Canterbury Park

Thomas Wu Bags Chip Lead as 52 Players Advance from Day 1B of Record-Breaking MSPT Canterbury Park

Day 1B of the MSPT Season Final $1,100 Main Event at Canterbury Park attracted 277 entries which along with 1A’s brought the total field up to 493 entries. That surpasses our Spring event (475 entries) as the largest major poker tournament ($1K+ buy-in) in Minnesota history.

After 14 levels of play, Minneapolis’ Thomas Wu bagged the chip lead among the 52 Day 1B survivors with a hefty stack of 326,000, which is well ahead of the 1A chip leader Chris Meyers (278,000).

Speaking of Meyers, who currently sits atop the Kimo Sabe Mezcal MSPT Season 8 Player of the Year leader board with 3,350 points, that race came into focus on Day 1B. Contenders Mike Shanahan, Ahmed Taleb, and Max Havlish all saw their POY hopes go up in flames by falling on 1B.

Two players still in contention for POY, though they’ll likely need a win and for Meyers to exit early, are “Big” Al Hedin and Osama “Sammy” Aweida, who made it through 1B with 130,000 and 32,500 respectively. Those two will return on Day 2 to compete not only against Meyers, but Keith Heine as well. Heine sits in second place (2,967 points) and advanced on 1A with 195,500.

Others to make it through Day 1B were Koua Her (304,000), Drew Schulz (243,500), Rob Wazwaz (242,500), 2016 MSPT Iowa State Poker Champ Carter Myers (197,500), eight-time WSOP Circuit ring winner Josh Reichard (158,000), two-time MSPT champ Peixin Liu (149,500), 2017 Minnesota State Poker Champ Jon Hanner (111,000), and former Players of the Year Rich Alsup (72,500) and Mark Hodge (42,500).

Among those to fall on Day 1B were 2016 MSPT Michigan State Poker Champion Brett Blackwood, World Series of Poker bracelet winner John Reading, MSPT first-timer and poker Twitter legend Kevin “Kevmath” Mathers, 2016 MN Magazine Player of the Year Saad Ghanem, and Joe Matheson, who saw his streak of cashing every MSPT season come to an end.

Matheson’s failure to cash in Season 8 means Kou Vang, Matt Kirby, Dan “DQ” Hendrickson and Jeremy Dresch are the only four players in the world to have cashes each and every season of the MSPT.

Day 2 will get underway with 92 returning players at 11 a.m. local time and play down to a winner. The final table, which should be reached around 7 p.m., will be live streamed worldwide with hole cards.

Be sure to join us tomorrow as we bring you all the action and eliminations straight from the floor of the latest MSPT Canterbury Park!

End-of-Day 1B Chip Counts

Five More Hands

The tournament staff just announced the remaining players will play five more hands before bagging and tagging on Day 1B.

Stay tuned for a list of survivors with chip counts, a recap of the 1B action, and the Day 2 seat draw.

No Final Table Three-peat for Jon Kim

Last December, Jonathan Kim topped a field of 464 entries to win this very event for $107,659. He then returned in April and nearly defended that title, ultimately finishing runner-up to Mark Wadekamper in a field of 475 entries, good for $66,593.

Unfortunately for Kim, he won’t be making another deep run this go around.

In a recent hand, Luke Blindert limped from middle position and Kim moved all in for 30,700 from the hijack. Action folded back to Blindert and he thought for a bit before making the call.

Kim:
Blindert:

It was a flip, but Kim needed to improve to stay alive. That proved easier said than done though as the board ran out a lowly .

Jon Kim - Busted

"Big" Al Hedin Jams The Turn Against Rich Alsup

Three players had built a 40,000 pot and were on the turn of a board. The big blind checked, and Rich Alsup bet 22,000. “Big” Al Hedin announced “All in,” committing his final 76,200 into the pot.

The big blind folded, but Alsup had a decision for his remaining 48,000 chips. He thought it over for some time, then mucked his hand, awarding Hedin the chunky pot.

“Seat’s been good to you, eh?” Hedin’s neighbor asked.

Hedin simply smirked and raked in the pot.

“Big” Al Hedin - 140,000 (58 bb)
Rich Alsup - 48,000 (20 bb)

Late Night Glamour Shots

Thomas Sadowski Gets Lucky to Double Through Brian Schummer

Brian Schummer opened for 5,500 from early position and then called when Thomas Sadowski moved all in for 20,800 from the small blind.

Schummer:
Sadowski:

Sadowski was in trouble, and the flop didn’t do much for him. Fortunately for him, the turn was just what he was looking for.

The river was of no consequence, and Sadowski shipped the double.

Thomas Sadowski - 45,000 (23 bb)

Jeff Fielder Takes His Leave Via Jim Boone

We got to the table just as Jeff Fielder had shoved his last 31,000 from the big blind and Jim Boone had called from the button, having Fielder barely covered.

Fielder:
Boone:

“Three outs,” Fielder said, referencing his ace, and one did fall on the flop, however, the flop also contained a king, giving Boone a hammerlock on the hand.

The officially ended Fielder’s tournament, and the completed the board on the river, and Fielder the jet-setter took his leave while Boone scored a critical double.

Jim Boone - 65,000 (32.5 bb)
Jeff Fielder - Busted

MSPT Proud to Offer Discounted Airfare on Delta

The Mid-States Poker Tour has again teamed with Delta to provide discounted airfare to MSPT players looking to travel to and from all MSPT events in 2018.

The discount ranges from 2% to 10% based on the Delta Booking Class purchased.

Delta Booking Class - % off:

F/J/C/D/Y/P/I – 10%

B/M/H/Q/K/L – 5%

U/T/V/X – 2%

Meeting Code NMRDU

Below are online booking instructions:

Reservations and ticketing is available via www.delta.com/meeting. When booking online:

1. Select BOOK A FLIGHT
2. Ener Meeting Code in the box provided: NMRDU

Reservations may also be made by calling our Delta Meeting reservations at 800 328 1111 Mon-Fri 7am-7pm CDT.

*Please note that there is a direct ticketing fee for booking by phone

*Discounts applicable to U.S./Canada originating passengers

Late Night Chip Counts from the Other Half the Room

Drew Schulz - 315,000
Koua Her - 225,000
Ben Valder - 75,000
Hank Mlekoday - 70,000
David Nelson - 58,000
Sammy Aweida - 52,000
Mario Hudson - 50,000
James Johnson - 48,000
Jon Hanner - 35,000
Judd Greenagel - 28,000
Robert Noe - 8,500
Ahmed Moon - Busted