Bally's Black Hawk Casino

Alex Cruz Takes Overall Chip Lead Into Day 2

Day 1c of the Mid-States Poker Tour (MSPT) Bally's Black Hawk $1,110 Main Event drew 254 entries, the biggest field of all three starting flights, bringing the overall field up to 486.

The combined fields generated a $469,920 prize pool, and the top 54 players will get paid a minimum of $2,115, while the eventual winner will walk away with a $101,033 first-place prize.

At the end of the third and final flight, 31 players bagged and tagged with Alex Cruz bagging the overall chip lead with 591,000.

Cruz held one of the top stacks for most of the evening and catapulted to the top after he eliminated another top stack holder Otto Portuondo in an Aces vs Kings hand.

Ending the night second in chips was inaugural MSPT St. Louis champ Umut Ozturk who gave Cruz a run for his money ending the night with 526,000.

Others to bag big stacks where Marlon Caster (484,000), Behrouz Keshtavar (434,000), & Jonathan McCray (435,00), as they were the only other players to bag north of 400k and round out the top five stacks.

They were joined by Alex Smith (343,000), Brian Yee (317,000), Hayden Thiry (299,000), Shane Borrilo (297,000), and MSPT champ Gerald Cunniff (187,000).

The surviving players from all three flights – of which there are 60 (11 from Day 1a, 18 from 1b, and 31 from 1c) – will return at 11 a.m. local time on Sunday, July 16th to play down to a winner.

The MSPT live reporting crew will be on the floor throughout the remainder of the tournament to provide updates, so keep it here to catch the action!

MSPT Bally's Black Hawk Showdown Series Remaining Schedule

End of Day 1C Chip Counts

Player Name	Chip Count	Previous	Progress
Alex Cruz	591,000	694,000
Umut Ozturk	526,000	515,000
Marlon Caster	484,000	418,000
Behrouz Kestitavar	438,000	438,000
Jonathan McCray	435,000	316,000
Sina Hajibikloo	376,000	267,000
Louie Cohen	365,000	365,000
Alex Smith	343,000	316,000
Brain Yee	317,000	337,000
Bobby Opila	310,000	310,000
Jeremy Standiford	300,000	300,000
Hayden Thiry	299,000	251,000
Shane Borrilo	297,000	297,000
Kevin Kurtz	245,000	245,000
Ali Mirtaheri	221,000	255,000
Gerald Cunniff	187,000	180,000
Vy Tran	186,000	186,000
Will Mietz	182,000	150,000
Michael McFadden	179,000	180,000
Chase Crawford	174,000	174,000
Matthew Stolmeier	162,000	162,000
John Pillitteri	150,000	150,000
Christopher Shyttle	133,000	133,000
Samuel McMaster	128,000	128,000
Matthew Langford	122,000	122,000
Matt Adams	121,000	121,000
Dana Deitz	94,000	201,000
Todd Melander	91,000	140,000
Ronald Scott	89,000	89,000
Anthony Bublitz	69,000	90,000
Russell Neesham	35,000	85,000

Maier Ousted by Mietz

Will Mietz raised to 12,000 from under the gun and then called MSPT champ Eric Maier’s three-bet jam from the button.

Eric Maier:
Will Mietz:

“Nice hand,” Mietz said to Maier before tabling the weapons of mass destruction that ended his Main Event after the board ran out .

Will Mietz - 150,000
Eric Maier - Eliminated

Maier Wins Race to Keeping Back-to-Back Dreams Ali

Last year’s Black Hawk Main Event champ Eric Maier built up a good stack for majority of the day but took a massive hit that saw him get his last 33,000 into the middle and Jon McCray looked him up from the button.

Eric Maier:
Jon McCray:

Maier found himself racing for his tournament life and he took the lead to keep his back-to-back hopes alive after the board ran out.

Jon McCray - 331,000
Eric Maier - 70,000

Brian Welski Tames the Monster Stack

In Event #11: $250 NLH Monster Stack, 188 entries were tallied and generated a $37,600 prize pool which was reserved for the top 21 spots.

Among those to cash but fall before the final table were Camden Knapp (10th Place - $714), Wiley Price (13th Place - $564), and Kelly Young (16th Place - $489).

Coming out on top was Brian Welski, who took home the MSPT trophy, along with $5,152!

Final Table Results

*denotes chop

Portuondo Dusted by Cruz in Cooler

A series of preflop raises led to two of the late-night chip leaders getting their stacks into the middle preflop.

Otto Portuondo:
Alex Cruz:

Portuondo found himself in an unfortunate situation and things got worse after the flop gave Cruz top set.

The turn left Portuondo drawing dead and the river ended the once chip leader’s night.

Alex Cruz - 694,000
Otto Portuondo - Eliminated

Prize Pool Information

MSPT 226 at Bally’s Black Hawk
Entrants: 486
Prize Pool: $469,920

Round of Counts

Player Name	Chip Count	Previous	Progress
Marlon Caster	418,000	315,000
Brain Yee	337,000	297,500
Alex Smith	316,000	165,000
Umut Ozturk	315,000	225,000
Otto Portuondo	283,000	340,000
Eric Maier	281,000	205,000
Sina Hajibikloo	267,000	78,500
Ali Mirtaheri	255,000	228,500
Hayden Thiry	251,000	141,000
Dana Deitz	201,000	165,000
Gerald Cunniff	180,000	87,500
Michael McFadden	180,000	187,500
Jonathan McCray	160,000	160,000
Todd Melander	140,000	50,000
Al Rubayee	90,000	220,000
Anthony Bublitz	90,000	174,500
Jamies Agustin	53,000	108,600
Patrice Cuccia	37,000	76,500
William Givens	0	98,500
Vincent Moscati	0	31,500
Jordan Walker	0	48,500