Potawatomi Casino

Day 1A of the latest MSPT Potawatomi – the eighth Main Event held here since 2014 – drew 312 runners to downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin. That set the record for largest opening flight in event history. After 14 levels of play, 55 players remained with Chicago’s James Casen and his stack of 416,500 leading the way.

Others to bag big stacks were Voytek Glad (335,000), Shiva Dudani (245,000), Michael Vanderwoude (233,000), and Steve Stolzmann (199,000), who round out the top five.

Joining them at the end of the night were Amanda Heidbrick (188,000), Kevin Saul (183,000), MSPT Majestic Star champ Ken Baime (168,500), WPT World Champ Keven Stammen (137,000), Minnesota’s Rob Wazwaz (136,000), HPT champ Aaron Johnson (128,500), Chip Leader Coaching member Michael Younan (95,000), Loki Abboud (68,500), 2016 MSPT Wisconsin State Poker Champion Andy Rubinberg (37,500), and Byron Ziebell (29,500).

Not everyone was so lucky. Among those to play and fall on Day 1A were Kimo Sabe Mezcal MSPT Season 8 Player of the Year Chris Meyers, Madison Poker Community’s Mike Hanson, World Poker Tour champ Ravi Raghavan, and two-time MSPT champs Jeremy Dresch and Blake Bohn. Likewise, Rich Alsup and Mark Hodge, who finished as the MSPT Seasons 7 and 6 Players of the Year, both hit the rail on Friday night.

Day 1B will kick off at 4 p.m. on Saturday. The $300K guarantee has already been surpassed, so now it’s just a matter of how big the prize pool will grow. Join us tomorrow as we bring you all the action straight from the floor of Potawatomi Casino & Hotel.

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

Andy Tran opened with a raise from early position and then called when Michael Moncek three-bet all in for roughly 50,000 a few spots over.

Tran:
Moncek:

The flop gave Moncek a wheel draw, but he came up empty when the blanked the turn followed by the on the river.

Andy Tran - 110,000 (46 bb)
Michael Moncek - Busted

Ken Kuclen got his stack of 43,000 all in preflop and found himself in dire straits against Bryan Skreens.

Skreens:
Kuclen:

Kuclen needed some help, but he didn’t get much on the aside from a runner-runner straight draw. The turn slammed that door shut by giving Skreens a set, and Kuclen watched helplessly as the meaningless was run out on the river.

Bryan Skreens - 115,000 (48 bb)
Ken Kuclen - Busted

If you played the MSPT in Season 8, you may have seen some players rocking Chip Leader Coaching (CLC), which is a training program geared toward multi-table tournaments (MTTs). Started in 2016 by World Series of Poker bracelet winners Chance Kornuth and John “KasinoKrime” Beauprez, students don’t pay unless they make money. That’s what makes CLC so unique.

CLC has grown to include six coaches including Nick Petrangelo, 2015 WSOP Main Event champ Joe McKeehen, Ryan Leng, Ryan Jones, and Ryan Laplante who oversee more than 40 students. MSPT champ and WSOP bracelet winner Nick Jivkov is also involved in the business side of CLC.

“They’re really mentors who are personally vested in their student’s progression as a player and are willing to connect them with the resources and guidance that drives consistent, long-lasting success in tournament poker,” Beauprez said in an interview with our media partner CardsChat. “Our philosophy is simple. We’re held accountable for the quality of our coaching because instead of asking for a monthly subscription, we take a small percentage of winnings.”

The percentage is 5 percent of gross cashes up to $400,000. Satellites aren’t included, and only tournaments that get listed on Hendon Mob qualify towards the contract, which is in effect until students hit $400K in winnings.

In exchange, students get a minimum of 20 hours of personal coaching from a CLC instructor, access to webinars and a video archive, and can participate in group lessons. All that said, not everyone can join. In fact, interested players must go through an application process.

“We seek players who work hard and put in volume,” Beuaprez explained. “When players apply, we even call other players from their hometown to see what kind of personality they have and if they have any bad habits. We only include devoted players who are good people to boot.”

In case you’re wondering if CLC works, just ask Nipun Java and William Foxen. The former won two WSOP bracelets in 2017 for $468,536, and the latter finished second in the World Poker Tour Five Diamond World Poker Classic for more than $1.1 million.

For more information visit CLCpoker.com

Amanda Heidbrick raised to 6,500 from middle position, and Blake Bohn, who had announced that he was shoving if anyone opened before the hand began, held true to his word and ripped his last 26,500 in the middle from the big blind, sending Heidbrick into the tank.

“You need a queen,” Bohn told Heidbrick. “I’ll bet you fifty cents you need a queen.”

Heidbrick flicked in calling chips soon after.

Heidbrick:
Bohn:

“See, I didn’t need a queen!” Heidbrick said.

The flop left Heidbrick looking for some help, but the turn actually gave her four additional outs to a straight. Sure enough, the hit the river, giving Heidbrick a Broadway straight and the winning hand.

“You needed the queen!” Rob WazWaz said, laughing, as the queen was essential for Heidbrick to bust Bohn. She tried to give Bohn the fifty cents that they wagered, but he refused it with a grin, taking his leave from the tournament area.

Amanda Heidbrick - 220,000 (110 bb)
Blake Bohn - Busted

A player in the cutoff limped, as did the button before Rollie Peterson raised to 12,000 from the small blind. The cutoff called and the button folded.

Peterson checked the flop over to the cutoff, who fired 12,000. Peterson called.

The hit the turn, and Peterson simply announced, “All in,” jamming for around 95,000, which had his opponent covered by a few thousand chips. He thought briefly, then flicked his hand away, shipping the pot to Peterson.

Rollie Peterson - 150,000 (75 bb)

With roughly 25,000 in the pot and a flop of , it looked as if James Casen checked from the big blind Craig Casino bet 15,500 from the cutoff. Casen responded by check-raising all in and Casino, who had around 75,000 back, thought long and hard before calling off.

Casen:
Casino:

Casen was ahead but Casino was drawing to two overs and a flush. Unfortunately for him, the bricked the turn followed by the on the river.

James Casen - 275,000 (138 bb)
Craig Casino - Busted