Golden Gates Casino

The third and final flight of the 2018 MSPT Denver Poker Open $1,100 Main Event drew 196 runners, which along with 1A’s 78 and 1B’s 109 brought the total field up to 383 entries.

After nearly 15 levels of play, just 29 players remained with Matt Livingston and his stack of 295,000 leading the way. That lags behind both Day 1B chip leader Tye Rogers (350,500) and 1A leader Bobby Opila (330,500).

Others to bag included WSOP bracelet winner Ben Keeline (239,500), MSPT Season 6 Golden Gates Regional Event winner Bobby Sanoubane (157,500), Nebraska farmer Phil Mader (132,000), Sammy Aweida (106,500), and Minnesota’s Kanat Ozturk (40,500).

Of course, not everyone was fortunate enough to make it through the night. Among those to try and fall were MSPT Hall of Famer Kou Vang, World Series of Poker bracelet winners Mitch Schock and Chris Tryba, “Money” Mike Maruna, poker pro Tim West, Rich Dixon, Nader Wahdan, and MSPT Season 5 Golden Gates champ Reza Yazdi.

On Sunday, 57 players (10 from 1A, 18 from 1B, and 29 from 1C) will return to action at 11 a.m. and play down to a winner.

The entirety of the Main Event will be live reported here in the blog, while the final table action will also be live streamed worldwide on a 15-minute delay with hole cards. Bryan Mileski and Ben Valder will be providing commentary for the final table action.

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 as well as a recap of the day’s action.

We missed the chips go in preflop but we do know Matt Livingston and another player, who was all in for roughly 50K, were racing.

Livingston:
Opponent:

Livingston was ahead and held as the board ran out .

Matt Livingston - 270,000 (90 bb)

A player raised to 8,500 from the hijack, and Nils Bardsley three-bet to 22,000 on the button. Action folded to the hijack, who wasted little time in making the call.

The hijack checked a flop over to Bardsley, who bet 23,000. The hijack didn’t take long to fold, and Bardsley took down the pot and continued his journey to a second consecutive Denver Poker Open final table.

Nils Bardsley - 120,000 (50 bb)

A player in early position moved all in for 41,000 and action folded around to Dino Aragon, who jammed for just a bit more out of the small blind.

Aragon:
Opponent:

Aagon woke up with pocket rockets at just the right time and was awarded the pot after the board ran out .

Dino Aragon - 105,000 (44 bb)

Greg Geller jammed his last 50,000 in from the cutoff, and Ben Keeline called in the big blind.

Geller:
Keeline:

Geller was already standing up after the flop was bare for his ace-ten, and he hit the rail after the turn and river kept Keeline’s kings in front.

Ben Keeline - 250,000 (104 bb)
Greg Geller - Busted

A player on the button ripped his last 37,400 in, and after confirming the amount, Bryan Johnson peeked at one card.

“Oh, first one’s good!” Johnson said. He then looked at the second one and called.

Johnson:
Opponent:

Johnson took a hammerlock on the hand when he found a pair on the flop, and he scored the KO after the turn and river.

Bryan Johnson - 240,000 (100 bb)

Dan Cutter of Highlands Ranch, Colorado moved all in for 38,000 under the gun and Kay Coulson called off for around 12,000 in middle position. The rest of the players folded and it was off to the races.

Coulson:
Cutter:

Coulson was looking to improve to stay alive, but that proved easier said than done as the board ran out an unhelpful .

Dan Cutter - 55,000 (27.5 bb)
Kay Coulson - Busted

Kanat Ozturk raised to 6,000 from the button and was called by Ben Keeline in the big blind.

Keeline checked a flop over to Ozturk, who fired 8,000. Keeline called.

The was checked by Keeline, and Ozturk bet 9,000. Keeline called again.

Both players checked the river, and Keeline tabled for a pair of fives. Ozturk mucked.

Ben Keeline - 180,000 (90 bb)
Kanat Ozturk - 85,000 (43 bb)