Day 1B of the inaugural Mid-States Poker Tour (MSPT) $1,100 Poker Bowl at The Venetian in Las Vegas drew a massive 442 entrants, which along with Day 1A’s 253 brought the total field up to 695 runners. That created a $681,100 prize pool – more than double the advertised guarantee – that will be distributed to the top 72 players with the eventual winner taking home just over $139,000.
The player best positioned to make a run at it is Gary Bolden, who bagged a monster stack of 341,000 among the 63 survivors. That is well ahead of Day 1A chip leader Mark Darner, who finished with 257,000.
Bolden is a well-known poker pro from St. Louis with $861,212 in career earnings. That’s especially impressive when you consider his biggest cash ever was just $60,606 for finishing runner-up in the 2010 Wynn Classic $2,000 No-Limit Hold’em event. That same year he also won a $340 Venetian Deep Stack Extravaganza here at The Venetian for $52,469. Despite all his success, Bolden is seeking his first MSPT cash and he’s primed to get it.
Others who advanced from Day 1B were World Poker Tour champ Jordan Cristos (248,500), MSPT Golden Gates runner-up Jason Vanstrom (227,000), poker pro Lily Kiletto (217,000), 2016 MSPT Iowa State Poker champ John Sun (164,500), World Series of Poker bracelet winner Eric Baldwin (110,500), and MSPT Season 1 Running Aces champ Joe Matheson (58,000).
Unfortunately, not everyone could survive the flight. Among those to try and fall were Vegas cash game grinders Michael Faulkner and Andrew Moreno; MSPT champs Jonathan Kim, Rodger Johnson, and Johnny Hayes; and poker pros Joseph Cheong, Ryan Laplante, Joe Tehan and Tim West.
Day 2 will see the surviving players from both flights return to action at 11 a.m. on Saturday and play down to a winner. Who will walk away with top prize and two trophies? Join us then to find out as we capture all the action right here in the live blog. Until then, good night from Las Vegas!
We will have the Day 2 seat draw, as well as payout information, posted for your shortly.