After two exciting flights on the felt, it’s time for Day 1c of the MSPT Season 17 Iowa Poker State Championship at Riverside Casino!

Today’s third and final starting flight will present the last opportunity for players to earn their seats into Sunday’s Day 2 and join the 29 players who are already on the roster.

After Thursday’s starting flight saw 69 entries take to the felt and yesterday's Day 1b drew another 189, the two-day total sits at 258.

Final Flight Outlook

Cards will be in the air at 2:00 p.m. local time with players getting a 30,000 stack to start with.

Similar to the previous starting flights, the final day will end once 11% of the field rounded up is reached.

Levels will be 40 minutes in length for the duration of the day, with 10-minute breaks coming after every two hours of play.

Late registration/re-entries will remain open until the start of Level 13, and players are allowed unlimited re-entries until that point.

As for the happenings on the first two days, Day 1b saw MSPT Hall of Famer Gerald Cunniff claim the top spot with an impressive 774,000, while Michael Kreutzer and John Roberts are the only other two bringing over 600k into Day 2 thus far.

Top Bagged Stacks Thus Far

So far, just under half of the 29 players currently on the Day 2 roster bagged north of the 266,000 chip average, and one last group of players will try to add their names to the list today.

All who advance will return on Sunday at 11:00 a.m. local time to join the 29 players already on the roster for Day 2.

This is a best-stack forward event: If a player qualifies for Day 2 more than once, they may only play the higher chip stack; any lower stack(s) will be removed from play at the start of Day 2 and receive the lowest Day 2 payout.

Player of the Year points will only be awarded for the higher stack. Players will only receive credit for a single MSPT Main Event cash finish.

Hard Rock in Hollywood, FL, while the top 64 World Ranked MSPT Players as of December 2, 2026, will compete in a HEADS UP FREEROLL tournament at the 2026 MSPT Winter Poker Classic at Running Aces Poker Tournaments for $20,000!

Race for Player of the Year

The midway point of Season 17 is here, and the race for Player of the Year is currently a nail-biter. Sitting atop the tight leaderboard is WSOP bracelet winner Mike Wilklow, who had two back-to-back final table appearances to start the season and added his fifth and sixth cash of the year last week at the Venetian to climb atop the leaderboard with 5,669 points.

Sitting closely behind Wilklow is defending Iowa Poker State Champion Mike Estes, who, got the bulk of his points after claiming his second State Championship earlier this year in Missouri, and now has eight cashes on the season after finding a Day 2 berth in yesterday’s starting flight as his second-place spot sits in front of fellow two-time MSPT Champ Lee Rzentkowski, Season 16 Player of the Year Jake Long, and MSPT Hall of Famer Kou Vang, who are just a final table appearance away from claiming the top spot for themselves.

MSPT Season 17 Iowa Poker State Championship Schedule

The MSPT live reporting crew will be on the floor throughout the remainder of the tournament to provide updates, so keep it here to catch the action!