Meskwaki Casino

Day 1B of the MSPT Meskwaki Main Event drew 228 runners, which along with 1A’s 194 brought the total field up to 423 entries. That means the top 45 players will get paid a minimum of $2,248 with the eventual winner taking home $89,939.

After 15 levels of play on Day 1B, Waye Terry bagged up the chip lead among the surviving 33 players with a stack of 478,500. That is well behind Day 1A chip leader Zac Campbell, who bagged an unprecedented 791,500.

Others to bag big were Matt Alexander (376,500), Ryan Phan (334,500), 2016 MSPT Iowa State Poker Champ John Sun (310,000), and Walter Gardner (206,500), who round out the top five.

They were joined by Ian Matakis (196,000), Craig Trost (178,000), MSPT Season 6 POY Mark Hodge (100,000), Nik Stone (91,000), and MSPT Season 9 Canterbury Park champ Rob Wazwaz (40,000).

Of course, not everyone was fortunate enough to survive. Among those to fall on Day 1B were 2018 MSPT Iowa State Poker Champ Brian Soja, WSOP bracelet winner John Reading, 2018 Canterbury Park Fall Poker Classic Main Event champ “3 Putts,” MSPT Hall of Famer Kou Vang, three-time MSPT champ Blake Bohn, Minnesota Poker Hall of Famer Tony Hartmann, and current MSPT Season 9 Player of the Year points leader Aaron Johnson.

Day 2 will get underway at 11 a.m. local time on Sunday with 61 players (28 from 1A, 33 from 1B) returning to action. You can follow the updates here until a winner is crowned. Additionally, the final table will be live streamed worldwide with hole cards.

The tournament staff just announced the remaining players will play two more hands before bagging and tagging on Day 1B. Stay tuned for a list of chip counts as well as a recap of the day’s action.

With roughly 20,000 in the pot and a flop of , John Joachim checked from the small blind and then called when Tim Isenberg moved all in for 17,900 from the cutoff.

Joachim:
Isenberg:

Isenberg was ahead with a pair but Joachim had an up-and-down straight draw.

Neither the turn nor river changed a thing and Isenberg shipped the double.

Tim Isenberg - 60,000 (25 bb)
John Joachim - 145,000 (60 bb)

The player in the hijack opened for 7,000 only to have Michael Visser (pictured left) move all in for 70,100. Ryan Phan (right) then moved all in over the top from the big blind and the hijack folded.

Phan:
Visser:

It was a classic flip and Visser was looking to hold to double big. He held through both the flop and turn, but then disaster struck when the spiked on the river to give Phan the best hand.

Ryan Phan - 165,000 (69 bb)
Michael Visser - Busted

The MSPT is not only here at Iowa’s Meskwaki Casino this weekend, but we’re also in Black Hawk, Colorado for a $360 buy-in Regional Event, which you can follow on both our Facebook and Twitter accounts.

We’ll stay in Colorado too as next weekend is the $1,100 buy-in Denver Poker Open Main Event featuring a $300K GTD.

Click here for hotel rates as little as $69.99/night.

The MSPT Denver Poker Open will feature three starting flights beginning with Day 1A at Noon local time on Thursday, November 8. Days 1B and 1C will then be held at the same time on Friday, November 9 and Saturday, November 10 respectively. The remaining players from each flight will combine on Sunday, November 11 at 11:00 a.m. and play until a champion is
crowned.

The final table will be broadcast LIVE (15-minute delay) worldwide on msptpoker.com using RFID technology allowing all viewers to see the hole cards. In addition, the entire Main Event will be live reported in the MSPT live blog.

Back in April, the MSPT Golden Gates Main Event – the ninth ever held at the venue – drew 469 runners and saw Max Young steamroll the final table to win $97,810. Before that in November 2017, Jason Beasley topped a field of 413 entries to win the Denver Poker Open for $88,134.

Ian Matakis raised from MP to 4,500 and Vic Peppe elected to smooth call from the CO.

Current MSPT POY leader Aaron Johnson quickly moved all in from the SB for 38,000.

Ian made the snap call and Peppe’s cards hit the muck seconds later.

Johnson flipped over the and was up against the of Matakis.

Matakis flopped the world with a giving him an up-and-down straight draw to go with his two live outs to the set of tens.

The turn was a brick , but the river brought a perfect knocking out Johnson and scooping a big pot for Matakis!

Ian Matakis - 120,000 (60 bb)
Aaron Johnson - Busted

With around 40,000 in the pot and a flop of , Wisconsin’s Paul “Big Daddy” Elfelt got his last 48,000 all in against Frank Cerminara Sr.

Cerminara:
Elfelt:

Elfelt was way behind and seemed resigned to his fate after the was put out on the turn.

However, lady luck smiled upon him as the spiked on the river to give him jacks full!

A disappointed Cerminara was left with 45,000 after the hand but went bust a short time later.

Paul Elfelt - 140,000 (70 bb)
Frank Cerminara Sr. - Busted