Day 1A of the latest MSPT Meskwaki got off to a strong start as 203 entrants took to the felt. After 14 levels of play, just 39 remained with Lee Douglas, who is seeking his first MSPT cash, and his stack of 242,500 leading the pack.

Others who bagged big stacks were Tom Hammers (233,500), Zach Campbell (190,500), and Keith Heine (177,000), who won here last year and is competing for the Kimo Sabe Mezcal MSPT Season 8 Player of the Year Title.

They will be joined on Sunday by Jay Philips (159,000), John Reading (142,000), WPT champ Kevin Saul (120,500), Brian Reinert (102,000), Nik Stone (69,000), Jeff Grimes (60,500), and Al Hedin (45,500). In addition, former champs Dan “DQ” Hendrickson (138,500), Ahmed Taleb (120,500), Kou Vang (101,500), and Joel Klipping (88,500) all made it through.

Obviously not everyone survived the flight. Among those to try and fall were former NFL running back Fred Jackson, World Series of Poker bracelet winner Adam Friedman, and former MSPT champs Josh Reichard, Ken Komberec, Jason Seitz, and Rich Alsup. Likewise, the past two MSPT Iowa State Poker Champions, John Sun (2016) and Carter Myers (2017) both fell on Friday.

Fortunately for all the vanquished, they’ll have the opportunity to try again on Saturday if they so choose as the 1B flight will kick off at 4 p.m. local time. We’ll once again be capturing all the action here in the live blog, so be sure to join us then.