McNicholas Leads The 45 Survivors Into Day 2

The starting flights for The MSPT Venetian $1,100 have come to a close with a total of 665 entrants shooting their shot for an MSPT title. The massive turnout smashed the $250,000 guarantee on the prize pool and saw a massive first place prize of $117,060. The 665 entrants have been reduced down to 74 players who will all be guaranteed $1,832.

Leading his respective flight and the whole tournament is England’s Euan McNicholas who bagged up 661,000. McNicholas rose at the end as one of the largest stacks in the tournament, and he remained as such for every level until the end. McNicholas is known for his exploits on the Grosvenor Poker tour, boasting a Hendon Mob of $416,301. He is yet to cash in an MSPT, and this cash marks his first into the circuit, which he looks to make a meaningful one.

Narrowly following him is Colten Yamagishi who ended his day with 642,000. Yamagishi is also cashing for his first MSPT cash, but he has played these events before. Last summer he was involved in an infamous hand on The MSPT Venetian $1,100 bubble, where his kings were run down by eight-deuce offsuit for 45 big blinds. This time however, Yamagishi thrived on the bubble. He came very close to dethroning the chip leader with one big confrontation with Elvis Toomas where he rivered the nut-straight. Yamagishi’s first MSPT cash looks to be a good one with the second biggest stack of the whole tournament.

Other names of the game found bags such as WSOP bracelet winners Bradley Anderson (595,000), Cole Ferraro (56,000) and Mike Holtz (38,000) as well as MSPT regulars Michael Lang (83,000) and DJ Buckley (80,000). The only MSPT champion to bag this flight was Daniel Sepiol, who ended his day with 86,000. He joins Rich Alsup, Jason Seitz, and Rob WazWaz as the only MSPT champions to make it into the money in this event.

This day was star-studded but despite this, the stars did not shine on everyone. Individuals like Ryan Leng, Kristen and Alex Foxen, Ralph and Aaron Massey, Ryan Laplante, Jason Sommerville, Francis Anderson, Kyna England, Lee Rzentkowski, Camille Brown, and CJ Peake. Their hopes of capturing an MSPT Venetian title will lie in the upcoming $1,600 event. That event begins tomorrow at 11:10 AM and a reduced rake is given to all of those who register prior to the end of level 1.

Play ended with 13:00 left on the clock in level 15 on Day 1A which means that player will return on Day 2 with blinds at 3,000/5,000 with a 5,000 big blind ante. After that the blinds will resume like normal and play will continue until a winner is crowned.

Stay tuned to MSPT.com for all updates regarding The MSPT Venetian and the eventual winner. A full seat draw and chip counts for Day 1B will be posted later tonight.