Ameristar East Chicago

Jinha Park Bags Over a Milly to Lead the Final 22 Players into Day 2

Day 1c was the final starting flight of the MSPT Season 17 $1,110 Main Event at the Ameristar Casino in East Chicago, and attracted a final 198 runners, which, along with the 188 totals from the previous two flights, brought the total field up to 386 entries, blasting past the $300k guarantee.

The impressive field generated a $372,920 prize pool, paying out a minimum of $2,074, while the eventual winner will walk away with a $82,955 first-place prize and the final MSPT 2026 Main Event trophy!

At the end of the third and final flight, just 22 players bagged and tagged with Jinha Park, clipping the milly mark (1,002,000) to take the overall chip lead into Day 2.

Park bagged over double that of Kenneth Smith’s 494,000 stack, while Del Beiler (489,000), Ryan Scully (469,00), and MSPT Champ Lee Rzentkowski (326,000) rounded out the top five stacks of the flight.

Others who survived the third and final flight included William Luciano (320,000), two-time MSPT Champ Mike Estes (261,000), DJ Buckley (222,000), Cody Brinn (170,000), and MSPT Champ Anthony Kastelic (103,000).

Among those to try and fall on Day 1c included MSPT Champ Brian Landon, Yoon Kim, Ryan Eamon, Anthony Babic, Jennifer Lin, and MSPT Champ Mike O’Neill, just to name a few.

The surviving players from all three flights – 43 in total (7 from Day 1a, 14 from 1b, and 22 from 1c) – will return at 11:00 a.m. local time on Sunday, April 26^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 Ameristar East Chicago Remaining Schedule

End Day 1C Chip Counts

Player Name	Chip Count	Previous	Progress
Jinha Park	1,002,000	890,000
Kenneth Smith	494,000	494,000
Del Ray Beiler	489,000	440,000
Ryan Scully	469,000	290,000
Lee Rzentkowski	326,000	185,000
William Luciano	320,000	193,000
Xi Nguyen	319,000	323,000
Jeffrey Stephens	274,000	274,000
Michael Estes (IA)	261,000	250,000
Aaron Brown	258,000	258,000
Jamie Wang	226,000	226,000
DJ Buckley	222,000	79,000
Joe Batterman	211,000	124,000
Gerald Riley	206,000	297,000
Cody Brinn	170,000	208,000
David McDermott	148,000	148,000
Justin Gutierrez	139,000	163,000
Sung Pil Kim	105,000	148,000
Anthony Kastelic	103,000	146,000
Marius Toderici	78,000	45,000
Tom Koral	74,000	74,000
Richard Norman	54,000	54,000

Xi Nguyen Bursts the Bubble

Photo: Xi Nguyen

David Kowal was all-in from the big blind and was called by Xi Nguyen from the small blind.

David Kowal:
Xi Nguyen:

Kowal rolled over a domianted and and the runout gave Nguyen two-pair, ending his night on the bubbler.

Xi Nguyen - 300,000
David Kowal - Eliminated

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

Hand-for-Hand Begins

After the elimination of George Pappas, just 23 players remain, meaning the hand-for-hand process has started as only 22 of them will be making Day 2.

The MSPT's New Top GOAT

Our MSPT GOAT Leaderboard tracks those who have amassed the most points ALL TIME (vs World Ranking = last 50 Main Events only with a weighted multiplier favoring more recent)

Josh Reichard took over the #1 spot this season, surpassing Rob WazWaz, who held it down since nearly the inception!

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

Eamon Drop Kicked by Nguyen

Photo: Ryan Eamon

Ryan Eamon was all-in for 60,000 after a flop from the big blind, and Xi Nguyen called from middle position.

Ryan Eamon:
Xi Nguyen:

Both players flopped top pair, but Eamon was behind with kicker issues, and the turn left him drawing dead to the river.

Xi Nguyen - 323,000
Ryan Eamon - Eliminated

$3,500 MSPT Championship Main Event Seat Winners So Far!

These 12 Players have already earned a $3,500 Seat to the $2M GTD RRPO MSPT Championship Main Event

Matthew Wantman

Kevin Meyers

Zilong Zhang

Vincent Moscati

June 'Oh Geez' Kim

Alex Foxen

Umut Ozturk

Jorden Helstern

Aaron Johnson

Wesley Cannon

Michael Estes

Yuchen "Carson" Chen

ROCK ‘N’ ROLL POKER OPEN (RRPO)

MSPT Championship (MAJOR)

: Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino - Hollywood, FL

: Nov. 18 - Dec. 2, 2026

: $3,500 Main Event (1.5X POY) / $2M GTD (Nov. 27 - Dec. 2)

: MSPT will be ADDING a $3,500 RRPO MSPT Championship Seat to every Main Event 1st Place in 2026

Chip Collectors & Givers

Player Name	Chip Count	Previous	Progress
Gerald Riley	297,000	145,000
Michael Estes (IA)	250,000	150,000
Cody Brinn	208,000	234,000
William Luciano	193,000	77,500
Lee Rzentkowski	185,000	120,000
Justin Gutierrez	163,000	120,000
Anthony Kastelic	146,000	205,000
DJ Buckley	79,000	60,000
Christopher Weber	50,000	51,000
Marius Toderici	45,000	59,000
Greg Sessler	39,000	75,000
Ryan Eamon	0	130,000
Joseph Saltanovitz	0	33,000
John Ro	0	32,000

Buckley Wins Race Against Luciano

Photo: DJ Buckely

DJ Buckely was all-in preflop from the hijack, and William Luciano called from the small blind.

DJ Buckley:
William Luciano:

Buckley found himself in a race, and he gained some traction after the flop came paired with a Broadway draw.

Lady luck then came on the turn as the gave Buckley the lead, while the river secured his double through Luciano.

William Luciano - 130,000
DJ Buckley - 60,000