The latest MSPT Canterbury Park kicked off on Friday with the first of two starting flights, and Day 1A proved to be a record. The 236 entries were the largest 1A flight (previous record was 222 runner) in MSPT Canterbury Park Main Event history, which encompassed 15 events.
That puts the tournament well on pace to eclipse the $300K guarantee with Day 1B still to go at 4 p.m. on Saturday.
After 14 levels of play on Friday night, just 52 players survived the night with Gerald Cunniff and his stack of 271,000 leading the way. That barely edged out reigning MSPT Kimo Sabe Mezcal MSPT Player of the Year Chris Meyers, who advanced with 254,000.
Last season, Cunniff made the final table of the MSPT Denver Poker Open at Golden Gates Casino where he finished in fourth place for $29,245. He’s already off to a hot start in Season 9 having finished 32nd for $3,548 in the Venetian’s MSPT Poker Bowl II earlier this month.
Others to bag big stacks were Peter Bigelow (186,500), Jeromie Songetay (182,500), and Jon Stueve (168,500), who round out the top five.
They were joined by the likes of Aaron Johnson (145,000), John Morgan (113,000), MSPT Season 8 Canterbury Park Regional champ Paul Cross (102,000), MSPT champs Kou Vang (87,000) and Dan “DQ” Hendrickson (81,000), and Minnesota Poker Hall of Famers Tony Hartmann (81,000) and Mike Schneider (76,000).
Of course, not everyone was fortunate enough to find a bag. Among those to try and fall on 1A were former champs Ahmed Taleb, Jon Kim, David Gonia, Jason Seitz, Jeff Birt, and Keith Heine. Likewise, Matt Alexander, Brian Berthiaume, Jon Hanner, Jay Philips, and World Series of Poker bracelet winner John Reading all hit the rail.
Those players, as well as any newcomers, will have the opportunity to fire in the second starting flight at 4 p.m. on Saturday. There will also be a last-chance $250 satellite at 10:30 a.m. for those looking to get in on the cheap.
Be sure to join us tomorrow as we bring you all the latest and greatest straight from the tournament floor of the MSPT Canterbury Park!