Day 1C of the $1,100 Cleveland Poker Open, the first MSPT ever held in Ohio and at JACK Cleveland Casino, attracted drew 288 entries, which along with 1A’s 111 and 1B’s 182 entries created a total field of 581 runners. That makes it both the largest poker tournament field and prize pool in Cleveland history!

The top 63 players will get paid a minimum of $2,141, while the eventual winner will take home $118,350.

After 16 levels of play, just 36 players remained with Buffalo, New York’s Aaron Obstein and his stack of 502,500 leading the pack. That is well ahead of 1B chip leader David Michael (366,000), who held a slight lead over Day 1A chip leader Frank Lagodich (364,500).

Rounding out the top five Day 1C stacks were Ray Ezzle (486,000), MSPT Season 7 FireKeepers champ Mike Shanahan (385,000), poker pro Nick Guagenti (309,500), and “Ronald Davis (288,000).

Others to bag and tag were Cleveland radio legend Michael “Triv” Trivisonno (225,500), Dan Wagner (213,000), Minnesota’s Brian Berthiaume (114,000), 2017 MSPT Indiana State Poker Champ Satish Thakur (70,500), and the equally short-stacked Mitchell Miller and Bobby Noel, who both made it through with 38,000.

Among those who failed to advance to Day 2 were Kimo Sabe Mezcal MSPT Season 8 Player of the Year Chris Meyers, MSPT Season 6 Player of the Year Mark Hodge, MSPT Season 4 Player of the Year Pat Steele, 2016 MSPT Wisconsin State Poker Champ Andy Rubinberg, two-time MSPT champ Jason Zarlenga, and Colorado pros Sammy Aweida and Drew Schulz.

The surviving 75 players from all three flights (15 from 1A, 24 1B, and 36 1C) will then return at 11 a.m. on Sunday to play down to a winner.

Join us tomorrow as we continue to bring you all the action and eliminations on the way to crowning a winner here at the JACK Cleveland Casino!