JACK Cleveland Casino

In a whirlwind of action and emotion here in Cleveland, Day 1C turned out to be the wildest flight of them all as Jeremy Chen scored the top chip stack of the night claiming the flight and overall chip lead in the MSPT $300,000 Guaranteed Main Event at Jack Cleveland Casino.

Chen managed to find a way to find cards at the right time including a huge late victory to put away 665,000 chips to lead the flight. Past MSPT event winner Brian Hou finished second scoring 418,000. Also finishing in the top five were three-time WSOP bracelet winner Adam Friedman (374,500), Haddi Qasem (269,000) and Adam Williams (222,000). Other notables advance to Day 2 from the flight were Igor Ioffe (140,500) and Cooper Wanty (129,000).

Some notables who did not find their way out of Day 1C today included WSOP Circuit event winner Kevin Iacofano, past MSPT event winner Ben Wiora, Michael Fempin, John Mingus, Derrick Brown, DJ MacKinnon, Edward Dixon, Santa Zawaideh, Satish Thakur, John Michalak, Justin Lee and Dale Hackney.

The Day 1C flight added another 270 entries taking the final total for the tournament to 596 easily surpassing the $300,000 tournament guarantee. A total of 37 players made it out of tonight’s flight and combined with the 40 players who bagged in the first two flights, 77 players will be back for Day 2. Play will resume on Sunday at 11 AM with 63 players reaching the money.

Congratulations to everyone who advance to Day 2 and we’ll see you on Sunday at 11 AM for final day coverage of the Day 1B of the MSPT $300,000 Guaranteed Main Event at Jack Cleveland Casino!

On the button, Richard Kaplan open raised to 7,000 with the big blind at 3,000. The player in the small blind called and the Big Blind folded.

On a flop of , Kaplan’s opponent led out for 20,000 and was snap called by Kaplan.

The turn brought the and the other player slowed down, checking to Kaplan who then took the lead and bet 20,000, which was called.

On the river , it was checked to Kaplan who bet 50,000, prompting a fold from his opponent, who begrudgingly showed .

Kaplan has built to 170,000, which is 43 big blinds as we roll into Level 15

It was the biggest pot of the night and Jeremy Chen pulled off another shocker.

On a flop, Chen bet out 40,000 and Kevin Iacofano raised to 100,000. Chen made the call taking the hand to the turn. The came out and Iacofano went all-in with Chen coming along for the ride. Iacofano turned up for a set leaving Chen behind with . But Chen’s trend of catching up all flight stayed intact. The came out on the river and Chen exploded in a celebration heard throughout the tournament area as the massive pot went his way sending the WSOP Circuit ring winner Iacofano out of the tournament. Chen now moves to 570,000 chips (190 bb).

41 players are still standing as we move into the final level of the night.

On a board of and a pot that looked to be about 35,000, Brian Hou put out a bet of 32,000 from his big stack. This put a lot of pressure on the UTG player who had about 82,000 in chips at the time of his decision.

When his opponent folded, Hou pretended to be wiping sweat from his forehead. His opponent said it was the worst possible card he could have seen; Hou agreed that “It was a really good card for me.”

Hou continues to build and is now nearing 350,000 (117 bb) as we are half way through Level 14 of the 15 we will play tonight.

Hou is a past MSPT Main Event champion, having won this April at Golden Gates Casino in Black Hawk, Colorado.

Oh, the joy and agony of aces.

On a flop, Stanley Zielinski called a 14,000 chip bet from David Berman. The river brought the and Berman fired in his remaining 30,000 chips and Zielinski tossed in a call. Berman quickly turned up and Zielinski trailed with .

But Zielinski nailed the on the river eliminated Berman and taking his stack up to 246,000 chips (82 bb).

46 players remain alive with just over a level and a half to play this evening.

Late in level 13, with the big blind at 2,500, a player in middle position opened to 6,000. He was called by the Hijack and then re-raised to 18,000 by Stanley Zielinski in the big blind. The initial raiser folded, but the Hijack called.

On a flop of , Zielinski led out for 25,000 from his 64,000 stack. His opponent put him all-in and Zielinski quickly called.

Zielinsky held and his opponent .

The board safely ran out to give Zielinsky the full double (and more) to 175,000. Entering level 14, this gives him 58 big blinds.

MSPT 153 at Jack Cleveland Casino
Entrants: 596

Sometimes it’s the plays you don’t make that are that are even more important than the ones you do.

Adam Williams raised pre-flop to 5,500 and Bryan Opyrchal re-raised to 16,000. Williams made the call and the flop came out . Willams check and Opyrchal bet out 15,000. Williams called taking the hand to the turn. The came out and Williams checked again. Opyrchal also checked and the came on the river. Williams decided to hold back and check again. Opyrchal checked it down to end the betting. Williams turned over a pair of sixes and saw Opyrchal was hiding a pair of aces avoiding what could have been a catastrophic hand. Opyrchal ended up finishing out the hand with 173,000 (87 bb) chips in front of him as play continues with 48 players remaining.

Kevin Osyko was down to 11 big blinds with 26,500. Adam Williams limped from the cut-off and Osyko shoved his . The all-in got through the blinds, but Williams made the call with .

The board ran out well for Williams and Osyko was eliminated.

Williams: 115,000 (50 bb).

Dennis Brady is chipping up as we near the end of Day 1C. Brady final tabled the MSPT Main Event at FireKeepers Casino in Battle Creek, Michigan last October and is looking for a repeat performance here in Ohio.

When we last looked in, Brady opened to 6,500 with the big blind at 2,500, and was called by both the Cut-off and Small Blind.

On a flop of , Brady continued for 12,000 and was called by one opponent, with the other folding.

The turn brought the and Brady once again bet out; this time 15,000 which was also called.

Finally, on a river , Brady bet 15,000 and was once again called.

Brady flipped over and his opponent mucked.

The nice pick-up brought him to 190,000, a comfortable 76 big blinds.