Day 1B of the MSPT FireKeepers Casino – the 11th venue stop in tour history – in Battle Creek, Michigan attracted a massive 473 runners. Along with 1A’s 285, it brought the total field up to 758 entries with the third and final start still to go.
The big turnout essentially ensures the field will once again eclipse a seven-figure prize pool and break our own record for the largest-ever poker tournament in Michigan state history (current record is 1,067 entries).
After 16 levels of play, just 66 players remained with Justin Lee and his stack of 447,000 leading the way. That is a little ahead of Steven Williams, who bagged the Day 1A lead with 426,000.
Others to bag big stacks are two-time MSPT champ Jason Zarlenga, Bob Buyce (411,000), Aaron Soulliere (335,000), and Lewis Gardner (317,000), who round out the top five.
Others to advance were two-time MSPT champ Greg Himmelbrand (280,000), MSPT Season 2 Canterbury Park champ Kou Vang (200,500), MSPT Season 7 FireKeepers champ Aaron Massey (158,000), current Kimo Sabe Mezcal Season 9 POY points leader Aaron Johnson (119,000), MSPT Season 7 Meskwaki champ Keith Heine (116,500), and two-time MSPT champ Jeremy Dresch (105,500).
Of course, not everyone was fortunate enough to find a bag. Among those to hit the rail were former Detroit Lions TE Eric Stocz, MSPT Season 5 Player of the Year Mike Deis, Kimo Sabe Mezcal MSPT Season 8 POY Chris Meyers, and former champs Nathan Trenkamp, Carter Myers, Satish Thakur, Ahmed Taleb, Tom Midena, Rodger Johnson, Ryan Dykhouse, and Mike Shanahan.
Thus far 100 players (34 from 1A, 66 from 1B) have punched their ticket to Sunday’s Day 2. Registration is now open for Day 1C, which will begin at Noon local time on Saturday. It’s going to be busy, so we encourage players to register early.