Potawatomi Hotel & Casino

The final flight of the MSPT Milwaukee Poker Open brought 263 players to the felt, bringing the total number of entrants to 625 for this weekend’s Main Event. When the dust settled, it was Ken Daciolas of Chicago, Illinois bagging a whopping 542,000 chips, taking the overall chip lead into tomorrow’s Day 2.

Others bagging big include Darryl Ronconi (441,500), Jordan Miller (350,500), MSPT champ Joe Matheson (243,000), and Season 10 MSPT Meskwaki champ Steve Federspiel (242,500). They joined the likes of Jeff Minnerly (190,000), Season 8 MSPT Potawatomi Regional champ Craig Trost (180,500), former MSPT champ Dan Bekavac (153,000), Season 10 MSPT Majestic Star champ Mike Shin (135,500), Season 7 MSPT Meskwaki champ Keith Heine (96,500), and three-time MSPT champ Matt Kirby (61,000).

A host of players wound up short of a spot in Day 2, including MSPT Hall of Famer Rich Alsup, WSOP Bracelet winner Keven Stammen, Thomas Peebles, Iowa pro Jeff Fielder, Illinois pros Cody Brinn and George Dietz, and MSPT champs Jon Kim, Josh Reichard, Jason Ramos, Travis Lauson, Sean Munjal, Rob Wazwaz, John Sun and Andy Rubinberg.

Sixty-three players will earn a payday in Day 2, with a min-cash worth $2,298. The winner will walk away with $126,998, along with 1,700 points in the MSPT Hayvin Poker Player of the Year race.

Tomorrow, 78 players (16 from 1A, 27 from 1B, 35 from 1C) will return for Day 2 action at 11 a.m. to play down to a winner. You can follow all the action here on the blog, and the final table will be streamed with hole cards on Twitch and on MSPTpoker.com.

Players will play four more hands before bagging and tagging for the night. Stay tuned for a full recap of the day’s action as well as chip counts.

Jeff Minnerly raised to 6,500 from the cutoff, and Vlad Tkachuk three-bet to 19,000 from the small blind. Minnerly called.

On the flop, Tkachuk bet 16,000 and Minnerly called.

The turn saw Tkachuk bet 27,000, and Minnerly called again.

Tkachuk tanked for around three minutes before Cody Brinn called the clock on him. He checked a few seconds into the countdown and Minnerly snap-checked behind.

Tkachuk indicated he had nothing, so Minnerly tabled . Tkachuk mucked.

Jeff Minnerly - 160,000 (53 bb)
Vlad Tkachuk - 80,000 (27 bb)

Cody Brinn raised to 7,000 from the lojack, and Michael VanderWoude jammed for 32,000 from the small blind. David Harth called, leaving himself 47,500 behind, then called off when Brinn four-bet shoved.

Brinn:
VanderWoude:
Harth:

Harth jumped ahead after the flop delivered him an ace, but VanderWoude picked up some outs to the wheel.

“Max pain jack!” Brinn said after the turn, but the river was the wrong paint card, and Harth more than doubled up while VanderWoude hit the rail.

David Harth - 210,000 (70 bb)
Cody Brinn - 130,000 (33 bb)

Payout information for the MSPT Milwaukee Poker Open at @paysbigpoker; 63 places paid, $126,998 up top for 1st!#canyoufeelit pic.twitter.com/wrF7l0tDlS

— MSPT (@msptpoker) April 7, 2019

Craig Trost jammed for the third hand in a row, this time for 39,000. Stan Kuzmanovic looked down at his hand in the big blind, shrugged, and called off his last 20,000.

Trost:
Kuzmanovic:

Neither player improved on the flop, but Kuzmanovic picked up a gutshot on the turn. The river was safe for Trost, and he knocked out Kuzmanovic.

Craig Trost - 64,000 (26 bb)
Stan Kuzmanovic - Busted

Players are off on their final ten-minute break of the night. The 100 denomination chips will be raced off during this break. When they return, registration for the MSPT Milwaukee Poker Open will come to a close.

Vlad Tkachuk raised to 4,500 from UTG and was called by a player UTG+1. Steve Federspiel three-bet shoved for 40,900 in the big blind, and Tkachuk thought for a moment before folding.

“F***!” The big blind said with a wry grin. He eventually called off for just 1,100 less than Federspiel’s stack.

Federspiel:
Opponent:

“I like your chances,” Federspiel’s opponent said after the flop gave Federspiel top pair and a big lead. No ten fell on the turn or river, and Federspiel claimed the KO.

Steve Federspiel - 88,000 (44 bb)