Running Aces Casino

Varun Uppal Soars to the Top to Lead the Final 51 Advancing Players into Day 2

Day 1c of the MSPT Season 16 $1,110 Minnesota Poker State Championship at Running Aces Casino & Racetrack was the largest of the three starting flights attracting another 458 runners, and brought the total field tally up to 1,004 entries, shattering the $500k guarantee.

The massive field generated a $972,380 prize pool with a minimum payment of $2,025, while the eventual winner will walk away with a $178,392 first-place prize, along with the MSPT Season 16 Minnesota Poker State Championship title!

At the end of the third and final flight, just 51 players bagged and tagged with Varun Uppal catching some late-right steam in the final levels to put a whopping 780,000 in his bag to lead the final batch of players.

Pete Bigelow was seen building a stack early on in the day and eventually run up an impressive 597,000 stack throughout the day to sit behind Uppal while Michael Crawford (591,000), Joe Barnard (560,000), and Jason Perona and (540,000) rounded out the top five stacks of the flight.

They were joined by MSPT Hall of Famer Gerald Cunniff (491,000), MSPT champ Max Havlish (276,000), fellow Hall of Famer and WSOP bracelet winner Richard Alsup (260,000), Loki Abboud (205,000), Tyler Kolness (216,000), DJ Buckley (50,000), and defending champ Sean Hinton (50,000).

Among those to try and fall on Day 1b included 2023 Minnesota Poker State champ Marc Harrell, Bruce Simmons, MSPT champ Steve Wilkie, defending champ and two-time MSPT champ Angela Jordison just to name a few.

The surviving players from all three flights – of which there are 112 (25 from Day 1a, 36 from 1b, and 51 from 1c) – will return at 11:00 a.m. local time on Sunday, April 13^th 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 16 Minnesota Poker State Championship Remaining Schedule

End Day 1C Chip Counts

Player Name	Chip Count	Previous	Progress
Varun Uppal	780,000	346,000
Pete Bigelow	597,000	345,000
Michael Crawford	591,000	480,000
Joseph Barnard	560,000	340,000
Jason Perona	540,000	300,000
Stephan York	509,000	300,000
Gerald Cunniff	491,000	225,000
Michael Wilklow	466,000	140,000
Paul Ewen	457,000	416,000
Thomas Rask	433,000	300,000
Zachary Daniel	414,000	545,000
Douglas Kaproth	399,000	200,000
Josiah Moore	381,000	300,000
Miguel Martinez	362,000	131,000
Cha Lee	320,000	300,000
Vladimir Revniaga	284,000	450,000
Max Havlish	276,000	260,000
David "Digger" Vig	276,000	200,000
Bruce Fagan	266,000	225,000
Richard Alsup	260,000	272,000
Karter Knudson	260,000	30,000
Michael Wells	243,000	30,000
Ashish Gandhi	242,000	510,000
Daniel Kennedy	239,000	160,000
Nikolas Stone	228,000	340,000
Nathan Conner	227,000	30,000
Bharathan Pulluvallil	224,000	250,000
Cody Mondeau	219,000	160,000
Peter Nhkum	208,000	200,000
Loki Abboud	205,000	166,000
Bradley Henderson	191,000	30,000
Ryan Weeks	191,000	30,000
Ben Taylor	188,000	30,000
Jesse Allen (MI)	181,000	190,000
Brent Strittmater	180,000	30,000
Gary Ewald	170,000	190,000
William Perpich	168,000	180,000
Garrett Dwire	167,000	300,000
Chveyee Yang	147,000	30,000
Randy Jacks	135,000	30,000
Long Lee	119,000	30,000
Tyler Kolness	116,000	132,000
Yimleej Vang	103,000	30,000
Roman Ilin	74,000	30,000
Yer Vang	64,000	65,000
Jonathan Kim (MN)	58,000	150,000
DJ Buckley	50,000	130,000
Sean Hinton	50,000	70,000
Matthew Przybilla	45,000	30,000
Phia Vue	21,000	32,000

Jason Perona Bursts the Bubble

Jason Perona raised from late position and then called the hijack’s 83,000 three-bet jam.

Opponent:
Jason Perona:

Perona was ahead holding a made hand of fives, and they held strong as the runout gave him a full house to burst the bubble.

Jason Perona - 540,000

Hand-for-Hand Begins

After the elimination of Kevin Conlin, 52 players now remain meaning, the hand-for-hand process has begun.

Day 2 Line Up

So far, 61 players have punched their ticket into Day 2, and the final group of 51 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, April 13^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.

Kennedy Rivers Quad Jacks for Survival

Daniel Kennedy raised all in for roughly 80,000 from the button and Michael Wilklow looked him up from the big blind.

Daniel Kennedy:
Michael Wilklow:

Kennedy rolled over the better made hand and saw a jack in the window on the flop to take a commanding lead.

The turn secured the pot for Kennedy, but the dealer dropped the on the river for good measure.

Daniel Kennedy - 170,000
Michael Wilklow - 140,000

Updated Counts & Bust Outs

Player Name	Chip Count	Previous	Progress
Zachary Daniel	545,000	450,000
Vladimir Revniaga	450,000	375,000
Paul Ewen	416,000	190,000
Varun Uppal	346,000	100,000
Joseph Barnard	340,000	270,000
Richard Alsup	272,000	111,000
Max Havlish	260,000	139,000
Gerald Cunniff	225,000	270,000
Gary Ewald	190,000	70,000
William Perpich	180,000	53,200
Loki Abboud	166,000	160,000
Cody Mondeau	160,000	310,000
Jonathan Kim (MN)	150,000	80,000
Michael Wilklow	140,000	165,000
Tyler Kolness	132,000	180,000
DJ Buckley	130,000	153,000
John Dennehey	105,000	25,000
Paul Cross	95,000	235,000
Sean Hinton	70,000	110,000
Denise Pratt	60,000	210,000
Phia Vue	32,000	66,500
Anthony Scarborough	0	70,000
Angela Jordison	0	80,000
Cory Cove	0	81,000
Keerat Bawa	0	120,000

Nicholas Hoang Wins Event #10!

Over the past week, players have been inside the newly renovated Running Aces Casino & Racetrack in Colombus MN, duking it out for the MSPT Season 16 Minnesota Poker State Championship!

In Event #10: $200 Monster Stack NLH, 118 monster tamers went to the trenches and generated a $18,880 prize pool that was paid out to the top 12 players.

Among those to cash but fall before the final table were Alan Baker (10th Place - $396), Troy Westerlund (11th Place - $396), Alex Minnick (12th Place - $396).

When the dust settled, it was Nicholas Hoang who held the Sapdey trophy high and collected the lion's share of the prize pool!

Final Table Results

Reichard Out Kicked by Fagan

Charlie Reichard was all in preflop for roughly 50,000 from the big blind and was called by Bruce Fagan from middle position.

Charlie Reichard:
Bruce Fagan:

Reichard rolled over a dominated hand and things got worse after the flop fell pairing Fagan’s king.

The turn did keep things interesting as Reichard was still drawing live to a ten, but the needle fell on the river ending his tournament.

Bruce Fagan - 275,000
Charlie Reichard - Eliminated

Chip Movement

Player Name	Chip Count	Previous	Progress
Ashish Gandhi	510,000	305,000
Michael Crawford	480,000	440,000
Zachary Daniel	450,000	420,000
Vladimir Revniaga	375,000	318,000
Gerald Cunniff	270,000	260,000
Paul Cross	235,000	230,000
David "Digger" Vig	215,000	300,000
Denise Pratt	210,000	192,000
Michael Wilklow	165,000	45,000
Max Havlish	139,000	215,000
Keerat Bawa	120,000	30,000
Richard Alsup	111,000	30,000
Christopher Nelson	110,000	145,000
Sean Hinton	110,000	160,000
Jeff Petronack	40,000	60,000
DQ Dan Hendrickson	0	65,000
Heidi Roggenkamp	0	30,000
Kou Vang	0	80,000
Aaron Knudson	0	39,000
Josh Matti	0	55,400
Derek McMaster	0	55,000
Jessica Anderson	0	65,000
David Gonia	0	40,000
John Volgren	0	65,000
Charlie Reichard	0	55,000