The Venetian

Galfond Leads The 21 Survivors Of Day 1A

After 16 levels of play, the starting field of 184 was reduced to just 21 players, each one of them guaranteed a piece of the $400,000 guaranteed prize pool that will be played for on Monday, May 29th.

Leading the way is Farah Galfond who bagged 497,000. The soap opera actress turned poker player found her first MSPT cash on top of her bagging the overall tournament chip lead. Galfond’s tournament prowess is no secret and just recently she took home a career best score earlier this year of $87,157 adding to her Hendon Mob of over $200,000. A deep run in this tournament could see her take an even larger score as well as a piece of MSPT history.

The field saw many names finding a bag at the end of the day guaranteed a min-cash and most looking for their first MSPT. MSPT Riverside champion Daniel Sepiol (145,000) was the last surviving former champion to find a bag, while a large batch of MSPT Venetian final tablists including David Jackson (464,000), Josh Remitio (365,000) , Cody Wiegmann (231,000), Nick Pupillo (145,000), Kristen Deardorff (100,000), and Yulia Lisichkina (89,000) all found their way to a bag, all of them with eyes for a better finish than their last final table appearance.

Top Ten Chip Counts Day 1A

Not all were as fortunate, as the day saw the fall of many regulars including MSPT champions James Romero, John Dennehey, Josh Reichard, as well as others like Mark Seif, Dakotah O’Dell, Dylan Linde, and Shannon Shorr. They will have ample opportunity to buy in the following two flights for their journeys to grab a piece of MSPT history. Day 1B and 1C begin on Saturday and Sunday at 11:10 AM respectively.

Play ended with 26:00 left on the clock in level 16 with blinds at 3,000/6,000 with a 6,000 big blind ante meaning, unless another flight ends earlier than this one, they will return at this level at the beginning of Day 2 where they will already be in the money.

Stay tuned to MSPT.com for all updates regarding The MSPT $1,100 Main Event.

Kenny Huynh moved in his final 42,000 in the cutoff and on the button, Peter Mugar called to put him at risk while all other players folded.

Kenny Huynh:
Peter Mugar:

The board ran out and the ace-king held up as the superior hand while his opponent exited the tournament area.

Stay tuned for full chip counts and a full recap.

Peter Mugar - 257,000
Kenny Huynh - Eliminated

Daniel Sepiol opened to 11,000 in first position which saw a player on the button call and Glenn Miller call in the big blind.

The flop came out and action checked around to the button who moved all in for 70,000 which saw Miller call and Sepiol fold.

Button:
Glenn Miller:

The board ran out and the pair of eights held up for Miller who added to his growing stack.

With this elimination, players have been brought to hand for hand play, as just one more player needs to be lost for players to bag up for the night.

Glenn Miller - 258,000

Action was picked up on the flop between Brendan Shiller middle position, Farah Galfond in late position, and Josh Remitio in the big blind.

Action checked through on the flop of to the turn that saw action check over to Galfond who bet 25,000 which only Shiller called.

The river peeled off the and Shiller moved all in for 65,000 which Galfond snap-called.

Brendan Shiller:
Farah Galfond:

Shiller had rivered an ace-high flush but it was no good as the board pairing gave Galfond fours full of eights. Shiller left the tournament area while Galfond sits with one of the biggest stacks in the tournament.

Farah Galfond - 403,000
Brendan Shiller - Eliminated

Action was picked up on the flop in a hand between Josh Remitio in the small blind, a player in early position, and Brendan Shiller in late position.

The flop read and action checked over to Shiller who bet 24,000 and only Remitio called.

The turn checked through to the where Remitio moved all in for 107,000 effective and Shiller went into the tank. He deliberated for a short amount of time but ultimately tossed his hand into the muck.

Josh Remitio - 279,000
Brendan Shiller - 107,000

Action was picked up on the flop between Daniel Sepiol in late position, Nick Pupillo in the small blind, and another player in the big blind.

The board read and action checked over to Sepiol who bet 11,000 which saw Pupillo fold and the big blind raise to 31,000 which Sepiol called.

On the turn, the big blind check folded to a bet of 25,000 from Sepiol and the MSPT Riverside Champion took down the pot.

Daniel Sepiol - 212,000

A player raised to 12,000 in the hijack and Mitch Garshofsky three bet to 35,000. Action folded back to the hijack who moved all in for 83,000 and Garshofsky called.

Opponent:
Garshofsky:

Garshofsky was outpipped, but the flop of put Garshofsky out in front with top two. The turn of opened the door for some chop outs, but the river filled up Garshofsky and he brought the field one closer to the money.

Mitch Garshofsky - 267,000

Champie Douglas moved in his final 29,000 from late position and action folded around to Kristen Deardorff in the big blind who called to put him at risk.

Champie Douglas:
Kristen Deardorff:

The board ran out and Deardorff’s queens held up as the best hand and she took down the pot from Douglas.

Kristen Deardorff - 165,000
Champie Douglas - Eliminated