Hollywood Casino St. Louis

Jeff Kenny Leads First Batch of 11 Advancing Players After Day 1A

Day 1a of the MSPT Season 16 $1,110 Main Event at Hollywood Casino in St. Louis, MO, has come to a close after seeing 96 entrants kick things off.

Almost a full day of action was played to completion, with the hard stop of 11 players being reached with 11:27 remaining in Level 14.

The final levels were full of eliminations, which saw Jeff Kenny soar to the top of the chip counts after he eliminated Louis Salamone to lead the first batch of players into Day 2 with 514,000.

Closing the night second in chips was Season 16 POY points leader Jake Long, who went on a late-night heater as well to take 452,000 into Day 2.

Following behind Long was Minnesota’s Tanner Pray, who burst the bubble to put 315,000 in his bag to end the night, while Chad Fisk (264,000), Brandon Huff (263,000), Saad Ghanem (245,000), and MSPT champ Jason Mendoza (222,000) all found a Day 2 berth.

Among those to try and fall on Day 1a included Cory Bogert, Dino Galic, Jeff Grimes, Adam Thomas, and Bill Haner just to name a few.

Those players, as well as any newcomers, have two more starting flights to jump back into action.

Day 1b will kick off at 2:00 p.m. local time on Friday, August 22^nd, while the third and final flight, Day 1c, will take place at the same time on Saturday, August 23^rd.

The surviving players from each flight will then return at 11:00 a.m. on Sunday 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 Hollywood Casino!

MSPT Season 16 Hollywood Casino Remaining Schedule

Make sure to stay tuned here to find out who makes it through to Sunday’s Day 2!

End Day 1A Chip Counts

Player Name	Chip Count	Previous	Progress
Jeff Kenny	514,000	440,000
Jacob Long	452,000	381,000
Tanner Pray	315,000	230,000
Chad Fisk	264,000	200,000
Brandon Huff	263,000	195,000
Saad Ghanem	245,000	184,000
Richard Payne	240,000	186,000
Jason Mendoza	222,000	180,000
Brandon Dirnberger	144,000	45,000
Justin Coliny	140,000	114,000
Joshua Frisch	78,000	165,000

Tanner Pray Rivers Lady Luck to Burst the Bubble

Tanner Pray raised the button, and the big blind defended to see a flop.

Pray’s opponent check-called his continuation bet, and then did the same after the hit the turn.

Once the completed the board on the river, Pray called his opponent’s all-in bet, and both hands were tabled.

was tabled by Pary’s opponent, but it was no good, as he revealed to burst the bubble.

Tanner Pray - 315,000

Hand-For-Hand

After the elimination of Merritt Kuhn and Trey Bartlett (pictured above), only 12 players remain, meaning the hand-for-hand process has now begun.

Kuhn Gets Turned by Fisk

Chad Fisk limped in from the button, as did Justin Coliny from the small blind, only to call a 15,000 raise from Merritt Kuhn (pictured above) from the big blind.

The flop was checked to Kuhn, who led out with a 15,000 continuation bet, only to have Fisk raise to 40,000.

After Coliny got out of the way, Kuhn called, and the dealer turned the .

Khun then checked his option once again, only to be faced with an 85,000 all-in bet from Fisk.

The bet sent Kuhn deep into the tank, as a call would be for his remaining stack, and after a few minutes had passed, he decided to risk his 66,000 stack.

Merritt Kuhn:
Chad Fisk:

Fisk pulled ahead after turning top pair, and the river sent Kuhn to the rail.

Chad Fisk - 200,000
Merritt Kuhn - 0

Chip Collectors & Givers

Player Name	Chip Count	Previous	Progress
Jacob Long	381,000	280,000
Tanner Pray	230,000	270,000
Brandon Huff	195,000	110,000
Richard Payne	186,000	88,000
Saad Ghanem	184,000	108,000
Merritt Kuhn	143,000	48,000
Justin Coliny	114,000	146,000
Mark Lafata	0	89,000
Josh Reichard	0	38,000

MSPT Champ Jeff Copeland Claims the Seniors Event!

Over the past week, players have been inside the Hollywood Casino in St. Louis, MO, duking it out for their MSPT Season 16 Gold Card Festival Series!

In Event #4: $300 Seniors (50+) Monster Stack NLH, saw 325 strolling hunters take to the trenches, and generated a $79,625 prize pool that was divided out between the top 36 seniors.

Among those to cash but fall before the final table were Christopher Record (10^th Place - $1,346), Roger Bennett (13^th Place - $1,075), Hal Kirkpatrick (18^th Place - $916), Mark Smith (21^st Place - $836), and Bradley Sjostrom (25^th Place - $581).

In the end, it was none other than MSPT champ Jeff Copeland who strolled away the top senior, earning the outright win to go along with his first Gold Card!

Final Table Results

Updated Chip Counts & Bust Outs

Player Name	Chip Count	Previous	Progress
Jeff Kenny	440,000	205,000
Jacob Long	280,000	170,000
Tanner Pray	270,000	70,000
Jason Mendoza	180,000	265,000
Joshua Frisch	165,000	120,000
Chad Fisk	160,000	110,000
Justin Coliny	146,000	65,000
Trey Bartlett	115,000	84,000
Brandon Huff	110,000	80,000
Mark Lafata	89,000	98,000
Richard Payne	88,000	55,500
Merritt Kuhn	48,000	125,000
Josh Reichard	38,000	30,000
Louis Salamone	0	215,000
Ryan Tepen	0	95,000
Dalton Jones	0	106,500
Tony Coffey	0	125,000

Registration Closed

Level 13 has started, meaning registration for Day 1a of the MSPT Season 16 Hollywood Casino $1,110 Main Event is officially closed, with 96 entrants tallied for the first flight.

The plan is to play until 11% of the field, rounded up (11 players), is reached, with the tournament clock reading 22 players remaining.

Kuhn's Ladies Come for Collection

Merritt Kuhn opened for 6,000 from middle position and was called by Justin Coliny from the small blind before the big blind squeezed their 45,000 stack in the middle.

With action back on Kuhn, he decided to go over the top and give them isolation after Coliny released his hand into the muck.

Opponent:
Merritt Kuhn:

Kuhn was ahead holding a premium hand of ladies, and the runout secured him the elimination.

Merritt Kuhn - 125,000