Potawatomi Hotel & Casino

Day 1C of the 2018 MSPT Wisconsin State Poker Championship attracted 323 runners to Potawatomi’s Hotel & Casino, which along with 1A’s 156 and 1B’s 269 brought the total field up to 748 entries. That surpassed the 701 entries from the 2017 MSPT Wisconsin State Poker Championship to become the largest major poker tournament ($1K+ buy-in) in state history

After 15 levels of play, just 50 players remained with World Poker Tour champ Ravi Raghavan and his stack of 340,000 leading the way. That is between Byron Ziebell (355,000) and James McArthur (274,500), who were the Day 1B and 1A chip leaders respectively.

Others to bag big stacks John “Farmboy” Kurfman (285,000), William Koenig (264,000), Alin Cotolan (244,500), and Bill Brudenell (234,500), who round out the top five.

They were joined by Paul “Big Daddy” Elfelt (187,000), MSPT Season 5 Ho-Chunk champ Jason Sell (164,500), Gary Herstein (135,000), MSPT Season 7 Potawatomi champ Alex Aqel (133,000), Shiva Dudani (102,000), Sammy Aweida (82,500), and WPT champ Keven Stammen (62,500).

Among those to try their luck on 1C but come up short were defending champ Richard Bai, MSPT Season 6 POY Mark Hodge, MSPT Hall of Famer Kou Vang, Larry Ormson, 2016 MSPT Wisconsin State Poker Champ Andy Rubinberg, #MSPT100 champ Jason Ramos, Mark “P0ker H0” Kroon, and brothers Kanat & Umut Ozturk.

Tomorrow, 114 players (26 from 1A, 38 from 1B, 50 from 1C) will return for Day 2 action at 11 a.m. to play down to a winner.

The tournament staff just announced the remaining players will play three more hands before bagging and tagging on Day 1C. Stay tuned for a list of chip counts, a recap of the day’s action, and the Day 2 seat draw.

Mike Kamenjarin moved all in for 55,600 from early position and Parmod Soni isolated by jamming over the top from middle position. Everyone else folded and Kamenjarin discovered the bad news.

Soni:
Kamenjarin:

“I’m due for a suck out,” Kamenjarin said optimistically. The flop then fell . “Except when there’s a king in the window,” Kamenjarin added.

He then got out of his chair as the dealer burned and turned the , which gave him a gutshot draw to Broadway. Unfortunately for Kamenjarin, the river was a brick and he hit the rail.

Parmod Soni - 180,000 (60 bb)
Mike Kamenjarin - Busted

James Ruszkiewicz got his stack of 53,000 all in preflop and was way behind Travis Sweet.

Sweet:
Ruszkiewicz:

Ruszkiewicz was in trouble but got lucky when the flop paired his queen to give him the lead.

The turn gave him a flush draw to boot, and he got the Sweet double when the completed the board on the river.

James Ruszkiewicz - 110,000 (46 bb)
Travis Sweet - 110,000 (46 bb)

Kamran Jamal (pictured right) got his stack of 82,200 all in preflop and was flipping for his tournament life against Daniel Stickel (left).

Stickel:
Jamal:

The flop gave Stickel a set but disaster struck when the spiked on the turn to give Jamal a straight.

The river failed to pair the board and a disappointed Stickel sent almost all of his chips to his neighbor on the left.

Kamran Jamal - 170,000 (71 bb)
Daniel Stickel - 13,000 (5 bb)

The 2018 MSPT Wisconsin State Poker Championship drew 748 entries. That surpassed the 701 entries from the 2017 MSPT Wisconsin State Poker Championship to become the largest major poker tournament ($1K+ buy-in) in state history.

Top 81 will get paid a minimum of $2,027 while the eventual winner will walk away with $144,812.

Leon Morford limped from early position and a player in middle position popped it to 14,000. The cutoff called, Morford came along, and the trio saw a flop of .

Two checks saw the cutoff bet 18,000 and only Morford called to see the turn.

Morford turned right around and moved all in for 26,500 and the cutoff thought for a bit before making the call.

Morford:
Cutoff:

Morford had flopped the nuts and held when the bricked on the river.

Leon Morford – 140,000 (58 bb)

Heidi Dresbach got her last 25,000 or so all in preflop and was in dire straits against local hero Paul “Big Daddy” Elfelt.

Elfelt:
Dresbach:

Dresbach had a kicker problem and it didn’t get resolved as the board ran out .

Paul Elfelt - 125,000 (62.5 bb)
Heidi Dresbach - Busted