For the first time since 2009, a major poker tournament has hosted a stop in Deadwood!
The Mid-States Poker Tour (MSPT) has partnered with Silverado-Franklin Casino for the 2018 MSPT South Dakota State Poker Championship, a tournament that dates back to 2011. The biggest to date was last year with 136 players. After Friday’s Day 1A flight, the current field stands at 132 entries with another flight still to go.
After 14 levels of play, 22 players bagged chips, but none more so than Wyoming’s Ryan Remington, who is the 1A chip leader with 222,000. Remington is coming off a 20th-place finish in last weekend’s MSPT Golden Gates Main Event for $4,140.
Others who bagged big stacks were four-time WSOP Circuit ring winner Mark Fink (196,500), Aaron Johnson (189,500), Jesse Green (182,500), Rosie Paules (161,500), and Terry Williams (154,500), who round out the top five.
They were joined by Jon Maras (135,000), Michael Campbell (124,000), Eric Eelkema (111,500), Steve Belland (109,000), and former South Dakota State Poker Champs Cal Dardis (77,000) and Ryan Skluzak (65,500). The former won it in 2012 while the latter won back-to-back in 2016 and 2017, which makes him the reigning champ.
Former champs Cal Dardis (left) and Ryan Skluzak (right)
Of course, not everyone was fortunate enough to survive the night. Among those to fall on Day 1A were North Dakota’s Gary Ewald, last weekend’s MSPT Golden Gates runner-up Jeff Heiberg, Minnesota players Kelly Hendrickson and James Klosterbuer, and South Dakota’s Karen Ballert, Luke Blindert, and Russell Spaid.
The good news is that those players, as well as any newcomers, will have the chance to fire Day 1B, which will kick off at 4 p.m. local time on Saturday (registration will open at 9 a.m.). Before it at 10:30 a.m. there will be a $260 buy-in “Last Chance” satellite that’ll see the top 20% win a seat into the Main Event.