Canterbury Park

WSOP Bracelet Winner Adam Friedman Leads 39 Day 1a Survivors

Day 1a of the Mid-States Poker Tour Canterbury Park Main Event attracted 184 entries, which nearly met the advertised $200,000 guarantee in the first of two starting flights. After 14 levels of play, just 39 players remained with World Series of Poker bracelet winner Adam Friedman and his stack of 184,500 leading the way.

Friedman, who is visiting the Twin Cities for the first time after making the trip up from his home in Ohio, has $1,789,582 in lifetime cashes, which includes $269,037 for winning the 2012 WSOP Event #15: $5,000 Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo after defeating Todd Brunson in heads-up play.

Others who bagged and tagged were defending champ Carl Carodenuto (162,000), two-time MSPT champ Johnny Hayes (135,500), and Minneapolis businessman and poker high roller John Morgan (110,500), MSPT Pro Blake Bohn (109,000), and Justin Thurlow (129,000).

Thurlow, who hails from Cottage Grove, Minnesota, has $145,471 in lifetime earnings and is looking for his fourth MSPT cash. His first-ever came in July of last year when he finished runner-up to the aforementioned Bohn at the MSPT Meskwaki, which was good for $58,442. Thurlow then placed 16^th here at Canterbury back in December, which earned him an additional $3,590, and most recently took 12^th at the MSPT Ho-Chunk Gaming Wisconsin Dells back in February.

Of course not everyone was so lucky. Among those to fall on Day 1a were reigning MSPT Player of the Year Mark Hodge, MSPT Running Aces champ Luke Arora, Minnesota Poker Hall of Famer Mike Schneider, and MSPT Potawatomi champ Travis Lauson, who is also out in front in the MSPT Season 7 Player of the Year race.

Lauson fell in Level 11 (600/1,200/200) when he moved all in for his last 25,000 with ace-seven and Peixin Liu, a two-time MSPT champ and the tour's all-time money winner, called him with pocket eights. Liu flopped eights full of sixes and that was all she wrote for Lauson. Liu went on to bag 110,000.

Those who fell on Day 1a will have the opportunity to try again tomorrow, as Day 1b will kick off at 4 p.m. local time. The MSPT Live Blog will capture all the action, so be sure to check back then.

End-of-Day 1a Chip Counts

Adam Friedman bags the Day 1a chip lead with 184,500 Canterbury Park
39 of 184 advance to Day 2
‪#‎canyoufeelit‬

Adam Friedman Gahanna, OH 184,500
Carl Carodenuto Bloomington, MN 162,000
Adam Mingo Fairbault, MN 157,000
Matthew Hamilton Minneapolis, MN 151,000
Christopher Keller Bismark, ND 145,000
John Hayes St. Paul, MN 135,500
Justin Thurlow Cottage Grove, MN 129,000
Cory Canaday New Brighton, MN 126,000
Jeff Taylor Eden Prairie, MN 116,500
Jason Seitz Shakopee, MN 111,500
John Morgan Minneapolis, MN 110,500
Peixin Liu Blaine, MN 110,000
Blake Bohn Burnsville, MN 109,000
Nathaniel Anderson Portland, OR 107,000
Mike Morgan Columbus, OH 107,000
Ron Olson St. Cloud, MN 102,500
Jon Kulkey Dayton, MN 100,500
Marius Toderici Chicago, IL 98,000
Robert O'Connell Minneapolis, MN 93,000
Richard Syverud Cross Plains, WI 91,500
Scott Johnson White Bear Lake, MN 87,000
Andrija Solovjev Franklin, WI 86,500
Daniel Buckley Eden Prairie, MN 84,000
TJ Ryan Oak Forest, IL 81,000
Ryan Hartmann Minneapolis, MN 79,000
Aaron Johnson Red Wing, MN 73,500
Wade Woelfel Mankato, MN 72,000
Brian Berthiaume South St. Paul, MN 71,000
Tony Hartmann Minneapolis, MN 68,000
John Reading Rochester, MN 68,000
Everett Willberg Bagley, MN 63,000
Richard Lewallen Stanley, WI 61,000
Ryan Weeks Kenyon, MN 56,000
Ryan Farrell Chaska, MN 54,500
Darren Ficek Inver Grove Heights, MN 48,500
Jay Philips North Branch, MN 42,000
Jung Lee Burnsville, MN 38,000
Dave Schoen Prescott, WI 26,000
Tim Coglianese Minneapolis, MN 20,000

Five More Hands

The tournament staff has just informed the players that they will play five more hands at each table before bagging and tagging for the night. Stay tuned for a list of survivors with chip counts, as well as a full recap of the Day 1a action.

Defending Champ Saved on the River

Carl Carodenuto opened for 6,500 under the gun only to have an opponent three-bet to 17,000 from the cutoff. The button and blinds all folded, and then Carodenuto thought for a minute or so before moving all in for 36,700 total. His opponent snap-called.

Carodenuto:

Opponent:

Carodenuto was on the verge of elimination, and there was little hope after the flop and . However, as you can tell from the title of this post, the river was kind to him as the spiked to keep his title defense alive!

Carl Carodenuto - 80,000

Schneider Runs Into the Ladies

Mike Schneider got his last 20,000 or so all in preflop holding and found himself in dire straits against the of Aaron Johnson.

Schneider’s best bet at staying alive was to catch a king, but that didn’t happen as the board ran out low to send him to the rail just shy of Day 2.

Aaron Johnson - 85,000

Mike Schneider - 20,000

Carodenuto Bleeding; Reading Doubles

Not long ago defending champ Carl Carodenuto was the chip leader with 210,000. He now has 38,000.

Carodenuto’s most recent hit came after a player opened with a raise and WSOP bracelet winner John Reading three-bet all in for 30,700. Carodenuto moved all in over the top from the small blind, which inspired both the big blind and original raiser to fold.

Carodenuto:

Reading:

Reading had a kicker problem, but it got resolved on the flop. The turn was of no consequence, while the improved Reading to trips to give him a welcomed double.

John Reading - 68,000

Carl Carodenuto - 38,000

Vang Disappears

Kou Vang had been nursing a short stack for a couple of levels, and unfortunately for him he won’t be running it up.

Vang’s final hand happened after a player opened with a raise holding , another player called, and Vang shipped holding . The initial raiser isolated by moving all in over the top, and an ace-high flop put a dagger through Vang’s heart.

Kou Vang - Busted

Wazwaz Fails to Make Day 2

Ron Olson of St. Cloud, Minnesota opened with a raise only to have Rob Wazwaz three-bet jam his short stack. Action folded back to Olson and he snap-called.

Olson:

Wazwaz:

Wazwaz’s boxcars were in big trouble, and he failed to get lucky as the board ran out dry to send him to the rail in the last level of the night.

Ron Olson - 80,000

Rob Wazwaz - Busted

Willberg Looking to Freeroll His Way to Day 2

Ryan Hartmann raised to 5,700 from early position, and Bagley’s Everett Willberg, who won his way into this tournament via a bar league freeroll, called from the hijack. The rest of the players folded and it was heads-up action to the flop, which came down .

Hartmann checked, Willberg did the same, and the dealer burned and turned the . Hartmann took a stab at the pot with a bet of 10,600, but wound up folding after Willberg jammed for 52,800.

Everett Willberg - 74,000

Ryan Hartmann - 50,000

Various Chip Counts from Around the Room

Justin Thurlow - 202,000

Carl Carodenuto - 170,000

Wade Woelfel - 100,000

Rick Syverud - 100,000

Brian Berthiaume - 90,000

John Morgan - 92,000

Peixin Liu - 87,000

Jay Philips - 80,000

Jason Seitz - 75,000

Tony Hartmann - 72,000

Marius Toderici - 70,000

Andrija Solovjev - 70,000

Ryan Hartmann - 70,000

John Reading - 70,000

Blake Bohn - 50,000

Johnny Hayes - 50,000

TJ Ryan - 45,000

Aaron Johnson - 40,000

Mike Schneider - 40,000

Rob Wazwaz - 39,000

DJ Buckley - 28,000

Dave Delaney - 23,000

Kou Vang - 13,000

Dan “DQ” Hendrickson - Busted