The Venetian

Gary Bolden Bags Chip Leads on Day 1B of Inaugural MSPT Poker Bowl at The Venetian

Day 1B of the inaugural Mid-States Poker Tour (MSPT) $1,100 Poker Bowl at The Venetian in Las Vegas drew a massive 442 entrants, which along with Day 1A’s 253 brought the total field up to 695 runners. That created a $681,100 prize pool – more than double the advertised guarantee – that will be distributed to the top 72 players with the eventual winner taking home just over $139,000.

The player best positioned to make a run at it is Gary Bolden, who bagged a monster stack of 341,000 among the 63 survivors. That is well ahead of Day 1A chip leader Mark Darner, who finished with 257,000.

Bolden is a well-known poker pro from St. Louis with $861,212 in career earnings. That’s especially impressive when you consider his biggest cash ever was just $60,606 for finishing runner-up in the 2010 Wynn Classic $2,000 No-Limit Hold’em event. That same year he also won a $340 Venetian Deep Stack Extravaganza here at The Venetian for $52,469. Despite all his success, Bolden is seeking his first MSPT cash and he’s primed to get it.

Others who advanced from Day 1B were World Poker Tour champ Jordan Cristos (248,500), MSPT Golden Gates runner-up Jason Vanstrom (227,000), poker pro Lily Kiletto (217,000), 2016 MSPT Iowa State Poker champ John Sun (164,500), World Series of Poker bracelet winner Eric Baldwin (110,500), and MSPT Season 1 Running Aces champ Joe Matheson (58,000).

Unfortunately, not everyone could survive the flight. Among those to try and fall were Vegas cash game grinders Michael Faulkner and Andrew Moreno; MSPT champs Jonathan Kim, Rodger Johnson, and Johnny Hayes; and poker pros Joseph Cheong, Ryan Laplante, Joe Tehan and Tim West.

Day 2 will see the surviving players from both flights return to action at 11 a.m. on Saturday and play down to a winner. Who will walk away with top prize and two trophies? Join us then to find out as we capture all the action right here in the live blog. Until then, good night from Las Vegas!

We will have the Day 2 seat draw, as well as payout information, posted for your shortly.

End-of-Day 1B Chip Counts

Six More Hands

The tournament staff just announced the remaining players will play six more hands before bagging and tagging for the night. Stay tuned for a list of survivors with chip counts, a recap of the Day 1B action, and the Day 2 seat draw.

Big Slick Does the Trick for France's Ray Rudolph

Ray Rudolph, who hails from France, raised to 5,500 under the gun and a player in middle position called. The player in the small blind then moved all in for 70,800, and Rudolph, who didn’t have much more than that, made the call. The limper got out of the way and the hands were turned up.

Rudolph:
Opponent:

Rudolph was well out in front thanks to his king kicker, and that’s right where he stayed as the board ran out .

Ray Rudolph - 165,000

Parting Words from Casey Carroll

Checkin' It Down

In the last hand of Level 13, Bill Croft raised to 5,500 from early position and action folded around to chip leader Gary Bolden, who called from the small blind.

After the player in the big folded, it was heads-up action to the flop.

Both players checked and then did the same on the turn as well as the river.

Bolden tabled the for a rivered pair of aces, and it was good as Croft sent his cards to the muck.

Gary Bolden - 320,000
Bill Croft - 90,000

Quad's

Hicham Chami, who finished third at the very first MSPT Venetian event in 2014 for $74,286 and then followed it up with 19^th for $14,301 in 2015, and Mike Haag, who finished 17^th in 2015 for $17,393, were in a hand together.

Chami checked the flop, Hagg bet 3,500, and Chami called.

Both players checked on the turn. When came out on the river, Chami bet 12,500.

Haag thought it over for a couple of seconds before mucking his hand, which prompted Chami to show the .

Hicham Chami - 220,000
Michael Haag - 40,000

Georgios Anthoniou Delivers Blow to Casey Carroll

Action folded around to Georgios Anthoniou in the small blind and he raised to 6,000, which Casey Carroll called from the big.

When the flop came down , Anthoniou bet 5,000 and Carroll called.

The turn saw Anthoniou bet again, this time 6,000, and Carroll thought long and hard before making the call.

Anthoniou bet a final 12,000 on the river and Carroll took a minute before calling.

Anthoniou tabled the for a pair of nines, and it was good as Carroll, who would fall a short time later, mucked his hand.

Georgios Anthoniou - 80,000
Casey Carroll - Busted

Late Night Counts

Ankush Mandavia - 162,000
Lily Kiletto - 135,000
Jordan Cristos - 125,000
Jason Vanstrom - 120,000
Samantha Abernathy - 100,000
Ben Palmer - 70,000
Eric Baldwin - 65,000
Joe Matheson - 60,000
Nick Quraishi - 60,000
Ben Yu - 43,000
Jeff Fielder - 35,000
Tim West - 30,000
Chris Staats - 20,000
Jared Jaffee – Busted

Late Night Glamor Shots