Potawatomi Hotel & Casino

Day 1A of the MSPT Milwaukee Poker Open saw 136 entrants hit the felt in search of a Day 2 bag, and 16 of those players were able to secure the bag with 27:50 remaining in Level 15. Ed Rohloff of Weyauwega, Wisconsin was able to bag a hefty stack of 494,000 to claim the Day 1A chip lead. Rohloff already has one MSPT Final Table here at Potawatomi, finishing in fourth place in the Season 9 MSPT Wisconsin State Poker Championship in November for $48,440. He’ll be looking to climb a few notches higher for his first MSPT championship with a strong Day 2 stack.

Others to bag big include Ryan Housel (333,000), Altanulzh Onom (277,500), Jason Reno (215,500), and Joe McArthur (194,000). Other notables able to secure a Day 2 bag include Michael Wolff (134,000), Mike Rieck (101,000), and Season 9 MSPT POY and MSPT Hall of Famer Aaron Johnson (55,000).

Not everyone was fortunate enough to find a bag, and some of those unable to make it through to Day 2 include Season 7 MSPT Potawatomi champ Travis Lauson, Season 8 MSPT Potawatomi Regional champ Craig Trost, three-time MSPT champ Matt Kirby, 2017 MNPokerMag POY Todd Melander, two-time MSPT champ Jeremy Dresch, and former MSPT champs Mike Shin and John Sun. Likewise, a large contingent from the popular Madison Poker Community tried their hand at a bag, and Bryon Dopkins, Al Chiozzi, Derek Dimaggio, Shawn Quinn, David Grandin, and Season 9 MSPT Wisconsin State Poker Championship final tablist Larry Wagner all failed to find a bag.

Day 1B kicks off tomorrow at 3 PM, and Day 1C will begin at 3 PM on Saturday, April 6th, with all players making it to Day 2 returning on Sunday, April 7th at 11 AM to play down to a champion. Be sure to stay tuned to the MSPT Live Reporting blog as we bring you all the action right from the tournament floor!

With 27:50 remaining in Level 15, players reached the 12% threshold with 16 players remaining, ending play for the evening. Stay tuned for a full recap of all the days action, including end of day chip counts.

Edward Rohloff raised to 11,000 from under-the-gun. Joseph Rake called from the small blind and Matt Kirby defended the big blind.

All three players checked the flop.

When the came out on the turn, Rake bet 12,000 and both Kirby and Rohloff called.

Rake checked the river, Kirby bet 25,000, Rohloff called, and Rake anguished for thirty seconds before tossing in calling chips.

Kirby
Rohloff
Rake

Joseph Rake 160,000 (54 bb)

On Day 1b of February’s MSPT Canterbury Park, it was Level 11 (1,000/1,500/1,500) when Vic Peppe jammed for 24,100 from UTG+1 and a player in middle position called off his last 16,600. The hijack then called off his last 18,000 and action fell to Craig Trost in the cutoff. He jammed over the top for 30,300 total, chasing out the rest of the field.

Peppe: 7♥7♠
Trost: Q♦Q♣
Middle Position: K♣K♥
Hijack: A♥A♦

All four players held pocket pairs, but after the 3♠4♠8♠ flop, Peppe had the best chance at cracking the other three pairs with his flush draw. The 4♣ turn was a brick, but Peppe celebrated with a loud yell and a fist pump after the J♠ fell on the river, giving him a flush and a double knockout, while leaving Trost on fumes.

It seemed like a pretty straightforward hand, but we decided to consult poker pro Jonathan Little of PokerCoaching.com to get his take.

MSPT: What are your thoughts on Peppe’s jam UTG+1? Should he have considered a smaller raise instead?

Little: Middle pairs from early position always prove to be difficult to play when shallowstacked. If you go all in, everyone yet to act who has a premium hand will call, which is a bad result. If you min-raise with the intention of folding to someone else’s all in, you will often be folding a hand that has plenty of equity, which is not ideal. Folding is usually a bit too tight. In this situation, given many of the players yet to act had 10 big blinds or fewer, going all in is perfectly fine. If most of the players had 24,000 or more, min-raising or even folding may be ideal.

MSPT: If you were in Trost’s shoes what sort of things would be going through your mind? Would you ever consider folding the queens in this spot? Why or why not?

Little: Whenever there is an all in and a call, it is safe to assume the caller has something that is at least reasonable. When there is a second caller, you can be confident that player has a premium hand. So, how do queens fare against what should be a strong initial all in and two callers? It turns out it has right around 30% equity, assuming relatively tight, but not incredibly tight,
ranges. This is way more than the required 25% equity. It is also worth mentioning that Peppe, who has either the weakest or second-weakest range, has more chips than the other two players, so even if Trost lost to one of the callers but beat Peppe, he would still have 12,000 chips. While it is never fun to call off in this situation, it is likely the best play unless either of the callers is known to play incredibly tightly.

PokerCoaching.com is an interactive poker learning experience from two-time WPT Champion Jonathan Little. Try it for free at PokerCoaching.com/mspt.

Players are off on their final ten-minute break of the night. The 100 denomination chips will be raced off during this break, and at the completion of this break, registration for Day 1A of the MSPT Milwaukee Poker Open will come to a close. Two more starting flights remain on Friday and Saturday, both with a 3 PM start time.

As the table got balanced, Daniel Yaquinto, from Detroit, Michigan was seated in the big blind.

Joe McArthur in the cutoff raised to 5,000, Matt Kirby called from the small blind, and Yaquinto defended the big blind.

All three players checked the flop.

When the hit the turn, Yaquinto bet 4,000, McArthur raised to 20,000, Kirby quickly folded and Yaquinto moved all in.

McArthur asked for a count, the dealer broke down the stacks and told him, “106,600.” After thinking for a moment, McArthur released his hand.

Daniel Yaquinto - 140,000 (70 bb)
Joe McArthur - 220,000 (110 bb)

Michael Wolff raised to 4,000 from UTG+1, and was called by Voytek Glab on the button as well as the big blind.

Action checked through the flop, and the big blind bet 4,000 on the turn. Wolff called and Glab folded.

The big blind fired 5,000 on the river, and Wolff quickly called. The big blind flipped over for queens and tens, but Wolff had him outkicked with his .

Michael Wolff - 72,000 (36 bb)