Sycuan Casino Resort

Dillon Najor Leads the 12 Surviving Players After Day 1A

Day 1a of the inaugural MSPT 100 GRAND STACK $1,110 Main Event at Sycuan Casino & Resort is officially in the books with 114 total entries tallied during the first flight.

With action needing to play down to 11% of the field, almost full 16 levels were needed to hit that mark with the hard stop being reached with 9:30 remaining at 10,000/20,000/20,000.

When chips finally went into bags, it was San Diego native Dillon Najor who found himself atop the chip counts after putting a respectable 2,405,000 on his slip to end the night, leading the 12 advancing players by a wide margin.

Bagging behind Najor was Anastasiia Knapp, who sat atop of the chip counts for majority of the day and ended the night with 1,390,000.

Adrian Lopez saw his chip stack balloon up to 1,150,000, catching some late-night steam after he turned Jerric Jiang’s pocket aces.

Rounding out the top five stacks were Armando Mesina (1,140,000) & Luis Yepez (1,125,000), while Rafe Magee (1,015,000), Hunter Moss (950,000), and defending champ Justin Muse (530,000) all punched their ticket into Sunday’s Day 2 as well.

Among those to try and fall on Day 1a included Derek Stark, MSPT champ Gianluca Pace, Rudy Cervantes, Luke Nguyen, and Rip Fritzer, just to name a few.

Those players, as well as any newcomers, have four more starting flights to jump back into action with Day 1b getting bright an early tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. local time.

Day 1c will then follow at 4:00 p.m. local time Saturday, while the final two flights will follow at the same times on Sunday, January 19^th.

The surviving players from each flight will then return at 11:00 a.m. on Monday, January 20^th to play down to a winner.

Join us tomorrow as we continue to bring you all the action and eliminations straight from the tournament floor at Sycuan Casino & Resort!

MSPT Season 16 Sycuan 100 GRAND STACK Festival Remaining Schedule

With the two starting flights overlapping each other, the live reporting for Day 1b will start in Level 9 (approximately 3:30 p.m. local time), with Day 1c coverage following after the completion of the second flight.

End Day 1A Chip Counts

Player Name	Chip Count	Previous	Progress
Dillon Najor	2,405,000	1,950,000
Anastasiia Knapp	1,390,000	1,325,000
Adrian Lopez	1,150,000	1,025,000
Armando Mesina	1,140,000	695,000
Luis Yepez	1,125,000	580,000
Rafe Magee	1,015,000	900,000
Hunter Moss	950,000	1,250,000
Johnathan Groat	790,000	655,000
Justin Muse	530,000	680,000
John Ypma	370,000	390,000
Scott Storres	310,000	300,000
Nova Baghdasarian	235,000	280,000

Nan Chen Bubbles Day 1A

Nan Chen was eliminated on the bubble ending play for the night.

Late Night Counts & Bust Outs

Player Name	Chip Count	Previous	Progress
Dillon Najor	1,950,000	1,020,000
Anastasiia Knapp	1,325,000	1,360,000
Adrian Lopez	1,025,000	630,000
Rafe Magee	900,000	602,000
Armando Mesina	695,000	840,000
Justin Muse	680,000	788,000
Johnathan Groat	655,000	600,000
Luis Yepez	580,000	400,000
John Ypma	390,000	560,000
Nan Chen	390,000	765,000
Nova Baghdasarian	280,000	710,000
Thomas Carlin	0	375,000
Kyle Miholich	0	340,000
Igli Pirgu	0	350,000

Francisco Larre Mixes Up a Victory!

For the second stop of the 16th season, the MSPT traveled to Sycuan Casino & Resort in San Diego, CA to host the inaugural 100 GRAND STACK Festival!

In Event #12: $300 Mixed PLO/NLH, 36 mixed game specialists took to the tables and once the dust settled, it was Francisco Larre who walked away with the top prize, and the 100 GRAND STACK Festival trophy!

Results

*denotes 3-way deal

Buckley Tripped Up by Mesina

DJ Buckley was all in under the gun and Armando Mesina looked him up from the big blind.

DJ Buckley:
Armando Mesina:

Buckley rolled over a dominating ace and saw a seven in the window on the flop, only to find two sixes hiding underneath to give Mesina trip sixes.

The turn left Buckley needing a lucky seven on the river to stay alive, but the completed the board and secured Mesina the pot.

Armando Mesina - 840,000
DJ Buckley - 0

Chip Stacks & Bust Outs

Player Name	Chip Count	Previous	Progress
Anastasiia Knapp	1,360,000	803,000
Dillon Najor	1,020,000	890,000
Armando Mesina	840,000	820,000
Nan Chen	765,000	370,000
Nova Baghdasarian	710,000	310,000
John Ypma	560,000	398,000
Luis Yepez	400,000	267,000
Thomas Carlin	375,000	510,000
Rudy Cervantes (CA)	0	134,000
DJ Buckley	0	164,000
Jerric Jiang	0	20,000
Justin Lapka	0	180,000
Joshua Royal	0	177,000
Derek Stark	0	682,000
Maksim Tatarintsev	0	100,000

The MSPT Heads Back to Sin City for the Season 16 Venetian Poker Bowl February 5th - 10th!

The MSPT is making its way back to the Venetian Las Vegas February 5th - 10th for the infamous Poker Bowl IX!

The ninth edition of this year's Poker Bowl will feature a $1,600 buy-in and, boasts a massive $1,000,000 guarantee.

Each player will start with 30,000 in chips and blinds will increase every 40 minutes. Late registration for each flight will remain open until approximately 5:55 p.m. local time.

The tournament will hold three starting flights with Day 1a getting started bright and early at 11:10 a.m. on Wednesday, February 5th.

Day 1b will then follow on Thursday, February 6th, with Day 1c being held on Friday, February 7th, with both having 11:10 a.m. start times.

The surviving players from the three starting flights will then return for Day 2 at 11:00 a.m. Saturday, February 8th, and will play until seven players remain.

The final seven will then have a days rest to enjoy Superbowl Sunday and will return to action on Monday, February 10th at Noon, to play down to a winner which will be live-streamed in the brand new streaming studio!

Past MSPT Venetian Poker Bowl winners include Zack Fuentes ($117,060), James Romero ($171,167), Ron West ($168,488), Johnny Oshana ($130,000), Brian Wilson (143,929), Kfir Nahum (108,410), Jordan Young (117,381), Sean Berman ($42,305 + Bounties), and "Scary" Terry Fleischer ($98,101).

Who will be next to add their names to the list of aforementioned Poker Bowl champions?

Come be a part of history at The Venetian Poker Room as they will unveil their brand-new streaming studio produced and distributed by PokerGO!

Groat Collects Near Triple with Aces

There was three-way all in action preflop between two-time bracelet winner Justin Lapka from middle position, Jonathan Groat from the button and Weizheng Zhong from the small blind with Zhong holding 211,000 effective.

Weizheng Zhong:
Jonathan Groat:
Justin Lapka:

Each player rolled over a premium made hand with Groat holding the best one and the runout secured him the pot as he collected all of Zhong’s chips along with another 43,000 from Lapka.

Lapak was then left short and eliminated the very next hand.

Jonathan Groat - 760,000
Justin Lapka - 0
Weizheng Zhong - 0

Ask and You Shall Receive

Adrian Lopez was all in for 264,000 after a flop from the button and was called by Jerric Jiang from under the gun.

Jerric Jiang:
Adrian Lopez:

“Deuce,” Lopez uttered out loud just before the dealer peeled off the turn giving him the nut straight.

Jiang was left drawing dread and he doubled-up Lopez after the meaningless completed the board on the river.

Adrian Lopez - 630,000
Jerric Jiang - 20,000