ Kevin Saul (388,000), Jeffery Castle (376,500), Tony Pena (311,500), and MSPT Season 4 Player of the Year Pat Steele (251,500), who round out the top five.

They will be joined on Sunday by the likes of Chris Blik (190,500), two-time MSPT champ Blake Bohn (166,000), MSPT Season 8 Meskwaki runner-up Victor Hoffman (151,000), Mark Ader (89,000), and Martin Dubois (47,500).

Of course, not everyone was fortunate enough to find a bag. Among those to hit the rail were poker pro Kenna James, World Poker Tour champ Ravi Raghavan, current MSPT POY points leader Aaron Johnson, Kimo Sabe Mezcal MSPT Season 8 Player of the Year Chris Meyers, and former MSPT champs Ryan Dykhouse, Kou Vang, Jeremy Dresch, and Nathan Trenkamp.

Registration is now open for Day 1B, which will begin at Noon local time on Friday. It’s going to be busy, so we encourage players to register early.

The tournament staff just announced the remaining players will play four 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.

Xiaofei Wen moved all in for 34,000 from the cutoff and Hassan Fawaz called from the big blind after looking down at the granddaddy of all hands.

Fawaz:
Wen:

The flop gave Wen a little help, but he needed more to stay alive. The turn gave him a gutshot draw, but he missed when the bricked the river.

Hassan Fawaz - 110,000 (28 bb)
Xiaofei Wen - Busted

Mark Ader got his stack of roughly 31,000 all in preflop and was at risk against Michael Bates.

Bates:
Ader:

Ader was primed to double, especially when the flop gave him a set. The turn kept Bates drawing live to a straight, but he missed when the blanked on the river.

Mark Ader - 64,000 (16 bb)
Michael Bates - 28,000 (7 bb)

Kevin Saul raised to 6,500 from the cutoff, and was called by Charles Baryames in the small blind and Tony Pena in the big blind.

All three players checked a flop, and Baryames bet 12,500 on a turn. Pena called, and Saul got out of the way.

Baryames fired 26,000 on the river, and Pena thought briefly, then called.

“Good call,” Baryames said, and Pena tabled for a pair of eights, prompting Baryames to muck.

Tony Pena - 330,000 (110 bb)
Charles Baryames - 120,000 (40 bb)

Blake Bohn raised to 7,000 from UTG+1, and Todd Sladek three-bet to 17,000 from the lojack.

“You have it, eh? I appreciate you telling me you have it. Maybe a king will come.” Bohn said before flicking in a call.

Action checked to the river on a board, with Bohn verbally checking dark before the river. Sladek bet 35,000, and Bohn didn’t take long to release his hand.

Todd Sladek - 275,000 (92 bb)
Blake Bohn - 180,000 (60 bb)

Charlie Sizemore moved all in for 33,500 from the hijack and Tony Pena called from the button. Both blinds folded and the hands were turned up.

Pena:
Sizemore:

Sizemore needed to get lucky but that didn’t happen as the board ran out to give Pena the win.

Tony Pena - 200,000 (67 bb)
Charlie Sizemore - Busted