Meskwaki Casino

Rich Alsup in Prime Position to Defend Title as 41 Advance from Day 1b

Day 1b of the Mid-States Poker Tour Meskwaki Main Event attracted 228 entries, which along with Day 1a's 181 brought the total field up to 409, just one short from both of the MSPT's last two visits to the venue. That created a $409,000 prize pool – well ahead of the advertised $300,000 guarantee – which will be distributed to the top 45 players with tomorrow's winner taking home $100,981.

The man from the Day 1b field best positioned to make a run at it is Brian Berthiaume, who bagged up the chip lead among the 41 survivors with 345,000, which is a bit behind Day 1a chip leader Muneer Ahmed, who advanced with 379,000. However, the big story of the day was the run of last year's champ Rich Alsup (pictured above), who will return tomorrow to defend his title with a stack of 182,500.

Others who bagged big stacks were Keith Heine (253,000), David Battani (245,000), two-time MSPT champ Dan Sun (237,000), and Timothy McReynolds (184,500).

Of course not everyone was so lucky. Among those to fall on Day 1b were MSPT bestbet Jacksonville Regional champ Blake Whittington; former MSPT Meskwaki champ Nick Jivkov; reigning MSPT Player of the Year Mark Hodge; MSPT Team Pro Matt Alexander; World Poker Tour Choctaw champ Jason Brin; European pro and winner of the 2016 Wynn Poker Classic Main Event Ludovic Geilich; PokerNews reporter Mo Nuwwarah, and 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event runner-up Darvin Moon, who got his chips in good holding ace-queen against ace-jack only to see a jack spike on the turn.

While a lot of notables fell by the wayside, plenty made it through to Day 2 including Omaha's Ryan Phan (158,000), Wisconsin's Rick Syverud (120,000), MSPT regular Jason Bender (102,500), Allen Kessler (68,500), Ben Keeline (42,000), TJ Ryan (38,000), and the short-stacked Phil Mader (23,500).

Day 2 will kick off at 11 a.m. local time on Sunday. It'll be a full day of action as the combined field of 71 survivors look to play through the money all the way down to a winner. We'll bring you all the action and eliminations straight from the tournament floor right here in the MSPT Live Blog, so be sure to join us then.

End-of-Day 1b Chip Counts

A total of 41 players advanced from the Day 1b flight:

Brian Berthiaume 345,000
Keith Heins 253,000
David Battani 245,000
Dan Sun 237,000
Ron MacDiarmd 196,000
Timothy McReynolds 184,500
Rich Alsup 182,500
Derek McMaster 174,000
Andrzej Rogowski 171,000
Steve Jewell 164,000
Bernard Morrow 163,000
Ryan Phan 158,000
Jim Fowler 150,500
Rick Syverud 120,000
Josh Eike 112,500
Chunlei Yuan 104,000
Jason Bender 102,500
Soni Lo 98,000
Brian Zupancich 97,500
Terry Bender 93,000
Doug Sundine 84,000
Jeremy Papin 82,000
Chris Scionti 76,000
Matt Baughan 75,500
Marvin Rumery 73,500
Tom Organ 73,000
Ken Coy 73,000
Allen Kessler 68,500
Steve Houle 66,500
John Pierce 63,500
Daniel Buckley 60,500
Jason Crew 57,000
Kevin Berthelsen 51,000
Robert Kalteux 50,500
LeRoy Dubray 49,500
Ben Keeline 42,000
Jared Mohnen 40,500
Thomas Ryan 38,000
Matt Sztamburski 34,500
Rob Chiappone 28,000
Phil Mader 23,500

Four More Hands

The tournament staff just announced the remaining players will play four hands before bagging and tagging for the night. We’re headed out to the field to capture any last-minute action and to compile a list of chip counts. Stay tuned for those as well as a full recap of the Day 1b action and the combined Day 2 seat draw.

Huge Pot Results in Elimination of Peebles

Thomas Peebles, who finished runner-up in the inaugural MSPT Wisconsin State Poker Championship last year, raised to 6,000 from the hijack and was met by a three-bet to 17,000 by David Battani in the big blind. Peebles responded by four-betting all in for roughly 110,000 and Battani snap-called.

Peebles:

Battani:

Peebles was way behind and failed to get lucky as the board ran out clean to send the massive pot to Battani.

Battani - 250,000

Peebles - Busted

Bender Busts Hartmann

A short-stacked Tony Hartmann got his last 15,000 or so all in preflop and was at risk against Jason Bender.

Hartmann:

Bender:

Hartmann needed some help, and he got a little when the flop gave him a gutshot straight draw. Unfortunately for him, neither the turn nor river completed it and he was eliminated here in the last level of the night.

Some Late Night Luck for Syverud

Wisconsin’s Rick Syverud open-shipped for 45,300 from middle position and his fellow Cheesehead, Matt Vaughan, three-bet all in over the top for more than 100,000, which inspired both blinds to fold.

Vaughan:

Syverud:

Syverud began to get out of his chair, but the flop gave him pause with a flush draw. Much to the dismay of Vaughan, it came in when the dealer burned and turned the . The meaningless was put out on the river to make it official, and a smiling Syverud sat back down with new life.

Sztamburski Stays Alive

Keith Heine opened for 6,000 from the button, and after the player in the small blind called, Matt Sztamburski three-bet all in for 13,900 from the big. Heine made the call and the player in the small blind got out of the way.

Heine:

Sztamburski:

It was a flip, but not after the flop came down to give Sztamburski a set. The turn may have paired Heine, but it also left him drawing dead headed to the river, which came the meaningless .

Sztamburski - 35,000

Heine - 250,000

Ryan Hits 200k

A preflop raising war saw a player known as “LT” get his stack of 62,000 all in preflop and in dire straits against Ryan Phan.

Phan:

LT:

Phan was looking to dodge an ace or some other such nonsense, and that’s just what he did after the board ran out . With that, Phan is up to 200k.

Last Break of the Night

Players are now on their last 10-minute break of the day. When they return they’ll play two more levels before bagging and tagging for the night.

Updated Chip Counts

Keith Heine - 250,000

Timothy McReynolds - 220,000

Dan Sun - 200,000

Thomas Peebles - 158,000

Rich Alsup - 145,000

Ryan Phan - 130,000

Troy Repp - 95,000

Jason Bender - 85,000

Sam Desilva - 85,000

Leroy Dubray - 70,000

Phil Mader - 70,000

Tony Hartmann - 65,000

Rick Syverud - 45,000

Allen Kessler - 45,000

TJ Ryan - 40,000

Ben Keeline - 40,000

Scott Neuendorf - 29,000

Dan “DQ” Hendrickson - Busted

Aaron Johnson - Busted

Bill Romer - Busted