Running Aces Casino

Vic Peppe Soars to the Top to Lead the Final Batch of 44 Players into Day 2

Day 1c of the MSPT Season 17 $1,110 Minnesota Poker State Championship at Running Aces Casino & Racetrack was the largest of the three starting flights, attracting another 399 runners, and brought the total field tally up to 882 entries, shattering the $500k guarantee.

The massive field generated a $854,040 prize pool with a min-cash paying of $2,181, while the eventual winner will walk away with a $163,564 first-place prize, along with the MSPT Season 17 Minnesota Poker State Championship title!

At the end of the third and final flight, just 43 players bagged and tagged with local Vic Peppe catching some late-right steam in the final levels to put a whopping 666,000 in his bag to lead the final batch of players.

Three-time MSPT Champ Carl Carodenuto had himself a rollercoaster of a day, which eventually ended up with him running up an impressive 637,000 stack, good enough for the third-overall stack, while Michael Williams (637,000), two-time MSPT Champ David Gonia (495,000), and Danny Busian (540,000) rounded out the top five stacks of the flight.

They were joined by MSPT Hall of Famer Blake Bohn (441,000), MSPT champ Curtis Vierstraete (368,000), fellow champ Zilong Zhang (355,000), two-time MSPT Champ Mark Sandness (337,000), WSOP bracelet winner TJ Murphy (315,000), Season 15 Minnesota Poker State Champ Sean Hinton (126,000), and fellow bracelet winner John Reading (96,000).

Among those to try and fall on Day 1b included MSPT Hall of Famer Mark Hodge, Nghia "3 Putts" Le two-time MSPT Champ Angela Jordison, Matt Alexander, and defending champ Bee Yang just to name a few.

The surviving players from all three flights – of which there are 96 (19 from Day 1a, 34 from 1b, and 43 from 1c) – will return at 11:00 a.m. local time on Sunday, April 19^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 17 Minnesota Poker State Championship Remaining Schedule

End Day 1C Chip Counts

Player Name	Chip Count	Previous	Progress
Vic Peppe	666,000	560,000
Carl Carodenuto	657,000	120,000
Michael Williams (MN)	637,000	310,000
David Gonia	495,000	385,000
Danny Busian	481,000	481,000
Blake Bohn	441,000	480,000
Calvin Morris	406,000	406,000
Mike O'Malley	377,000	377,000
Chris Jones (MN)	373,000	373,000
Curtis Vierstraete	368,000	500,000
Billy Weidling	363,000	363,000
Zilong Zhang	355,000	215,000
Harold Behling	355,000	355,000
Nancy Anderson	344,000	344,000
Mark Sandness	337,000	330,000
TJ Murphy	315,000	310,000
Nicholas Kromschroeder	305,000	343,000
Richard Lauterbach	287,000	287,000
Thai Dinh	280,000	310,000
Michael Snyder	276,000	276,000
John Volgren	265,000	245,000
Josh Rondon	265,000	265,000
Joseph Barnard	263,000	235,000
Justin Carlson	256,000	256,000
Dedric Henderson	229,000	395,000
Jessica Anderson	228,000	360,000
Michael Sitzman	221,000	221,000
Erick Wright	218,000	140,000
Saad Ghanem	210,000	110,000
Scott Weidema	198,000	198,000
Ashish Gandhi	185,000	157,000
Paul Becker	174,000	174,000
Dallin McRae	165,000	165,000
Charles Xiong	133,000	133,000
Sean Hinton	126,000	155,000
Brian Stavnes	117,000	117,000
Jacob Woggon	112,000	112,000
David Wick	111,000	111,000
John Reading	96,000	110,000
Brett Slezak	92,000	150,000
Kaden Becker	61,000	61,000
Randy Hurst	49,000	49,000
Jarrod Blackwell	18,000	18,000

Two-Time MSPT Champ Mark Sandness Secures Double Elimination to Burst the Bubble

Photo: Mark Sandness

There was three-way all-in action preflop between MSPT Champ Mo Nuwwarah, two-time MSPT Champ Mark Snandenss, and Jeremy Calverley, with Sandness putting both players at risk.

Jeremy Calverley:
Mo Nuwwarah:
Mark Sandness:

Sandness was ahead, holding a pair of tens, and took a commanding lead after another appeared in the window on the flop.

The turn then sealed the fates for Nuwwarah and Calverley, as the river sent them both packing, burtsing the bubble and ending play for the night.

Mark Sandness - 337,000
Mo Nuwwarah - Eliminated
Jeremy Calverley - Eliminated

Day 2 Line Up

So far, 54 players have punched their ticket into Day 2, and the final group of 44 hopefuls will look to add their names to that list tonight.

All who make it through to the end of play will return tomorrow, Sunday, April 19^th, at 11:00 a.m. for Day 2, with 24:45 remaining in Level 14 (3,000/5,000/5,000), and the remaining players from all starting flights will combine and play until a winner is declared.

Basim Habib Wins $400 Regional Event!

For the first time this season, the MSPT made its way back home to the tundra, and over the past week, players have been inside Running Aces Casino & Racetrack for the Season 17 Minnesota Poker State Championship!

In Event #5: $400 Mini Main NLH, a whopping 1,099 entries were tallied after two starting flights, generating a $366,665 prize pool, which paid out the top 123 players.

Among those to cash but fall before the final table were Rodney Colson (11^th Place - $5,075), Mike Wilklow (14^th Place - $3,988), two-time MSPT Champ Mike Estes (26^th Place - $1,149), DJ Buckley (38^th Place - $1,233), Season 15 Minnesota Poker State Champ Sean Hinton (63^rd Place - $1,015), and MSPT Hall of Famer Kou Vang (110^th Place - $689).

When the dust settled, Minnesota native Basim Habib was the last man standing, taking home the $58,227 top prize, along with his first Gold Card!

Final Table Results

Big Blind Special Secures Calverley a Double

MSPT Champ Mo Nuwwarah raised to 16,000 from the cutoff, and Jeremy Calverley defended his big blind to see a flop.

Calverley then check-called Nuwwarah’s 13,000 continuation bet, and all the chips went into the middle after the fell on the turn, with Calverley holding 60,000 effective.

Jeremy Calverley:
Mo Nuwwarah:

Calverley already had the pot secured after seeing he had Nuwwarah drawing dead, and the river secured his double-up.

Jeremy Calverley - 180,000
Mo Nuwwarah - 55,000

Late Night Counts & Bust Outs

Player Name	Chip Count	Previous	Progress
Vic Peppe	560,000	485,000
Curtis Vierstraete	500,000	400,000
Blake Bohn	480,000	225,000
Dedric Henderson	395,000	315,000
David Gonia	385,000	480,000
Jessica Anderson	360,000	240,000
Nicholas Kromschroeder	343,000	150,000
Mark Sandness	330,000	305,000
TJ Murphy	310,000	340,000
Thai Dinh	310,000	240,000
Michael Wilklow	300,000	265,000
John Volgren	245,000	270,000
Zilong Zhang	215,000	300,000
Gennady Shimelfarb	165,000	280,000
Jeremy Calverley	150,000	220,000
Carl Carodenuto	120,000	240,000
Saad Ghanem	110,000	328,000
Mo Nuwwarah	55,000	70,000
Gregory Kukowski	0	240,000
Peter Her	0	28,000
Daniel Kennedy	0	150,000
Matt Kirby	0	110,000
Uri Foox	0	275,000
Yume Carr	0	135,000
Jay Chaudhary	0	65,000
Justin Coliny	0	62,000
John Dennehey	0	86,000

MSPT World Rankings!

ARE YOU IN THE MSPT FOR $20KDON’T WAIT

The TOP World-Ranked MSPT Players as of December 2, 2026, will compete in a HEADS UP FREEROLL tournament at the 2026 MSPT Winter Poker Classic at Running Aces Poker Tournaments for $20,000

Players will be seeded by rankOnly Top get in

Full List: https://msptpoker.com/statistics/WorldRanking.aspx

Chip Collectors & Givers

Player Name	Chip Count	Previous	Progress
Vic Peppe	485,000	285,000
David Gonia	480,000	130,000
Saad Ghanem	328,000	34,000
Dedric Henderson	315,000	290,000
Mark Sandness	305,000	142,000
John Volgren	270,000	190,000
Michael Wilklow	265,000	235,000
Gregory Kukowski	240,000	200,000
Thai Dinh	240,000	140,000
Jessica Anderson	240,000	165,500
Carl Carodenuto	240,000	30,000
Joseph Barnard	235,000	200,000
Blake Bohn	225,000	202,000
Matt Kirby	110,000	138,000
John Dennehey	86,000	195,000
Justin Coliny	62,000	152,000
Peter Her	28,000	190,000
Rob WazWaz	0	27,000
Andy Hammell	0	25,000

Don't Miss the Season 17 Michigan Poker State Championship!

: FireKeepers Casino Hotel - Battle Creek, MI

: May 12-17, 2026

: $1,110 / $1,000,000 GTD Main Event (May 14-17)
: $3,500 MSPT Championship Seat ADDED to Main Event 1st Place

: 9 Gold Card Events

: https://msptpoker.com/.../book-today-for-the-1m-gtd~1610...

Event Schedule: https://msptpoker.com/showpdf.aspx?eventID=517msptpoker.com