Sycuan Casino Resort

Almost full day of action was played to its conclusion at the MSPT Season 15 Sycuan Showdown Series $1,110 Main Event as the hard stop of 13 players was reached with 13:25 remaining in Level 14.

The second of three flights drew 112 entries to bring the two-day total thus far to 177.

Of those 112 entries, only 13 players remained when chips went into bags with Nissar Quraishi breaching the half-milly mark putting 539,000 on his slip to end the night.

Quraishi hit his stride in the later levels, much like Tim Acker (409,000) and Lance Winsaft (365,000), who finished second and third respectively.

Rounding out the top five stacks of the day were Leo Vaisburg (329,000), & Alex Greenblatt (291,000), while Dustin Skarra (268,000), Brian Nordin (232,000), and Alan Jimenez (209,000) are just a few more of the players to add their names to the Day 2 roster along with the eight players who have already advanced from Day 1a.

The final starting flight will get underway tomorrow at 3:00 p.m. local time, and it will be the last chance for players to punch their ticket into Sunday's Day 2.

Late registration and re-entries will remain open through Level 12 (approximately 11:40 p.m.) Make sure to tune in to see who makes it through to Day 2.

MSPT Season 15 Sycuan Showdown Series Remaining Schedule

Richard Lanes open-jammed 59,000 from middle position and Lance Winsaft looked him up from the small blind.

Richard Lanes:
Lance Winsaft:

Lanes was ahead holding a suited ace and the flop paired his seven.

Unfortunately for Lanes, it wasn’t enough, as the dealer turned the putting Winsaft out in front with top pair, and the paired the board on the river making Lanes the final elimination of the night with the hard stop of 13 players being reached.

Lance Winsaft - 365,000
Ricahrd Lanes - 0

The MSPT (Mid-States Poker Tour) has traveled back to Sycuan Casino & Resort in San Diego, CA for their second Showdown Series of Season 15!

In Event #14: $250 No-Limit Monster Stack, 146 hunters took to the tables and created a $29,200 prize pool which was reserved for the top 15 players.

Among those to cash but fall before the final table were Eloy Caldas (10th Place - $599), Josh Mok (11th Place - $599), Grant McGahey (12th Place - $599), Ghadeer Kashat (13th Place - $496), Tobin Creighton (14th Place - $496), and Nikola Nikolic (15th Place - $496).

In the end, it was California native James Sleight who tamed the Monster to take down the lion's share of the prize pool along with the Sapdey trophy!

Final Table Result

*denotes chop

Yesterday’s starting flight saw Adrian Lopez bag an impressive 658,000 stack leading the eight players who advanced from a 65-entry field, and players who make it through today will join that group on Sunday, May 6th at 11:00 a.m. for Day 2.

Day 1A Chip Counts

For the ninth stop of its 15th season, the MSPT traveled back to San Diego, CA and players have been duking it out over the past week inside Sycuan Casino & Resort for its 16-trophy event series!

In Event #13: $200 No-Limit Hold'em Epic Stack, 75 epic players took to the felt to duel it out for the top spot and California native Gaetano Balistrier was able to claim the title for himself to take home the lion's share of the prize pool along with the Sapdey trophy!

Result

Josh Mok was all in preflop for 47,000 from the cutoff and Arthur Boson isolated with a 112,000 three-bet jam over the top.

Josh Mok:
Arthur Boson:

Mok was at risk needing help and found a little after the flop gave him more outs with a wheel draw.

The turn left Mok needing either an ace or four to fall on the river to stay alive, but the completed the board and ended his night.

Arthur Boson - 155,000
Josh Mok - 0

Don’t look now, but Michigan is one of the country’s hottest spots for poker, a fact evidenced by massive tournament fields.

Case in point, recent stops of the MSPT, which will visit FireKeepers Casino in Battle Creek for the first time in Season 15 May 16th - 19th.

A series of $70 and $265 qualifiers will take place in the weeks leading up to the $1,110 buy-in, $1,000,000 guarantee Main Event, which is once again expected to draw a massive field.

The Main Event, which requires players be 21 years of age to participate, will feature three starting flights beginning with Day 1a at Noon on Thursday, May 16th.

The next two starting flights, Days 1b and 1c will then be held at the same time on Friday, May 17th, and Saturday, May 18th respectively. The remaining players from each flight will combine on Sunday, May 19th at 10:00 a.m. and play until a champion is crowned.

Last May, a venue record of 2,473 entrants packed the poker room and, in the end, it was MSPT Hall of Famer Kou Vang who took home a career-best $314,145 for the win.

That event was followed up by the MSPT Michigan State Poker Championship in October which set a new bar with 2,883 entrants tallied and saw Travis Young walk away with a $297,977 first-place prize.

Some others who've notched wins at FireKeepers are Matthew Davis (October 2022 for $344,446), Dan Bekavac (May 2022 for $198,175), Bobby Noel (October 2019 for $262,145), and Chris Moon (May 2019 for $258,407).

For more information, visit firekeeperscasino.com.

For a full look at the MSPT FireKeepers schedule, click here.

Players have returned from their final break of the evening meaning registration is now closed for Day 1b of the MSPT Sycuan Showdown Series $1,110 Main Event.

A total of 112 entries were recorded in this flight and with the 65 entries from Day 1a, the total entries for the tournament are now up to 177.

There were eight players who advance from yesterday’s flight and the tournament clock reads 22 hopefuls looking to join them as we head into the final three levels of play this evening.

The plan is to play through Level 15 unless the hard stop of 12% of the field (13 players) is reached first.