Riverside Casino

Day 1a of the MSPT Riverside $1,110 Main Event is officially in the books with 90 total entries tallied by night's end.

With action needing to play down to 11% of the field, almost 14 full levels were needed to hit that mark.

Once the hard stop was reached with 13:52 remaining at 3,000/5,000/5,000, it was none other than back-to-back Player of the Year Umut Ozturk (456,000) who edged out Bohdan Slyvinskyi (421,000) for the top stack after the first flight to lead the 10 advancing players.

Ozturk and Slyvinskyi were the only two players to clip the 400k mark, while defending champ Mike Estes (344,000), DJ Buckley (304,000), and Jake Long (297,000) rounded out the top stacks of the flight.

Others who punched their ticket into Sunday’s Day 2 included March’s fourth-place finisher Mark Lafata (297,000), Bruce Fagan (239,000), Jeff Kenny (159,000), Eric Phillips (135,000), and David To (97,000).

Among those to try and fall on Day 1a were a list of former MSPT champions, which included Lee Rzentkowski, Curtis Vierstraete, Ken Baime, Brian Landon, and MSPT Hall of Famer Aaron Johnson, just to name a few.

Those players, as well as any newcomers, have two more starting flights to jump back into action.

Day 1b will kick off at 2:00 p.m. local time on Halloween Friday, October 31^st, while Day 1c will take place at the same time on Saturday, November 1^st.

The surviving players from each flight will then return at 11:00 a.m. on Sunday to play down to a winner.

MSPT Season 16 Riverside Remaining Schedule

Make sure to stay tuned here to find out who makes it through to Sunday’s Day 2!

Jake Long raised the button and the big blind defended to see a flop.

The big blind then moved their 48,000 stack in the middle, and Long looked them up.

Opponnet:
Jake Long:

Long was behind holding a middle pair of fives, with the turn not changing a thing.

However, the dealer then followed with the on the river, improving Long to trip fives to burst the bubble.

Jake Long - 297,000

Picture: Gary Werger

Mark Lafata opened under the gun for 20,000 and then called Gary Werger’s three-bet jam from the big blind.

Gary Werger:
Mark Lafata:

Werger found himself out in a race only to fall behind after the flop paired Lafata’s ace while also giving him a Broadway draw.

The dealer then turned a small , leaving Werger needing a lucky seven to fall on the river to stay alive, but the paired the board on the river, ending his night.

Mark Lafata - 250,000
Gary Werger - 0

Last Season, MSPT Hall of Famer Umut Ozturk became the first player in tour history to win the Player of the Year award in back-to-back seasons, while also winning the inaugural ICON of the Year award as well.

This season, Ozturk finds himself once again on top of both the ICON & POY leaderboards with just three events remaining this season.

Full Icon Leaderboard: https://msptpoker.com/statistics/MSPTSeasonPoints.aspx

Picture: Josh Reichard

MSPT Hall of Famer Josh Reichard tossed out his 30,000 stack from late position, and Bruce Fagan looked him up from the hijack.

Josh Reichard:
Bruce Fagan:

Reichard rolled over a dominated hand, and it proved to be vital as the runout ended his night.

Bruce Fagan - 270,000
Josh Reichard - 0

Registration for Day 1a is officially closed with 90 entrants tallied for the first flight.

The plan is to play until 11% of the field rounded up (10 players) is reached, with the tournament clock reading 19 players remaining.

GET READY for the MSPT Festival at Ameristar Casino East Chicago, featuring 12 Gold Card events and a $300K GTD Main Event!

: Ameristar Casino East Chicago - East Chicago, IN
: November 18-23, 2025
: 12 Gold Card Events!
: $300K GTD Main Event
: Senior Tour Event included
: https://msptpoker.com/.../reserve-today-for-the-mspt...

Event Schedule: https://msptpoker.com/showpdf.aspx?eventID=562msptpoker.com