The Venetian

Matthew Herrera Leads at 177 Players Advance from Record Day 1c Field

Day 1c of the Mid-States Poker Tour Venetian $1,100 buy-in, $2,000,000 guarantee Main Event was a record-breaking affair as all 720 tables – which amounted to 720 seat – were each in use nearly two times over. Over the course of the day 1,420 players played the flight – nearly equal to the 1,477 total field of the 2016 World Series of Poker Event #10: $1,500 Six-Handed No-Limit Hold'em -- which set the record for the largest single-day field in The Venetian history.

Along with Day 1a's 499 and Day 1b's 968 entries brought the total field up to 2,887 entries, which smashed the $2 million guarantee by creating a $2,829,260 prize pool that will be distributed to the final 297 players. The winner will take home $403,178, and you can check out the rest of the payouts by clicking here.

After 15 levels of play, just 177 players survived the Day 1c flight with Matthew Herrera and his stack of 411,000 leading the way. That is ahead of Day 1b chip leader Alex Noble, who bagged up 382,000, but behind Brazil's Felipe Difini, who bagged up the Day 1a lead with 554,000.

Others who bagged big stacks were Sal Dicarlo (352,000), Billy Kopp (347,500), James Kilarjian (304,000), and Maury Solano (301,500), who round out the top five.

Others who made it through were MSPT Running Aces champ Mark Sandness (203,000), MSPT Potawatomi champ Dan Goepel (164,000), last year's WSOP Main Event third-place finisher Neil Blumenfield (153,500), 888poker pro Jessica Dawley (132,500), poker pro Ronnie Bardah (116,500), World Poker Tour champ Moon Kim (82,000), and former European footballer Jimmy Kebe (72,500).

Among those who fell on Day 1c were MSPT FireKeepers champ Aaron Massey, inaugural MSPT Wisconsin State Poker Champion Ben Wiora, MSPT Majestic Star champ Ken Baime, MSPT Meskwaki winner and WSOP bracelet winner Nick Jivkov, and WSOP Millionaire Maker Adrian Buckley.

The surviving players from all three flights, of which there are 354, will return for Day 2 action at 11 a.m. local time on Thursday. The plan will play down to the final table or as close as they can get to it after a full day of play. Be sure to join us then.

End-of-Day 1c Chip Counts

Matthew Herrera bags the lead 411,000 at The Venetian Las Vegas on Day 1c as 177 of 1,420 advance

Matthew Herrera 411,000
Sal Dicarlo 352,000
William Kopp 347,500
James Kilarjian 304,000
Maury Solano 301,500
Erik Christensen 293,000
Domingos Gernandes 287,500
Michael Banducci 279,500
Kevin Johnson 268,500
Jeff Rodriguez 266,000
Diana Yang 236,500
Alex Rocha 236,000
Teichert Nikolous 230,500
Daniel Smith 227,500
Alberto Rodriguez 220,000
Frank Debus 220,000
Jonathan Hanner 219,000
Long Tran 215,500
Senh Cong 215,000
George Abi-Zeid 212,500
Damir Krolo 212,000
Mike Michrik 211,500
Grace Zhang 208,000
Thupten Thondup 208,000
Mark Sandness 203,000
Marc MacDonnell 197,500
Mircea Ionescie 196,500
Cody Borders 193,500
Eduards Kudrjavcevs 192,500
Jason Seitz 189,500
Gary Banks 183,500
Nate Geise 182,500
Justin Kindred 181,500
Daniel Wagner 181,000
Ulysses Alcaraz 179,000
Joshua Mullins 177,000
Michael Lipman 172,500
David Bradshaw 165,500
Brett Silverman 164,500
Dan Goepel 164,000
Vince Stroup 162,500
Matt Vaughan 162,000
Viliyan Petleshkov 161,000
Michael Guzzardi 160,000
Shane Florror 158,500
Antonio FM Mitrotia 157,000
Stogan Obeshikov 156,500
Neil Blumenfield 153,500
Jan Schwippert 151,000
Nemash Patel 149,500
Henry Gingerich 146,000
Steve Karp 144,000
John Pierce 142,500
Reginald Roberts 142,500
Keven Stammen 142,500
David Datashvili 140,000
James Mangararo 140,000
Paul Sokoloff 137,500
Brian Gallegos 137,000
Corey Kempson 136,500
Jessica Dawley 132,500
Tyler Kenney 130,000
Daniel Schunk 130,000
Paul Ephremsen 129,500
Steve Buell 128,000
Ryan Jaconetti 126,500
Gary Payne 124,500
Marsel Backa 124,500
Andrew Hawkins 121,000
Kyle Bonazzo 121,000
Justin Brown 120,500
Balram Bhandari 118,000
Ronnie Bardah 116,500
Mate Mecs 116,000
Bob Shero 115,000
Taylor Wilson 114,500
Jack Battaglia 113,500
Georgios Kapalas 113,000
Audley Harrison 110,500
Benjamin Perez 109,500
Joseph Elpayaa 108,500
Robert Fulford 108,000
Ting Ho 107,000
Joey Welssman 107,000
Gordon Huntly 106,500
Jonathan McGowain 106,500
Jonathan Bennett 106,000
Rob Brown 106,000
David Patterson 106,000
Kevin Campbell 105,500
Majad Radoei 105,000
Arianna Son 103,000
Brad Coultas 100,500
Tony Gargano 96,500
Chris Da-Silva 96,000
Darryl Beal 95,000
Jeff Coburn 95,000
Lance Harris 95,000
Stephen Ralph 94,500
Anthony Hulbert 93,500
Lisa Costello 92,500
Nichloas Pupillo 92,000
Patrick Karschamroon 92,000
Jonathan Lewis 90,000
Alan Myerson 89,000
Jonathan Lawson 88,000
Jia Tse 88,000
Steven Clark 87,500
Michael Rocco 86,000
Ami Sharma 86,000
Sterling Savill 86,000
Klein Bach 85,000
Jarod Ludemann 84,000
Michael Lavenburg 83,500
Moon Kim 82,000
Will Mietz 82,000
Charles Johnson 81,500
Danny Loomis 79,500
Thomas Keeper 79,000
Craig Bergeron 79,000
TM Williams 78,000
Yuligan Kolev 77,500
Matt Ezrol 77,000
Paul Figarotta 76,000
John Egen 75,500
Marios Savvides 74,500
Jared Griener 74,000
Jimmy Kebe 72,500
Jonathan Hilton 71,500
Josh Palmer 71,500
Tamas Lendvai 69,000
Joseph Brown 69,000
Bronson Tucker 68,500
Zal Irani 68,000
Timothy Miles 65,500
Jeremy Joseph 64,500
James Dempsey 64,000
Sam Nguyen 64,000
Clayton Jiang 62,500
Michael Rudolph 61,500
Nice Murray 61,000
Romihr Vartcar 61,000
Joe Kuether 60,500
Yeping Shan 60,000
Michael Gray 59,500
Niel Mittelman 58,500
Len Demchan 58,000
Barry Brown 58,000
James Gibson 57,500
Mark Johnson JR 57,000
Marius Toderici 57,000
Victor Perches 55,500
Chad Eveslage 54,000
Hyojin Chon 53,500
Shannon Shorr 53,000
Robert Wirth 51,500
Alfredo Vaz 51,500
Marshall White 49,000
Annette Obrestad 49,000
Jeremy Ausmol 49,000
Jesse McVicker 48,500
Dan Helmiluer 48,500
David Kelly 46,000
Justin Kadex 46,000
Almog Biton 44,500
Stanley Lee 42,500
Denis Vladimizou 42,000
Grayson Ramage 40,500
Anthony Fung 38,000
Evan Young 37,000
Tom Thomas 37,000
Steve Cha 36,000
Ravinder Bedi 35,000
Rick Alvarado 32,500
Ben Winsor 28,500
James Mission 22,500
Tim Bryan 18,000

Payout Information

Stay Tuned for the Day 1c Recap

Players are currently bagging and tagging. Stay tuned for a list of survivors with chip counts, the Day 2 seat draw, and a full recap of the Day 1c action.

David Gutfreund Gutted

A Look at the Current MSPT Player of the Year Leaderboard

There’s no doubt the MSPT Venetian is going to shake up the MSPT Season 7 Player of the Year leaderboard, but right now MSPT Potawatomi champ Travis Lauson, who advanced from the Day 1a field, lead the way with 2,067 points.

MSPT Returns to Meskwaki Casino July 16-24 for Iowa State Poker Championship

The stop, which requires players be just 18 years or older to participate, will kick off with a series of satellites that feed into the Main Event, which will take place from Friday, July 22 through Sunday, July 24.

The Main Event will be held over three days beginning Friday evening with Day 1a at 4 p.m. Day 1a will play 14 levels. Day 1b will then take place at the same time on Saturday. Players who advance from Main Event Flight 1a to Day 2 are not eligible to play in Flight 1b. The remaining players from each flight will combine on Sunday morning at 11:00 a.m. and play until a champion is crowned.

The Main Event final table will be broadcast LIVE (15-minute delay) worldwide on msptpoker.com using RFID technology allowing all viewers to see the hole cards. In addition, the entirety of the Main Event will be live reported in the MSPT's brand new live blog, which can be found on msptpoker.com once the tournament begins. Simply look for the neon green button that reads "Live Updates."

In addition to the satellites and Main Event, Meskwaki Casino will host two bonus events. The first is on Monday, July 18 at 7:00 p.m. and is a $50 no-limit hold'em rebuy event with 20-minute levels. The second, a $20 no-limit hold'em rebuy, will then be held at the same time on Tuesday, July 19.

Here's a look at the MSPT Iowa State Poker Championship schedule:

The last time the MSPT visited the property, which was back in March, 34-year-old Keith Heine topped a field of 409 entries to capture a $100,981 first-place prize. Other past winners of the MSPT Meskwaki include Rich Alsup (November 2015; 410 entries; $101,229 prize), MSPT Pro Blake Bohn (July 2015; 410 entries; $101,229 prize), and Chad Willett (March 2015; 371 entries; $96,760 prize), just to name a few.

"With three stops at the venue every year, Meskwaki Casino and the MSPT go hand in hand," said MSPT owner/operator Bryan Mileski. "The second annual Iowa State Poker Championship is particularly exciting as Bohn, the tour's first pro, will look to defend his title, while the stop's most recent champ, Keith Heine, will return with the hope of winning back-to-back events."

Located in Tama, Iowa — between Des Moines and Cedar Rapids on Highway 30 — Meskwaki Casino features a huge bingo hall, table games, active craps tables, good blackjack games, horse book, indoor pool, exercise room, spa, and a large number of hotel rooms. For players looking to fly to the stop, the airport in Des Moines is the closest option.

A Round of Chip Counts

Michael “Coach” Lipman - 160,000

Keven Stammen - 150,000

Dan Heimiller - 120,000

Nick Pupillo - 115,000

Jessica Dawley (888poker Pro) - 110,000

Ronnie Bardah - 110,000

Josh Reichard (MSPT Ho-Chunk champ) - 110,000

Matt Vaughan - 102,000

Jason Seitz (MSPT Running Aces champ) - 100,000

Jeremy Ausmus - 94,000

Dan Goepel (MSPT Potawatomi champ) - 90,000

Zal Irani - 85,000

Josh Crain (MSPT Golden Gates champ) - 75,000

Joey Weissman - 75,000

Annette Obrestad - 70,000

Clayton Jiang - 65,000

Joe Kuether - 63,000

Ting Ho - 55,000

Jerry Yang - 54,000

Mark Sandness (MSPT Running Aces champ) - 53,000

Raymond Davis - 50,000

David Gutfreund - 50,000

Mark Johnson - 45,000

Todd Breyfogle - 37,000

Pat Steele (MSPT Season 4 POY) - 36,000

Neil Blumenfield - 35,000

Lance Harris - 30,000

Matt Kirby (MSPT Pro) - 25,000

Matt Alexander (MSPT Pro) - Busted

Fabrice Soulier - Busted

Some Tweets from the Last Break of the Night

Last Break of the Night

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