Day 1B of the MSPT FireKeepers Main Event turned out to be a second straight record-setting affair, as a whopping 582 players hit the felt, bringing the two-day total to 916 after adding Day 1A’s 334 entrants. With the previous record of 1,287 entrants looking to be smashed tomorrow, the question isn’t if the bar will be cleared, it’s how much it’ll be cleared by.
After fifteen levels of play, just 72 remained, with Irbrahim Shoubah and his monster 526,000 stack leading the way. Shoubah cashed in the Season 9 MSPT Michigan State Poker Championship here at FireKeepers in November, finishing in 96th place. With a stack over three times the average, he’ll be setting his sights much higher for Day 2 this time around. Rounding out the top five include Marc Steingold (412,000), Santosh-Kumar Gattagoni (410,500), Matthew Ploof (342,000), and Joshua Marvin (317,500).
Others bagging up for Day 2 include Season 10 MSPT Golden Gates champ Brian Hou (308,000), Craig Casino (250,500), last week’s HPT Ameristar champ Chris Moon (190,500), James Wilson (188,500), Cy Church (175,000), 2018 WSOP Main Event Final Tablist Nicolas Manion (161,000), MSPT Hall of Famer Kou Vang (158,500), Cooper Wanty (144,500), Dustin Smith (136,000), #MSPT100 champ Jason Ramos (82,000), WSOP Colossus II champ Ben Keeline (76,000), Nick Davidson (69,000), and Season 9 MSPT JACK Cleveland champ Abdul Amer (39,500).
Not everyone was fortunate enough to make it through. Some of those unable to secure a bag include 2009 WSOP Main Event champ Joe Cada, MSPT POY’s Chris Meyers and Aaron Johnson, former MSPT FireKeepers champs Mike Shanahan, Jason Zarlenga, Aaron Massey and Tom Midena, and former MSPT champs Mike Shin, Rodger Johnson, Satish Thakur, Jeremy Dresch, Andy Rubinberg, Matt Kirby, and Keith Heine, as well as former MSPT FireKeepers final tablists Justin Lee, Aaron Soulliere, and Bryant Miller.
Day 1C kicks off tomorrow at Noon, and registration is currently open for the final flight. Survivors from the Day 1 flights will reconvene on Sunday, May 19th at 11 AM local time and play down to a champion. Be sure to tune in to the blog for all the action straight from the tournament floor!