It was a massive day for the Mid-States Poker Tour Venetian $1,100 buy-in, $2 million guaranteed Main Event on Tuesday as 968 entrants packed The Sands Poker Room. Along with Day 1a's 499 runners, that brings the total field up to 1,467 with Day 1c still to go.
Speaking of Day 1c, which will kick off at Noon local time on Wednesday, registration is now open; in fact, approximately 250 players have already preregistered. If you want to avoid long lines and the possibility of being an alternate – though The Venetian has 72 tables reserved for the flight – we recommend either registering yet tonight or showing up a bit early in the morning.
Of course those who survived the Day 1b flight, of which there where 116, they don't have to worry about coming back until Day 2 action on Thursday. After 15 levels of play, no one did better than Alex Noble of Rockford, Illinois, who bagged up 382,000. That was decent, but it was still behind Brazilian Felipe Difini, who bagged up the Day 1a lead with 554,000.
Others who bagged up big stacks were Chris Cornell (306,000), Travis Remmert (296,500), Nick Stowell (291,500), and James Casement (283,000), who round out the top five.
They were joined by the likes of Darren Rabinowitz (255,500), Erwan Pecheux (205,500), Rachel Kranz (181,500), Chris Conrad (180,000), Rick Syverud (140,000), Keith Heine (126,000), Dylan Wilkerson (112,000), Jared Hamby (102,000), Rich Alsup (96,500), Jeremy Dresch (95,500), Andy Spears (70,000), Mark Hodge (67,500), Justin Zaki (56,500), and Lily Kiletto (48,500).
Of course not everyone was so lucky. Among those to fall on Day 1b were MSPT Pros Matt Alexander, Matt Kirby, and Blake Bohn; Venetian Ambassador Annette Obrestad; 2007 World Series of Poker Main Event champ Jerry Yang; World Poker Tour champ Matt Salsberg; Wisconsin's Joe Kuether, Josh Reichard, and Dan Almerli; and former MSPT champs Rodger Johnson, Greg Himmelbrand, Dan Goepel, and Aaron Massey, just to name a few.
Along with Day 1a's 61 survivors, a total of 177 players have punched their ticket to Day 2. Those who haven't will have a final opportunity tomorrow as Day 1c is set to kickoff at Noon local time.
Once again the plan is to play 15 levels, and late registration will be open until roughly 6:30 p.m. Players have the opportunity to reenter once during each flight. We'll see you then.