Sycuan Casino Resort

Day 1c of the MSPT Season 16 Sycuan 100 GRAND STACK Series $1,110 Main Event is in the books after drawing 195 entries, the biggest field of all three starting flights, bringing the overall field up to 431.

At the end of the third and final flight, just 22 players bagged and tagged with Kenny Hirose sitting atop the counts with 2,230,000 stack, good enough for the overall chip lead.

The final level of the evening saw an onslaught of casualties which included Jacob Long, MSPT Hall of famer Josh Reichard and Tara Dunn.

Following behind Hirose was Allen Moheimani, who put 1,750,000 in his bag to end the night, while Nan Chen (1,460,000), Jonathan Frisch (1,155,000), & MSPT Hall of Famer Gerald Cunniff (985,000), rounded out the top five stacks of the flight.

They were joined by Brett Parise (950,000), MSPT champ’s Justin Lynch (935,000) & John ‘Farmboy’ Kurfman (905,000), Hal Kilgore (795,000), and fellow MSPT champ Anthony Scarborough(395,000).

Among those to try and fall on Day 1c included 2024 Sycuan Champ Justin Muse, Eddie Pilotin, DJ Buckley, Minnesota Poker Hall of Famer Tony Hartmann, and top Gold Card collector Michael Starek, just to name a few.

The surviving players from all three flights – of which there are 49 (11 from Day 1a, 16 from 1b, and 21 from 1c) – will return at 11:00 a.m. local time on Sunday, September 7^th, to play down to a winner.

The MSPT live reporting crew will be on the floor throughout the remainder of the tournament to provide updates, so keep it here to catch the action!

MSPT Season 16 Sycuan 100 GRAND STACK Series Remaining Schedule

Taylor Bell open-jammed 120,000 under the gun, and MSPT champ Justin Lynch looked him up from the button.

Taylor Bell:
Justin Lynch:

Bell was racing for his tournament life, with not much changing after the flop hit the felt.

The turn, however, brought a sweat as it gave Lynch a ton of outs, and the that fell on the river was on f them, as it gave him the nuts to eliminate Bell on the bubble.

Justin Lynch - 935,000
Taylor Bell - Eliminated

With 23 players remaining, the hand-for-hand process has started, as only 22 of them will be making it to Day 2.

So far, 27 players have punched their ticket into Day 2, and the final group of 22 hopefuls will look to add their names to that list tonight.

All who make it through until the end of play will return tomorrow, Sunday, September 7^th, at 11:00 a.m. for Day 2, where the remaining players from all starting flights will combine and play until a winner is declared.

Brett Parise raised from late position only to have the cutoff toss out their 155,000 stack into the middle.

Action folded to Nathathai Pearson (pictured above), who called off her 70,000 stack from the small blind, and Parise called to put them both at risk.

Nathathai Pearson:
Cutoff:
Brett Parise:

Parise held the worst hand, but saw a four in the window on the flop to take the lead, while Pearson picked up a Broadway draw.

The dealer then turned the , giving Pearson more outs, but the completed the board on the river and secured Parise the double elimination.

Brett Parise - 1,000,000
Nathathai Pearson - Eliminated

James Kozono (pictured above) tossed out his last 65,000 from the button, and Steven Wendroff looked him up from the big blind.

James Kozono:
Steven Wendroff:

Kozono rolled over a dominating hand, and the runout gave him a flush to stay alive, but his short stack wouldn’t last long as he was eliminated a few hands later.

Steven Wendroff - 100,000
James Kozono - Eliminated

For the third and final time this season, the MSPT is back at Sycuan Casino & Resort in San Diego, CA, for the 100 GRAND STACK Series!

Kicking off the 24-Gold Card event series was the $400 NLH 100 GRAND STACK Regional, which tallied an impressive 409 entrants through four starting flights.

A $135,515 prize pool was generated and divided out between the 46 Day 2 players who had their eyes set on the title.

Among those to cash but fall short of the final table were Amy Devaudreuil (10^th Place - $2,156), MSPT champs Jeff Copeland (17^th Place - $1,483) & Derrick Yamada (19^th Place - $1,267), Eddie Pilotin (27^th Place - $943), and Steve Buell (31^st Place - $809).

After a long day on the felt, it was none other than Michael Starek who navigated his way to the finish line to capture a career score of $29,650 first-place prize along with the 100 GRAND STACK Regional title!

Final Table Results

Gerald Heath was the last to earn the Wisconsin Poker State Championship title in 2019IT IS BACK

$1,000,000 GTD Main Event & 11 Gold Cards to be awarded

: Potawatomi Hotel & Casino - Milwaukee, WI

: Sept. 30 - Oct. 5, 2025

: 2025 Wisconsin Poker State Championship

: $1M GTD Main Event

: 11 Gold Card Events

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