Sycuan Casino Resort

Luke Nguyen Bags 1B Top Stack Leading the 14 Advancing Players

A lengthy day of action was played to its conclusion at the MSPT Season 15 Sycuan Showdown Series $1,110 Main Event as the hard stop of 14 players was reached with 37:17 remaining in Level 17.

The second of three flights drew 135 entries to bring the two-day total thus far to 182.

Of those 135 entries, only 14 players remained when chips went into bags with Luke Nguyen breaching the half-milly mark putting 560,000 in his bag to end the night, which is good enough for the overall chip lead thus far.

Nguyen hit his stride in the later levels, much like Sukhdip Sangha (515,000), Chris Takata (469,000), Lena Evans (466,000), & Tim Acker (462,000), who rounded out the top five stacks in a tight race of the second flight.

WPT champ Matt Salsberg (221,000), MSPT Hall of Famer Matt Kirby (232,000), and two-time bracelet winner Erick Lindgren (56,000) are just a few more of the players to add their names to the Day 2 roster along with the five players who have already advanced from Day 1a.

The final starting flight will get underway tomorrow at 2:00 p.m. local time, and it will be the last chance for players to punch their ticket into Sunday's Day 2.

Late registration and re-entries will remain open through Level 12 (approximately 10:40 p.m.) Make sure to tune in to see who makes it through to Day 2.

MSPT Season 15 Sycuan Showdown Series Remaining Schedule

End Day 1B Chip Counts

Player Name	Chip Count	Previous	Progress
Luke Nguyen (CA)	560,000	575,000
Sukhdip Sangha	515,000	360,000
Chris Takata	469,000	360,000
Lena Evans	466,000	403,000
Victor Paredes	462,000	370,000
Tim Acker	429,000	305,000
Jared Lawrence	249,000	223,000
Matt Salsberg	221,000	230,000
Matt Kirby	212,000	310,000
James Kozono	129,000	100,000
Jonathan Groat	117,000	130,000
Jonathan McGowan	95,000	325,000
Rudy Cervantes (CA)	68,000	280,000
Erick Lindgren	56,000	180,000

Tolga Gesli Gets Rivered to Burst the Bubble

Tolga Gesli raised the button and Tim Acker defended his big blind to see a flop.

Acker check-jammed after Gesli tossed out a continuation bet and Gesli snapped-off his shorter stack.

Tolga Gesli:
Tim Acker:

Acker flopped top pair, but Gesli rolled over a better made hand of queens and the turn didn’t change a thing.

Gesli was looking good to secure a double until the dealer dropped the on the river giving Acker two-pair to eliminate Gesli on the bubble.

Tim Acker - 425,000
Tolga Gesli - 0

Day 1A Chip Counts

So far, only five players have punched their ticket into Day 2 and another group of 14 hopefuls will look to add their names to that list tonight.

All who make it through until the end of play will return to action, Sunday, September 22^nd at 11:00 a.m. for Day 2, where the remaining players from all starting flights will combine and play until a winner is declared.

Big Slick Does the Trick for Acker, Doubles Through Paredes

Tim Acker raised from the hijack only to have Victor Paredes three-bet to 31,000 from the button.

Action quickly folded back to Acker who fired back with a three-bet jam for 147,000, sending Paredes deep into the tank.

After some careful thought, Paredes decided to gamble, and both players tabled their hands.

Tim Acker:
Victor Paredes:

Acker had Paredes dominated and the runout secured him the late-night double.

Victor Paredes - 370,000
Tim Acker - 305,000

Takata Secures a Dominating KO, Starting the Hand-for-Hand Process

A player from middle position open-jammed 87,000 and Chris Takata looked the up from the hijack.

Opponent:
Chris Takata:

Takata rolled over a dominating ace and the [qs8d9h7h8h} runout secured him the elimination, starting the hand-for-hand process with 15 players remaining.

Chris Takata - 360,000

Tara Dunn Leads Tight Player of the Series Race

With a tight Series Points Champion race, Tara Dunn leads the way with 17 points, edging out Anastasiia Knapp by one point.

The points leader at the end of the series at Sycuan Casino Resort will receive an $1,110 Main Event buy-in at a future stop within 90 days.

Current points: https://msptpoker.com/.../player-of-the-series-points...

Point details (scroll to the SPC info sheet): https://msptpoker.com/showpdf.aspx?eventID=446

One Spot Short Again for Miholich

Action on the table folded to Kyle Miholich who raised all in for 47,000 from the cutoff only to have Luke Nguyen go over the top from the button giving him isolation.

Kyle Miholich:
Luke Nguyen:

Miholich was at risk holding two live cards, but it was Nguyen who connected with the flop to take a commanding lead.

The turn brought some sunshine to Miholich’s hand as it kept him live drawing to a club, but the river was a brick and ended his night one away from the bubble.

Luke Nguyen - 575,000
Kyle Miholich - 0

Late Night Counts & Bust Outs

Player Name	Chip Count	Previous	Progress
Victor Paredes	490,000	590,000
Luke Nguyen (CA)	480,000	365,000
Sukhdip Sangha	360,000	460,000
Lena Evans	335,000	235,000
Rudy Cervantes (CA)	280,000	300,000
Chris Takata	260,000	275,000
Matt Salsberg	230,000	167,000
Jared Lawrence	223,000	140,000
Matt Kirby	145,000	178,000
Tim Acker	140,000	118,000
Tolga Gesli	138,000	92,000
Jonathan Groat	130,000	114,000
Jonathan McGowan	125,000	190,000
Kyle Minolich	36,000	68,000
Danny Chen	0	78,000
Nan Chen	0	58,000

Vladislav Rogov Takes Down a Monster

For the third time this season, the MSPT traveled back to San Diego, CA and players have been duking it out over the past week inside Sycuan Casino & Resort for its 15-trophy event series!

In Event #12: $250 No-Limit Monster Stack, 134 hunters took to the tables and created a $26,800 prize pool which was reserved for the top 15 players.

Among those to cash but fall before the final table were Jon Larkin (10th Place - $549), James Tucker (11th Place - $549), Rich Spirra (12th Place - $549), Ramona Najimy (13th Place - $456), Thomas Woodard (14th Place - $456), and C. Tamer Korman (15th Place - $456).

In the end, it was San Diego native Vladislav Rogov who tamed the Monster to take down the lion's share of the prize pool along with the Sapdey trophy!

Final Table Result