The Venetian

847 entrants fired Day 1b today of the MSPT Venetian $3,000,000 Guaranteed, $1,600 Buy-In Main Event. Only 119 made it to Day 2, with Cord Garcia’s 468,500 in chips leading the way. This is a fair distance behind Ben Diebold’s 596,500 chips from Day 1a. Garcia, who holds WSOP gold as the inaugural winner of the Colossus tournament in 2015, will be looking to navigate another big field event to add an MSPT trophy to his trophy case.

The rest of the top five includes Dobromir Nikov (453,500), Chen-An Lin (439,500), Chris Karagulleyan (423,000), and Simon Deadman (412,000).

Others that managed a Day 2 bag include CSOP founder Matt Stout (408,500), Wendy Freedman (288,000), MSPT Hall of Famer Rich Alsup (259,000), former WSOP Main Event champ Martin Jacobson (256,000), WSOP bracelet winner Anthony Spinella (255,500), last week’s MSPT $1,100 Venetian Main Event final tablist Julien Loire (222,500), last year’s runner-up Jeremy Saderne (205,000), two-time WSOP bracelet winner Elio Fox (197,500), former WSOP November Niner Jeremy Ausmus (177,000), former MSPT Venetian champ Thomas Boivin (156,500), two-time MSPT champ Greg Himmelbrand (153,500), three-time MSPT champ Matt Kirby (152,000), Team partypoker Pro Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier (77,000), former WSOP November Niner Bryan Piccioli (77,000), Alabama pro Shannon Shorr (67,000), and defending champ Michael Soyza (53,000).

Some of those that couldn’t make it through today’s flight include last week’s WSOP $600 Online Bounty bracelet winner Upeshka De Silva, three-time MSPT champ Blake Bohn, MSPT Hall of Famers Kou Vang and Aaron Johnson, WPT champ Ravi Raghavan Ralph and Aaron Massey, Andrew Brokos, and former MSPT champs Ahmed Taleb, Chris Moon, and Sam Vizza.

Registration is now open for Wednesday’s Day 1c flight, which will kick off at 12:10 p.m. local time. All remaining players will return Thursday at 11 a.m. for Day 2 action. Players can fire an unlimited number of bullets up through the break at Level 12. Be sure to tune in to blog tomorrow and follow all the action as we complete the final flight of the $3,000,000 Guarantee for the MSPT Venetian $1,600 Main Event!

The remaining field will play six more hands before bagging and tagging for the night. Stay tuned for a full recap of all the day’s action.

A player raised to 10,000 from early position, and Elio Fox took a look at his opponent’s remaining stack before calling in the big blind.

Both players checked the flop, and Fox checked the turn. His opponent quickly fired 15,000, and Fox called.

The river was checked by both players, and Fox tabled , which was a chop with his opponent’s .

Elio Fox - 120,000 (30 bb)

Greg Himmelbrand (pictured, left) limped in from the small blind, and Jewook Oh (pictured, right) checked his option in the big blind.

Himmelbrand led out for 4,000 on the flop, and Oh took his time before raising to 15,000. Himmelbrand called.

Both players checked the turn, and Himmelbrand bet 15,000 on the river. Oh folded.

“Give me my cards back!” the cutoff said, pretending to reach at the muck.

Himmelbrand asked the cutoff, “Six?” and the cutoff responded, “Six-deuce of clubs!”

Greg Himmelbrand - 150,000 (37.5 bb)
Jewook Oh - 100,000 (25 bb)

The cutoff moved all in for his last 30,000, and Chris Hunichen committed his last 1,000 on the button. Baptiste Chavaillaz called in the small blind, and Keven Stammen called in the big blind.

Chavaillaz checked the flop, then snap-called when Stammen jammed for his last 26,000.

Chris Hunichen:
Cutoff:
Keven Stammen:
Baptiste Chavaillaz:

“Diamonds? I need diamonds.” Hunichen noted after seeing Chavaillaz turn up his set of kings.

The indeed rolled off on the turn, giving Hunichen a flush draw and Stammen and the cutoff a gutshot. The river was safe for Chavaillaz, though, and he earned a triple knockout.

Baptiste Chavaillaz - 170,000 (57 bb)
Keven Stammen - Busted
Chris Hunichen - Busted

The small blind checked a board over to Ian Matakis in early position, who bet 13,500. His opponent tanked for a bit, long enough for the clock to be called. The floor gave the small blind a countdown, and with around six seconds left, the small blind folded.

“Got ‘em! Just kidding,” Matakis, who has spun up a short stack in the closing levels of Day 1b, told his opponent as he brought in that pot.

Ian Matakis - 180,000 (60 bb)

In Level 14 (1,500/3,000/3,000) of MSPT Canterbury Park, Paul Eidem (128,000) raised to 8,000 holding the A♣A♥ in the hijack and David Pederson (228,000) called from the big blind with the K♣9♣.

Pederson flopped a flush draw on the 4♣2♣4♥ flop and check-called a bet of 8,000. When the 7♣ peeled off on the turn, Pederson checked his flush and just called when Eidem bet 16,000.

The K♦ river saw Pederson check for the third time and Eidem checked behind before watching his pocket rockets go down in flames at showdown.

“Oh no,” Pederson exclaimed realizing he missed value on the river.

MSPT: What are your thoughts on Pederson defending with king-nine suited?

Little: I think the preflop call is perfectly standard. If you fold hands like K9s, you are folding way too often. Three-betting does not make sense because if your three-bet is called, or four-bet, you are in terrible shape. Three-betting essentially forces the opponent to play perfectly, which is usually not a good result because you make money when your opponent makes mistakes.

MSPT: How do you feel about Pederson’s play on the turn after making the flush? Are you ok with the check-call or would you like to see a check-raise?

Little: I actually think the flush draw should have at least considered check-min-raising the flop because the big blind has way more 4x than the initial raiser, giving him a sizable nut advantage. Check-min-raising with a large chunk of your continuing range including trips and draws, turns much of your opponent’s range into bluff catchers. On the turn, I would have certainly check-raised in order to build a big pot with my strong hands, but calling could be fine if the opponent will either value bet or bluff much too often on the river.

MSPT: Are you surprised by Eidem’s check back on the river holding aces down? What would you be thinking in that spot?

Little: I think the check behind with aces is a bit tight, especially since the opponent did not check-raise the flop or turn (either of which would be a common way to play a flush). Many players will have mostly marginal made hands in this situation, making aces the effective nuts. That said, if you know your opponent plays passively and simply does not raise with anything on the flop and turn, checking behind on the river has much more merit because the opponent’s check-calling range contains many premium hands.

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

Matt Stout had his last 76,500 in and at risk from the small blind against a lone opponent in middle position.

Matt Stout:
Opponent:

Stout’s opponent found a few aces on the flop, leaving Stout looking for a queen to survive. The didn’t provide it, but the on the river filled Stout up and shipped him the double.

Matt Stout - 160,000 (64 bb)

Jimmy Setna continues to be on the rise here in Day 1b.

After a 6,000 bet pre-flop and call from Noam Muallem, the flop came out . A 3,500 chip bet from Setna drew a raise of 9,500 from Muallem.

Setna made the call and the showed up on the turn. Setna checked drawing a 16,000 chip bet from Muallem. Setna called sending the hand to the river. With the coming out, both players checked down the action. Setna turned over for trip aces and Muallem mucked his hand.

The hand pushes Setna among the chip leaders to 277,000 (110 bb).

180 players are still standing as play continues this evening.