Day 1a of the MSPT500 Series main Event at Running Aces Casino & Racetrack has come to a close after seeing 124 entrants kick things off.

A grueling day of action was played to completion, with the hard stop of 14 players reached at 4:30 remaining in Level 17 (5,000/10,000/10,000).

The final levels were full of double-ups, until chip leader Mikeal Love won a race to eliminate MSPT Hall of Famer Rob WazWaz on the bubble, ending the night with a whopping 952,000.

Love left the rest of the Day 1a pack in the dust, with Steve Belland the next biggest stack with 433,000, while Richard Stevens (351,000), 2023 Winter Poker Classic Champ Allan Secord (346,000), and two-time MSPT Champ Peixin Liu (270,000), rounded out the top five stacks of the flight.

Others to survive included Dedric Henderson (249,000), Chuck Kersey (206,000), MSPT Hall of Famer Kou Vang (168,000), fellow Hall of Famer Rich Alsup (146,000), and Daniel Kennedy (38,000).

Among those to try and fall on Day 1a included Bruce Fagan, 2025 Minnesota Poker State Champion Bee Yang, Gene Boyer, Eric Eelkema, John Mcnee, and Alan Baker, just 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 2:00 p.m. local time on Friday, while the third and final flight, Day 1c, will take place at noon on Saturday.

The surviving players from each flight will then return at 11:00 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 at Running Aces Casino & Racetrack!

MSPT500 Series Remaining Schedule