The first of three starting flights in the MSPT FireKeepers Main Event drew a whopping 250 entrants, which crushed the previous Day 1A record of 195. It also puts the field on pace to surpass last fall’s record of 884 total entrants; in fact, it looks as if the field is primed for 1,000+ runners and a $1,000,000 prize pool!

After 14 levels of play on Day 1A, just 48 players remained with Brian Eklund and his stack of 238,000 leading the way.

Also bagging was three-time MSPT champ Carl Carodenuto (168,500), who is pictured above. Carodenuto flew in from Minnesota earlier in the day with MSPT Season 7 Player of the Year Rich Alsup and Todd Breyfogle, neither of who bagged.

Others who made it through were Michigan’s Adam Lamphere (174,000), who has the incredible distinction of cashing seven of the eight MSPT Main Events held here at FireKeepers; MSPT Season 4 Ho-Chunk Champ Josh Reichard (45,000); and MSPT Season 7 Meskwaki champ Keith Heine (187,000), who is currently on top of the Season 8 Player of the Year race with 2,200 points.

Of course, not everyone was fortunate enough to survive. Among those to fall on Day 1A were MSPT Season 4 Player of the Year Pat Steele, 2016 MSPT Iowa State Poker Champ John Sun, inaugural MSPT FireKeepers champ Tom Midena, #MSPT100 winner Jason Ramos, and both Cy Church and Brett Blackwood, who finished as runner-up and winner of the last MSPT FireKeepers.

Day 1B will kick off at Noon local time on Friday, and it’s already shaping up to be bigger as approximately 150 satellite winners are already signed up. Join us then as we bring you all the action straight from the tournament floor of the FireKeepers Casino Poker Room.