Traditionally at the MSPT Golden Gates in Black Hawk, Colorado, Day 1A is the smallest of the three starting flights. While that may hold true this weekend, the turnout was still larger than expected as 139 entrants took their shot in the opening flight.
After 14 levels of play, just 21 bagged chips with Jim Morrison, who is seeking his first MSPT cash, and his stack of 402,000 leading the way.
Others that bagged big stacks were 21-year-old Cannon Conolty (357,500), Colin York (315,000), Ruth Graham (181,000), and Bryan Wienhoff (181,000), who round out the top five.
They were joined by the likes of MSPT Season 6 MSPT Golden Gates champ Kane Lai (144,500), World Series of Poker Colossus II winner Ben Keeline (117,500), and Colorado pros Darren Hicks (110,500), Bobby Garcia (110,500), and Matt Bingel (54,000). Also bagging, albeit on the short stack with 17,500, is Bobby Sanoubane, who in 2015 won the MSPT $360 Regional Event here at Golden Gates for $33,000.
Poker is a zero-sum game, so obviously not everyone was so lucky. Among those to try and fall on Day 1A were four-time WSOP Circuit ring winner Scott Stewart, MSPT Season 6 Golden Gates champ Phanora Prom, Colorado pros Travis Northrope and Chris Moon, and Iowa’s Jason Bender.
All of those players and any new ones looking to get in action will have two more options to do so as the Day 1B and 1C flights are set to take place at Noon local time on Friday and Saturday. We’ll be providing live updates from both those flights, so be sure to check back tomorrow for all the latest and greatest straight from the floor of the MSPT Golden Gates.