Day 1A of MSPT Canterbury Park saw 184 players hit the felt looking for a Day 2 bag, and in the end, only 23 were able to advance, with David Pederson and his bag of 401,000 leading the way. Pederson will be looking for his first MSPT cash.

The rest of the top five include three-time MSPT champ Matt Kirby (344,000), Mark Jaroslawski (292,000), Eric Eelkema (270,000), and two-time MSPT champ Ben Marsh (234,500). Other able to punch their ticket to Day 2 include Alan Carty (198,000), Season 9 MSPT POY Aaron Johnson (141,000), fellow MSPT Hall of Famer Kou Vang (116,000), WSOP Bracelet Winner John Reading (102,500), Season 7 MSPT Meskwaki champ Keith Heine (95,000), and Tom Hammers (60,000).

Not everyone was able to navigate the field and avoid elimination, however. Some of those to fall short of a bag include Season 6 MSPT POY Mark Hodge, “Minnesota” Jon Hanner, Alex “F’n” Winter, young phenoms Ian Matakis and Peyton Smith, MSPT Hall of Famer Rich Alsup, three-time MSPT champ Blake Bohn, two-time MSPT champ Jeremy Dresch, MSPT champs Rob Wazwaz, Jason Seitz, Ben Wiora, Joe Matheson, Brian Soja, “DQ” Dan Hendrickson, and Rodger Johnson.

Day 1B kicks off tomorrow at 3 p.m., and registration is open through the break at Level 12 (approximately 11:40 p.m.). Expected to be in attendance are Madison, Wisconsin’s Craig Trost and Jeff Minnerly, former MSPT champ Ahmed Taleb, and former MSPT Canterbury Park Regional champ Saad Ghanem, in addition to many of the players that failed to find a bag in today’s flight. Be sure to tune in here to the blog to follow all the action straight from the tournament floor.