Ameristar East Chicago

Andy Hammell Rides Late Night Heater As 27 Players Advance After Final Starting Flight

Day 1c of the MSPT Season 15 Ameristar East Chicago $1,110 Main Event attracted 251runners, which along with 1a's 94 and 1b’s 179 brought the total field up to 524 entries, blasting past the $300k guarantee.

The field generated a $508,280 prize pool, paying the top 56 players with the eventual winner walking away with a six-figure first-place prize, along with the Main Event trophy.

At the end of the third and final flight, the hard stop of 27 players was reached with 22:16 remaining in Level 15 and when chips went into the bags it was Timothy Thorp who collected the most with 622,000, edging out Andy Hammell (612,000) for the overall top stack.

MSPT Hall of Famer Umut Ozturk was able to catch some steam as well taking 469,000 into Day 2 to add to his POY points while MSPT champ Lee Rzentkowski (460,000), and Nic DiTrapani (429,000) rounded out the top five stacks of the flight.

They were joined by Janae Magnuson (422,000), Tim Mulroy (384,000), MSPT champ Chris Moon (368,000), Mike Estes (247,000), and Asa Snyder (231,000).

Among those not as lucky at the felt included September’s runner-up Miguel Martinez, last year’s third-place finisher Mike Puccio, Kevin Maahs, and Nicola DiTrapani all had their final day cut short while two-time MSPT champ Chris Meyers and MSPT Hall of Famer Josh Reichard fell without a Day 2 berth as well.

The surviving players from all three flights – of which there are 56 (10 from Day 1a, 19 from 1b, and 27 from 1c) – will return at 11:00 a.m. local time on Sunday, November 24th 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 Season 15 Ameristar East Chicago Remaining Schedule

End Day 1C Chip Counts

Player Name	Chip Count	Previous	Progress
Timothy Thorp	622,000	450,000
Andy Hammell	612,000	515,000
Umut Ozturk	469,000	380,000
Lee Rzentkowski	460,000	265,000
Nicola DiTrapani	429,000	300,000
Carmino Argiero	422,000	100,000
Janae Magnuson	422,000	265,000
Songjie Zhou	414,000	310,000
Tim Mulroy	384,000	100,000
David Peterson	370,000	200,000
Chris Moon	368,000	260,000
Anh Nguyen (IL)	342,000	160,000
Michael Melone	314,000	410,000
Dustin Ethridge	284,000	360,000
Michael Estes	247,000	250,000
David Montgomery-zott	240,000	100,000
Asa Snyder	231,000	80,000
Ryan Scully	156,000	205,000
Antonio Buckley	136,000	50,000
Anthony Kastelic	135,000	100,000
Frank Swierczynski	130,000	100,000
Yoon Kim	111,000	155,000
Andrew Keeney	104,000	90,000
Zach Heiman	70,000	100,000
Arthur Harb	41,000	100,000
Buck Bucceri	27,000	38,000
Aaron Flores	11,000	30,000

DJ Buckley Bubbles Main Event

MSPT top casher DJ Buckley got his last 60,000 in the middle from late position and he was called by Antonio Buckley from the button holding only 1,000 more.

DJ Buckley:
Antonio Buckley:

Buckley ran into the best made hand but the flop brought some hope as it gave him the ace-high flush draw.

The turn was also a good card for Buckley as it gave him more outs heading to the river but unfortunately for him, the that fell wasn’t one of them as he was the final elimination of the evening.

Antonio Buckley - 125,000
DJ Buckley - Eliminated

Recent Eliminations: Hand-for-Hand Begins

Player Name	Chip Count	Previous	Progress
Steve Federspiel	0	65,000
David Gutfreund	0	65,000
Patrick McCullough	0	120,000

Day 2 Line Up

So far, 29 players have punched their ticket into Day 2, and the final group of 27 hopefuls will look to add their names to that list tonight.

All who make it through until the end of play will return tomorrow, Sunday, November 24^th 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.

Schuchaskie Dropped by McCullough

Action on the table folded to Patricmak McCullough who raised to 11,000 from the button only to call Heather Schuchaskie’s 32,000 three-bet jam from the big blind.

Heather Schuchaskie:
Patrick McCullough:

Schuchaskie was ahead until a nine appeared in the window on the flop.

The turn left Schuchaskie needing any king or six to fall on the river to stay alive, but the completed the board and ended her tournament.

Patrick McCullough - 160,000
Heather Schuchaskie - Eliminated

Chip Movers

Player Name	Chip Count	Previous	Progress
Michael Melone	410,000	380,000
Nicola DiTrapani	300,000	225,000
Janae Magnuson	265,000	247,500
Asa Snyder	80,000	170,000
Steve Federspiel	65,000	120,000
David Gutfreund	65,000	60,300
Gerald Siemienas	0	43,000
Aaron Johnson	0	55,000
Anastas Mukoski	0	201,000
George Pappas	0	40,000
Kirby Rogers	0	61,500
Heather Schuchaskie	0	67,500

Elpayaa Set Up by Hammell

A series of preflop raises led to Joseph Elpayaa getting his 170,000 stack in the middle and he was called by Andy Hammell.

Joseph Elpayaa:
Andy Hammell:

Elpayaa was racing for his tournament life but fell way behind after the flop improved Hammell to top set.

The turn kept Elpayaa alive drawing to a wheel, but the came too late as it completed the board on the river and ended his tournament.

Andy Hammell - 515,000
Joseph Elpayaa - Eliminated

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Updated Counts and Bust Outs

Player Name	Chip Count	Previous	Progress
Buck Bucceri	390,000	118,000
Michael Melone	380,000	289,000
Umut Ozturk	380,000	130,000
Dustin Ethridge	360,000	215,000
Ryan Scully	310,000	120,000
Chris Moon	260,000	290,000
Andy Hammell	245,000	65,000
Anastas Mukoski	201,000	262,000
David Peterson	200,000	239,000
Asa Snyder	170,000	70,000
Gerald Siemienas	169,000	105,000
Steve Federspiel	120,000	185,000
DJ Buckley	98,000	30,000
Nikola Budzakoski	0	85,000
Jimmy Dennis	0	78,000
Edward Dixon	0	135,000
Lesley Houghtaling	0	45,500
Mike Iacovone	0	175,000
Kevin Maahs	0	50,200
Chris Meyers (NY)	0	57,500
Brett Reichard	0	30,000
Josh Reichard	0	30,000