Potawatomi Casino

Day 1c of the second-ever MSPT 100 GRAND STACK $1,110 Main Event has come to an end at Potawatomi Hotel & Casino as the final starting flight brought in an astonishing 823 runners, which, along with 1a's 314 and 1b’s 560, brought the field total up to 1,697 entries.

The 1,697 total tally was able to claim the top spot for most entries recorded in a poker tournament in Wisconsin history, and the $1,644,590 prize pool that was generated went down in the history books as well.

At the end of the final flight, just 90 players bagged and tagged with Shane Thorne bagging the top stack of 4,200,000 leading the charge into Day 2. Thorne was able to catapult to the top of the chip counts after he cooled off Mark Kroon in nut to second-nut flush hand

Following behind Throne were Steve WazWaz (2,510,000), Tom Hammers (2,455,000), Mario Hudson (2,405,000), and Songjie Zhou (2,000,000) rounded out the top five stacks and were the only others to clip the two-milly mark.

They were joined by MSPT Hall of Famer Gerald Cunniff (1,465,000), WSOP bracelet winner Robert Mitchell (1,380,000), James Gregg (1,330,000), Freddy West (1,245,000), and Gabe Neighbors (1,230,000).

Among MSPT Main Event champs who fell short one Day 1c included Dan Bekavac, Carl Oman, Matthew Eng, Max Havlish, Daniel Goepel, Ben Pettinger, and MSPT Hall of Famer Chris Moon just to name a few.

Day 2 will get underway at 11:00 a.m. local time and play to a winner with 185 players (34 from Day 1a, 61 from 1b, and 90 from 1c) returning to the felt.

Each of the returning Day 2 players is guaranteed at least $1,800, with the eventual winner walking away with a $271,248 first-place prize.

MSPT Season 16 Potawatomi 100 GRAND STACK Festival Remaining Schedule

Congratulations to everyone who advanced to Day 2! We will see you at 11:00 a.m. for final day coverage of the MSPT 100 GRAND STACK $1,110 Main Event at Potawatomi Hotel & Casino!

Jeff Schwartz opened for 75,000 from middle position and found two callers before Evan Bethyo squeezed his 460,000 stack in the middle from the big blind.

With action back on Schwartz, he decided to go over the top and gave Bethyo isolation.

Evan Bethyo:
Jeff Schwartz:

It was a cooler situation for Bethyo as Schwartz rolled over the best premium hand and the runout ended his Main Event on the bubble.

Jeff Schwartz - 1,500,000
Evan Bethyo - Eliminated

Mario Hudson raised from the hijack and then called Melissa Bartelme’s 260,000 three-bet jam from the small blind.

Melissa Bartelme:
Mario Hudson:

Bartelme was behind holding suited live cards and the flop gave her the nut flush draw while pairing Hudson’s ace.

The turn left Bartelme needing any diamond on the river to stay alive, but the completed the board and ended her tournament.

After Bartelme’s departure, a flurry of eliminations occurred taking action to the hand-for-hand process.

Mario Hudson - 1,600,000
Melissa Bartelme - Eliminated

MSPT champ Jason Sell was all in preflop for 355,000 and was called by the cutoff.

Jason Sell:
Opponent:

It was a race with Sell falling behind after the flop fell pairing his opponent's ace.

The 8g turn was no help to Sell and just as he stood from his seat, the dealer dropped the on the river to keep his Main Event hopes alive.

Jason Sell - 760,000

Over the past week, players have been inside Potawatomi Hotel & Casino, duking it out for the the second-ever MSPT 100 GRAND STACK Festival in Milwaukee, WI.

In Event #6: $200 NLH Ultimate Stack, 278 ultimate players took to the tables and generated a $44,480 prize pool that was paid out to the top 28 players.

Among those to cash but fall before the final table were Richard Schuster (10th Place - $640), James Kelly (11th Place -$640), and Anthony De Jesus (12th Place - $640).

In the end, it was Illinois native Matt Kouba who came away with the win to take home the lion's share of the prize pool along with the 100 GRAND STACK Festival trophy!

Final Table Results

* denotes 3-way deal

For the first time this season, the MSPT is headed to JACK Cleveland, February 11th - 17th for the 2025 Ohio State Poker Championship!

A $400 No-Limit Hold'em Tag Team Event will award the first trophy of the series starting at 4:15 on Tuesday, February 11th, followed by Event #2: $300 NLH Seniors on Wednesday, February 12th at 11:15 a.m.

A series of $70 and $265 satellites will feed into the $1,110 buy-in Ohio State Poker Championship, which requires players to be 21+ to play.

The Main Event, which will offer a $500K GTD, will offer three starting flights with Day 1A beginning at 3:15 p.m. on Thursday, February 13th.

Day 1B will follow at 12:15 p.m. on Friday, February 14th with the final starting flight beginning at the same time on Saturday, February 15th.

The surviving players from all starting flights will then return at 11:15 a.m. on Sunday, February 16th to play down to a winner.

Closing out the trophy series will be a $350 President's Day Monster Stack NLH beginning at 2:15 p.m.

In addition, the entire Main Event will be live reported in the MSPT live blog.
Click here for a look at the full schedule.

MSPT champ Richard Bai was all in preflop for a rough starting stack from late position and Songjie Zhou looked him up from the button.

Richard Bai:
Songjie Zhou:

Bai was racing for his tournament life but wasn’t able to take the lead after the runout ended his Main event run.

Songjie Zhou - 1,350,000
Richard Bai - Eliminated