Grand Falls Casino

Day 1A of the MSPT 156 Main Event at Grand Falls is a wrap and after a grueling day of play, Terence Reid powered his way through the field to put away the chip lead for the flight.

Reid bagged 256,500 chips to easily outpace the Day 1A field. Josh Skogen came in second with 161,500 closely followed by Mark Fink in third with 157,500. The top five was rounded out by John Merrow with 140,500 and Jared Mohnen with 133,000. Also making it to Day 2 was MSPT Hall of Famer Aaron Johnson who scored 106,000.

Notables who did not advance include former MSPT Champions Peixin Liu, Jason Seitz and defending tournament champion Ryan Skluzak. Also missing the cut were Luke Blindert, Kim Rasmussen, Russ Louwagie, Eric Eelkema, Cy Church and Jon Hanner.

Overall for the flight, 73 entries were recorded and 11 players advanced to Day 2. There is one more starting flight for the tournament with Day 1B kicking off at 3 PM Central here at Grand Falls Casino & Golf Resort. Everyone who advances to Day 2 will be back to play for the title on Sunday at 11 AM as the chase to crown the next MSPT Main Event champion continues.

We’ll be back tomorrow afternoon for more coverage of all the exciting action of Day 1B from Grand Falls Casino & Golf Resort just outside Sioux Falls, South Dakota and we hope you’ll join us here for the rest of what should be another amazing weekend on the Mid-States Poker Tour.

Congratulations to everyone who advanced to Day 2 and we’ll see you on Saturday!

Two champs went into the hand, one went out the door.

The tournament’s defending champion, Ryan Skluzak, pushed his last 33,000 chips into the middle and last years runner-up Aaron Johnson was waiting.

Johnson moved his stack in, over the top as well, driving the rest of the table out of the hand leaving him one-on-one with Skluzak.

Skluzak needed help turning over against the of Johnson.

Skluzak got an ace on the flop but Johnson turned the tables again when the showed up on the turn.

The came on the river ending the hand and put Johnson up to 128,000 (32 bb) chips as we near the end of the flight.

Day 1A is almost in the books and Josh Skogen is not going down without a fight!

The action started with Jared Mohnen rasing from the middle postion to 6500, Michael Campbell called from the small blind and so did Skogen from the big blind.

The Flop, Campbell checked and Skogen sensing weakness shoved his remaining chips totaling 18,000, Mohnen pondered for a bit and made the call, Campbell folded. Skogen reluctantly turned over Mohnen showed for middle pair with top kicker and an 80.8% favorite to win, at this time Skogen exclaimed “King Me Dealer!”

The Turn ! That gave control to Skogen (88.6%) and reducing Mohen to 5 outs (11.4%).

The River Mohen did not improve and Skogen doubled up to 55,500 (18.5 BB)

Kanat Ozturk found his moment when he went all in, on the cutoff, for 55,000. Travis Johnson tanked in the small blind before making the call and the hands were shown.

Ozturk:
Johnson:

With two overs, Johnson didn’t get the right flop and was instantly shot down as the appeared and Johnson was drawning dead, the turn and river completed the board.

Although Johnson had flopped quads earlier in the night, he announced this was a totally different situation.

Kanat Ozturk - 117,500
Travis Johnson - 92,000

Two players on back-to-back hands have been dispatched on Table 9.

First, Cy Church took a stab in a blind vs. blind hand when he pushed with 33,000 chips against Brian Opp. But his move with ran into Opp’s and Church was sent to the rail.

Then with around 12,000 chips Jon Hanner tried to hold on with against Kanat Ozturk holding but could not catch up ending his run in Day 1A.

The field has now trimmed to 15 players with a level and a half to play in tonight’s flight.

It’s nearing the time of the night where players are faced with making all in decisions as the blinds start to get high.

Jay Goughnour made his move and shoved all in, in middle position, for 24,500. Randy McQueen made the call and the cards were tabled as Goughnour announced “Nothing I can do.”

Goughnour:
McQueen:

The flop ran safe for Goughnour with the board. The turn wasn’t so friendly, revealing the , leaving Goughnour with only 2 outs.

The river was a to send Goughnour packing.

Randy McQueen - 60,500 (24 BB)

Level 13 has quite a surprising theme - a shocking slowdown.

Despite a large group of short stacks, only one player has fallen so far this level.

Kanat Ozturk did manage a double-up through Jon Hanner to take him to 58,500 but otherwise no one has been willing to get into a major showdown just yet.

Of course, expect that to change with two more blind levels to go before wrapping up play in Day 1A as seats in Day 2 loom larger with 18 players still alive.

When Jay Goughnour shoves all in, on the hijack, for 32,500, Ryan Remington followed his lead for 15,500.

Goughnour:
Remington:

The board flopped putting Remington in the lead, but the turn gave Goughnour outs. Luckily for Remington, the river bricked with the

Ryan Reminton - 37,500 (15 BB)
Jay Goughnour - 17,000 (7 BB)