Potawatomi Hotel & Casino

Day 1B of the MSPT Milwaukee Poker open saw 226 entrants fire away in hopes of netting a Day 2 bag, and when the smoke had cleared, Bradley Jansen and his bag of 352,000 held the lead over the field. That stack is behind the 494,000 chips of Day 1A chip leader Ed Rohloff. Jansen, who final tabled this very event in Season 8, will be looking to improve on his seventh place finish at the final table and notch his seventh career MSPT Main Event cash.

Others to amass a large stack include Jeremy Brown (315,500), Tom Gabriel (299,000), Steven Lauson (271,000), and Eric Winkie (245,000). More notables making it to Day 2 include Michael Kamenjarin (210,000), Umut Ozturk (181,000), former MSPT champ Ben Wiora (162,000), Paul “Big Daddy” Elfelt (144,500), Alex “F’n” Winter (134,500), MSPT Poker Bowl III Champ Brian Wilson (120,000), David “The Maven” Gutfreund (67,500) and two-time MSPT champ Jeremy Dresch (54,500).

Not everyone managed to make it to bag ‘n tag, however, and some of those to fall short include MSPT Hall Of Famer Rich Alsup, three-time MSPT champ Matt Kirby, two-time MSPT champ Andy Rubinberg, former MSPT champs Rob Wazwaz, Mike Shin, John Sun, Joe Matheson, Ahmed Taleb, Keith Heine, Josh Reichard, Jason Ramos, Ken Komberec, Travis Lauson, and Sean Munjal, and Madison Poker Community stalwart Michael Hanson.

Players have one final flight to attempt to earn a Day 2 bag, and the action for Day 1C kicks off at 3 PM, with registration open through the break at Level 12 (approximately 11:40 PM). Players that earn a Day 2 bag will return on Sunday, April 7th at 11 AM to play down to a winner. Be sure to tune into to the live blog for all the action straight from the tournament floor!

Players will be playing three more hands before bagging and tagging for the night. Stay tuned for a full recap and chip counts.

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 on their last ten-minute break of the night. The 100 denomination chips will be raced off during this break. Registration for Day 1B of the MSPT Milwaukee Poker Open will close at the end of this break, with the final Day 1C flight commencing tomorrow at 3 PM.

Donnie Phan raised to 7,000 from UTG+1, and found four callers on the way to a flop. Action checked to Phan, and he ripped in his last 60,600. Umut Ozturk confirmed the amount on the button before calling, and everyone else folded.

Phan:
Ozturk:

Phan seemed shocked at Ozturk’s call, but Phan was still live with two overs and a straight draw. He bricked the turn, but jumped up and celebrated with a loud yell when the hit the river, giving him Broadway and the winner.

Donnie Phan - 160,000 (80 bb)
Umut Ozturk - 105,000 (52.5 bb)

Steve Anderson raised to 5,000 from middle position, and only Kyna England called, from the cutoff.

On the flop, Anderson continued for 7,000 and England made another call.

When the hit the turn, Anderson asked how much England had, she moved her stack into position, and he said, “let’s play for it all” putting out a stack of chips.

England went in the tank for a full two minutes before folding, Anderson showed the .

“That’s what I thought you had.” England said, ”That’s what I thought you had.”

Steve Anderson 130,000 (65 bb)

Matt Kirby raised to 4,500 from UTG, and George Aldrich called in the cutoff. Brian Wilson three-bet jammed for 77,600 in the small blind, and Kirby folded. Aldrich tanked for some time before eventually calling off.

Aldrich:
Wilson:

It was a big flip for the duo, and Aldrich held on the flop. The turn left Wilson looking for an ace or king to survive.

“Goddammit!” Aldrich said when the fell on the river, and he knocked his chips over in frustration. After counting down his stack, it was determined he had 75,300, eliminating him from the tournament.

“Good luck guys,” Aldrich said after confirming his bustout.

Brian Wilson - 160,000 (80 bb)
George Aldrich - Busted