Day 1a of the MSPT Season 16 Michigan Poker State Championship at FireKeepers Casino in Battle Creek, Michigan is in the books with the first flight tallying 612 total entries, putting it just behind with the record-setting 672 total Day 1a field.
Almost 16 full levels were needed to hit the hard stop of 68 players as 13:09 minutes remained in Level 16 (4,000/8,000/8,000) when chips hit the slips with Justin Lee seizing the top as he bagged just under the milly mark taking a whopping 936,000 into Day 2.
Riva Arthur
Bagging behind Lee was Riva Arthur who put an impressive 684,000 in her bag to end the night, while Zinoviy Pelekh (555,000), Matthew Ploof (505,000), and Travis McCullough (486,000) rounded out the top five stacks.
Two-Time MSPT Champ Chris Meyers
Other players to survive the first flight were two-time MSPT champ Chris Meyers (398,000), Hannah Richardson (351,000), MSPT Hall of Famer Aaron Johnson (350,000), Loki Abboud (256,000), and Michael Kamenjarin (234,000) just to name a few.
MSPT Hall of Famer Pat Steele
Among those to try and fall on 1a include MSPT Hall of Famer’s Pat Steele, Rich Alsup, Chris Moon & Rob WazWaz, along former champs Mike ONeill, Curtis Vierstraete, Matt Porter and Dan Goepel.
MSPT Champ Dan Goepel
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 Friday, while the third and final flight, Day 1c, will take place at the same time on Saturday.
The surviving players from each flight will then return at 10:00 a.m. on Sunday to play down to a winner.
Join us tomorrow as we continue to bring you all the action and eliminations straight from the tournament floor of FireKeepers Casino!