Canterbury Park

Day 1A Completed, Sam Chase Leads Flight

A star-studded field took to the felt just outside the Twin Cities for the MSPT 157 Main Event at Canterbury Park and Sam Chase came out on top to lead the way in Day 1A.

Chase finished strong to put away 355,000 chips for the top total of the evening. Kanat Ozturk stood tall in second bagging 214,500 and Zephaniah Baer took third with 195,000. Brian Clark wound up in fourth with 184,500 and Tony Moses rounded out the top five with 176,500. Other notables who got through the flight included Gerald Cunniff (164,500), Ian Matakis (159,000) and Jason Seitz (86,500).

Quite a few notables did not survive the Day 1A field including all three MSPT Hall of Famers: Kou Vang, Aaron Johnson and Rich Alsup. Past MSPT Main Event Champions Blake Bohn, Jesse Rockowitz, Mark Sandness and Rob Wazwaz also missed out on advancing this evening. Other MSPT stalwarts who could not find their way to Day 2 included Alex Winter, Luke Blindert, Dan Favreau, Jeff Taylor, Nathan Fair, Brian Berthiaume, Todd Melander, Loki Abboud, Nghia “3 Putts” Le, John Reading and Eric Eelkema.

For the flight, 109 entries were recorded and 13 players advanced to Day 2. Two more starting flights remain on Friday and Saturday with both starting at 12 PM Central. All players who advance from the three starting flights will be back in action on Sunday for Day 2 starting at 11 AM Central.

We’ll be back tomorrow here on msptpoker.com for all the coverage of Day 1B plus the live stream of the final table on Sunday on twitch.tv/msptpoker. Congratulations to everyone who advanced and we’ll see you back here Friday at noon!

End of Day 1A Chip Counts

Player Name	Chip Count	Previous	Progress
Sam Chase	355,000	186,000
Kanat Ozturk	214,500	160,000
Zephaniah Baer	195,000	133,500
Brian Clark	184,500	72,000
Tony Moses	176,500	245,000
Jason Obinger	176,000	81,000
Gerald Cunniff	164,500	210,500
Ian Matakis	159,000	107,000
Dennis Stevermer	121,500	230,000
Jean-Luc Bardu	120,500	127,000
Thai Dinh	114,000	57,500
Jackson Vue	112,000	122,000
Jason Seitz	86,500	72,500

Drill Eliminated By Ozturk

Scott Drill fought valiantly, but his final bluff was sniffed out by Kanat Otzurk and his Day 1A came to an end in unceremonious fashion.

After preflop action that removed all other contestants from the pot, Otzurk in the small blind and Drill in the hijack went to a flop. was the board, and Otzurk checked. Drill pushed all in for his final 52,000, just a bit above the current pot size. It was at this point that Otzurk began piecing the story together in his mind, talking out his thought process. “If you miss, you shove, that makes sense,” he said, and after verifying the all in count Otzurk placed his call over the betting line.

Otzurk:
Drill:

The read was right, and the deck rewarded Otzurk’s Ace-high call with on the turn to lock it up. on the river was a small consolation for Drill, who is eliminated just short of the 12% of the field reaining watermark needed to trigger end-of-day proceedings. Otzurk collects the last of the Minneapolis native’s chips, and we are down to 14 remaining in Day 1A from Canterbury Park.

Player Name	Chip Count	Previous	Progress
Kanat Ozturk	160,000	116,000	​​
Scott Drill	0	51,000

Featured Table 1

Sam Chase raised to 12,500 from early position only to be called by Ian Matakis from middle position.

The flop came , Chase lead out for 17,000 which seemed to be the right number as Matakis folded.

Day 1A winding down here at Canterbury Park.

$250 Turbo Satellites start at 9:00 AM tomorrow, Top 20% advance to The Main Event! Start time is at 12:00 PM.

Obinger Out-Kicks Ozturk

The Table 2 action folded around to Jason Obinger who raised to 7,500 with the 3k big blind. Kanat Ozturk defended in the big blind

On a flop of Obinger bet 5k and was called by Ozturk.

Action heated up on the turn as Obinger bet 20k and was raised by Ozturk to 45k; Obinger made the call.

On the river Obinger checked. Ozturk considered his options for a while ultimately declaring, “OK, I’ll play it safe” and tabled . Obinger revealed his besting Ozturk and taking in a nice pot as play shifted to Level 14.

Bardu Comin' Through

Jean-Luc Bardu found some room to breathe, doubling up thanks to Sam Chase.

Chase raised to 12,500 from early position, and Bardu called from the small blind. The flop came , to which Bardu checked. After Chase placed out a 20,000 chip wager, Bardu responded by going all in for 56,000, which Chase called.

Bardu:
Chase:

The runout actually improved Bardu’s hand, and after completed the board Bardu finished with Kings-full. The double puts Bardu up among the chip leaders, but don’t feel too bad for Chase who still has heaps.

Player Name	Chip Count	Previous	Progress
Sam Chase	186,000	195,000
Jean-Luc Bardu	127,000	76,000

Taylor Elminated by Baer

Action on Table 2 folded around to the small blind of Zephaniah Baer who shoved to put the short stack of Jeff Taylor all-in. Taylor made the call with and was in good shape against the of Baer.

But Baer ran down Taylor as the dealer revealed the board of .

Boom Time For Baer

Gentlemen, start your engines.

Zephaniah Baer and William Scarsdale got to have a fun little race as we inch closer toward the end of Day 1A. After Tony Moses had raised to 7,000, Baer risked it all moving his 59,500 chip stack. The action went all the way around to Scarsdale who made the call. Baer turned over and Scarsdale showed . The board ran out giving no help to Scarsdale shipping the pot over to Baer. Baer jumped to 133,500 with the win.

We’re down to 18 left as Day 1A continues this evening at Canterbury Park.

Baer Eliminates Lawrence

We joined the action already in progress as James Lawrence and Zephaniah Baer were all-in preflop. We were off to the races as Lawrence put his up against the of Baer.

The board was no help to Lawrence as it came , eliminating him and bringing us down to two tables with 18 players remaining half way through Level 14 of Day 1A.

Chase Double-Busts Lind, West

There are gross runouts, and then there’s what just occurred at Table 1.

The action folded around to Jean-Luc Bardu in the hijack, who raised to two times the big blind. But Freddie West wasn’t content with just that, and pushed all in for 34,000 from the button. Sam Chase asked for a count and decided to call from the small blind, which elicited an instant shove from Andrew Lind. Bardu folded, and Lind’s 48,000 wasn’t enough more to make Chase leave. All three men showed their holdings, Lind having the best of it and a commanding lead, at around 86% to win.

Lind:
Chase:
West:

Things looked good for Lind, but a flop of meant that it wasn’t over just yet. With still better than 83% to win, the turn brought which meant West would be hitting the rail at the very least. Even still, Lind was better than 75% to more than double heading into the home stretch of Day 1A here at Canterbury Park…

But it was not to be, as the brought the four-flush to grant Chase the double K.O. He now holds a commanding lead, as both West and Lind head for the exit. Chase soars to amongst the chip leaders with the monster hand, as the clock ticks over to Level 14.

Player Name	Chip Count	Previous	Progress
Sam Chase	195,000	111,500
Andrew Lind	0	48,000
Freddie West	0	34,000