Grand Falls Casino

Day 1a of the MSPT Grand Falls $1,110 Main Event drew 179 entries to kick things off, almost surpassing the tournament's $200,000 guaranteed prize pool with one flight still to go.

Plenty of players made their way to Grand Falls Casino, creating a room full of MSPT champs, Icons, and Hall of Famers.

With chips flying and players dropping throughout the day, play tightened up in the later levels as only 11% of the field was finding a Day 2 berth

Once players put their chips into the bags, it was John Cap who ended up leading the pack of 19 with an impressive 530,000.

Cap started the final two levels just above the chip average before catching some steam at the end of the night while others falling out of contention as he continued to add to his stack until play concluded for the night.

Fellow South Dakota native Tyler Klumb was able to find the second spot on the leaderboard, also due to a late-night heater as well. After coming back from the final break with a below average chip stack, Klumb was able to get hot at the right time and spun-up a 492,000 stack in the final the final levels of the evening.

Steve WazWaz held his steam throughout the day and finished in a close third with 469,000, while Graham Tseyhon (452,000), and MSPT Hall of Famer Rob WazWaz (417,000) rounded out the top five stacks.

Others that advanced included fellow Hall of Famer Rich Alsup (392,000), MSPT champ Gerald Cunniff (38,000), Gary Ewald (340,000), and Alex Wheeler (234,000).

All who did not bag will have one more flight to try and do so, with that being held tomorrow Saturday, August 10th at 2:00 p.m. local time.

As usual, the live reporting team will be back at it then, so be sure to come back and see who else adds their name to Sunday's Day 2 roster.

MSPT Grand Falls Remaining Schedule

MSPT Hall of Famer Rich Alsup limped-in from the small blind only to have MSPT champ Mo Nuwwarah raise to 28,000 from the big blind.

Alsup fired back with a three-bet jam and Nuwwarah called off his shorter 136,000 stack.

Mo Nuwwarah:
Rich Alsup:

It was a race with not much changing after the flop hit the felt.

The turn, however, fell the pairing Alsup’s queen but also giving Nuwwarah a spade flush draw.

Unfortunately for Nuwwarah, the river was a brick and ended his night on the Day 1a bubble.

Rich Alsup - 290,000
Mo Nuwwarah - 0

For the third time this season, the MSPT returns to Sycuan Casino in San Diego, California, for the Showdown Series, September 12th - 22nd!

A total of 15 trophy events will take place during the two-week span, which includes a $360 NLH Mystery Bounty ($100K GTD) during the opening weekend (September 12th - 15th).

The series will run into the headlined $1,110 Main Event running from Thursday, September 19th through Sunday, September 22nd, and will feature a $300K guarantee for its three starting flights.

The start of the New Year saw the MSPT crown Savo Mandarapa the first champ of Season 15 after he outlasted 451 runners to take home a $93,771 score while Noel Eicher became the defending champ after he ran through 313 runners in May enroute to a $61,693 payday.

Who will be next to add their name to the Season 15 winner list? The MSPT live reporting crew will be on hand to provide live updates as the answer to that question is determined.

With 20 players remaining, the hand-for-hand process has begun and will continue until the final elimination occurs.

Action on the table folded to MSPT Hall of Famer Umut Ozturk who raised all in for roughly 90,000 from the button and Steve WazWaz called from the small blind.

Umut Ozturk:
Steve WazWaz:

Ozturk woke-up with a made hand only to have WazWaz roll over a better oner and the runout ended his night.

Steve WazWaz - 480,000
Umut Ozturk - 0

Gary Brakke opened under the gun for 12,000 and was called by Gary Ewald next to act, along with DJ Buckly from the button.

Once the flop hit the felt, Brakke tossed out a 15,000 continuation bet, and both his opponents called to see the turn.

Action was quickly checked to Buckly who wasted little time getting his 50,000 stack in the middle and he pushed though after Brakke and Ewald released their hands.

Gary Ewald - 318,000
Gary Brakke - 239,000
DJ Buckley - 130,000

Action on the table folded to John Cap who raised all in from the small blind and the big blind called off their shorter stack.

Opponent:
John Cap:

Cap rolled over a dominating ace and the runout secured him the elimination.

John Cap - 435,000