The Venetian

Day 1A of the $1,100 buy-in, $650,000 GTD MSPT Poker Bowl III at The Venetian Las Vegas brought in a huge field of 355 entries, crushing the 268 entries from last year. After just over 14 levels of play, the field was whittled down to 41 players with Shannon Shorr and his stack of 527,500 in command.

Shorr has already carved a name in the lexicon of poker greats at the young age of 33, with over $6.6 million in live tournament earnings as reported by Hendon Mob, including a career best $960,690 for his win at the 2006 Bellagio Cup II Main Event.

More Day 1A big stacks include WPT champ Jordan Cristos (397,000), Dapreesch Scates (343,000), Jon “PearlJammed” Turner (335,000), Pedro Mendez (332,500), and Eric “Basebaldy” Baldwin (323,500).

Others to advance to Saturday’s Day 2 include former MSPT champ “DQ” Dan Hendrickson (292,500), last year’s Day 1A chip leader Dylan Thomassie (267,000), last year’s fifth-place finisher Mike Lang (162,000), MSPT phenom Ian Matakis (124,500), MSPT Hall of Famer Kou Vang (116,000), Eddy Sabat (93,000), Ryan Remington (92,500), and Danny Wong (88,000).

Among those to fire and fail to find a bag include WSOP Main Event champ Ryan Riess, all-time online tournament poker earnings leader Chris “Moorman1” Moorman, recent WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic champ Dylan Linde, WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown champ Justin Young, Ryan “Protentialmn” Laplante, WSOP Bracelet winner Jared Jaffee, former viral sensation William Hung, and Washington pro Matt Affleck.

Likewise, Season 9 MSPT POY Aaron Johnson as well as MSPT Poker Bowl II champ Kfir Nahum hit the rail, as did tour regulars Sammy Aweida, DJ Buckley, Sam DeSilva, Sherry Hammers, Reg Powell, Travis Sweet, Brian Berthiaume and Charles Workman.

All of those players, including newcomers such as Umut and Kanat Ozturk, will have the opportunity to try again during tomorrow’s Day 1B flight, which will kick off at 12:10 local time on Friday. Registration is open now, and late registration and re-entries will remain open through Level 9, which is roughly 6:50 pm.

Be sure to join us tomorrow as we bring you all the action straight from The Venetian tournament floor!

We’ve played down to our stopping point for the evening, and players are bagging and tagging for the night. Stay tuned for a recap of all the action.

“DQ” Dan Hendrickson found himself in a three-way pre-flop all-in.

One of his opponents was all-in for about 80,000 with and his other opponent was all in for about 69,000 with .

The former MSPT Canterbury Champ “DQ” had .

The flop ran out .

The turn brought the .

The river was the giving the pocket jacks a flush, but also giving Hendrickson the full house. Hendrickson scored the double KO.

Dan Hendrickson - 290,000 (96bb)

A player raised to 7,500 from the lojack, and Dylan Thomassie three-bet to 15,500 from the hijack. The lojack four-bet jammed for 103,000 effective, and Thomassie thought for a moment before plunking in a call.

Thomassie:
Opponent:

Thomassie fell well behind on the flop, and was left drawing to a ten on the turn. The river was gin for Thomassie, however, and he doubled up while leaving his opponent with just 20,000, which he lost a short time later.

Dylan Thomassie - 213,500 (71 bb)

WSOP Bracelet winner Barry Hutter raised to 6,000 from the lojack, and found a lone caller in Season 6 MSPT Canterbury Park champ Dan Hendrickson in the big blind.

Hendrickson led out for 6,000 on the flop, and Hutter made the call.

Both players checked the turn, and Hendrickson fired 17,000 on the river. Hutter grabbed the amount to call from his stack, thought for a moment, then tossed it in the pot. Hendrickson rolled over for trip jacks, and Hutter mucked.

Dan Hendrickson - 122,000 (41 bb)
Barry Hutter - 47,000 (16 bb)

A player limped in from the small blind, and Shannon Shorr, number 1 on the all-time Alabama earnings list on Hendon Mob, raised to 7,500 in the big blind. The small blind thought for a moment, then called.

Both players checked the flop, and the small blind checked the turn. Shorr bet 8,700, and the small blind immediately folded.

Shannon Shorr - 505,000 (210 bb)

On a flop, the MSPT Season 9 POY Aaron Johnson led out from the small blind for 9,500. His opponent on the button made the call.

The turn brought the , where Johnson shoved all-in for his remaining 10,400. His opponent called,

Johnson:
Opponent:

The river was the giving Johnson broadway.

The POY kept his Day 1A tournament hopes alive with that double.

Aaron Johnson - 42,000 (17 bb)

Players are off on their final fifteen-minute break of the night.