Ameristar East Chicago

A lengthy day of 15 levels has wrapped up during the MSPT $1,110 Main Event at Ameristar Casino Hotel, with nine of 75 entries making it through to Day 2.

Once the hard stop was reached in the last level, only 23:16 remained when MSPT Hall of Famer Josh Reichard counted out 508,000 to put in his bag, edging out Anuj Tiwary (486,000) & Jake Long (410,000) for the top spot.

Reichard secured the final elimination of the night, busting Milan Patel on the bubble with a pair of cowboys, taking the top stack into Day 2 thus far, while Long collected himself a solid stack as well after the first flight, keeping things spicy in the Player of the Year race.

Rounding out the top five stacks were Natan Lidwehover (187,000) and Michael Rossiter (165,000), while inaugural Spade Poker Champion Merritt Kuhn (155,000), Kojo Enu (129,000), Joseph Elpayaa (119,000), and Dustin Ethridge (91,000) all punched their ticket into Sunday’s Day 2.

Of course, not everyone was fortunate enough to survive the night. Among those to fire and fall in Thursday’s flight were MSPT champ Lee Rzentkowski, Penelope Banhidy, Allen Pritchett, Jeffrey Stephens, Angel Saurez, and MSPT champ George Janssen, 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 Noon local time on Friday, November 21^st, while the third and final flight, Day 1c, will take place at the same time on Saturday, November 22^nd.

The surviving players from each flight will then return at 11:00 a.m. on Sunday, November 23^rd to play down to a winner.

MSPT Season 16 Ameristar East Chicago Remaining Schedule

Photo: Milan Patel

MSPT Hall of Famer Josh Reichard opened under the gun for 12,000, only to have Milan Patel fire out a 42,000 three-bet from the big blind.

With action back on Reichard, he clapped back with an 86,000 four-bet before calling Patel’s 237,000 five-bet jam.

Milan Patel:
Josh Reichard:

Reichard was ahead holding a premium pair of cowboys, but the flop came with a sweat as it gave Patel more outs with a Broadway draw.

The then fell on the turn, leaving Patel needing any ace or ten to fall on the river to stay alive, but the completed the board and ended his night on the bubble while the elimination secured Reichard the top stack after the first flight.

Josh Reichard - 508,000
Milan Patel -0

After the elimination of Bohdan Slyvinskyi, just 10 players remain, meaning the hand-for-hand process has begun, as only nine of them will make it to Day 2.

For the third and final time this season, MSPT made its way to East Chicago, IN, for its last Gold Card Festival of 2025!

Kicking off the 12-Gold Card Event Series was Event #1: $300 Epic Stack NLH, which saw 168 epic players take to the trenches and created a $41,160 prize pool, reserved for the top 18 players.

Among those to cash but fall before the final table were Antanas Trofimovas (10^th Place - $782), Thomas Kasperski (13^th Place - $659), Fermin Reyes (15^th Place - $659), Ben Plesha (16^th Place - $576), and Darrin Bell (18^th Place - $576).

In the end, it was MSPT Hall of Famer Gerald Cunniff, who walked away with the epic victory to take down the lion's share of the prize pool along with his first Gold Card to start the series!

Final Table Results

Photo: Bohdan Slyvinskyi

Bohdan Slyvinskyi opened for 10,000 from the button and inaugural Spade Poker Champion Merritt Kuhn defended his big blind to see a flop.

Kuhn then check-called a 7,000 continuation bet from Slyvinskyi, and the dealer turned the .

This time, Kuhn check-jammed after Slyvinskyi fired out a 10,000 bet, and Slyvinskyi snapped off his 50,000 stack.

Bohdan Slyvinskyi:
Merritt Kuhn:

Slyvinskyi rolled over the higher straight and faded the river to collect a double-up.

Merritt Kuhn - 174,000
Bohdan Slyvinskyi - 153,000

As we enter the final stretch, MSPT champ Lee Rzentkowski climbed into the top spot in the Season 16 Senior (50+) Player of the Year race

The Season 16 Senior (50+) Player of the Year will receive a $5K prize

Full Leaderboard: https://msptpoker.com/statistics/seasonseniorpoints.aspx

Photo: Josh Reichard

Milan Patel opened for 8,000 from middle position and was called by MSPT Hall of Famer Josh Reichard from the cutoff before back-to-back Player of the Year Umut Ozturk moved his 37,000 stack in the middle from the big blind.

Only Reichard called, and both players tabled their hands.

Umut Ozturk:
Josh Reichard:

Reichard rolled over a pair of aces and didn’t have much of a sweat as the runout secured him the pot.

Josh Reichard - 180,000
Umut Ozturk - 0