Day 1a of the Mid-States Poker Tour Meskwaki attracted 181 entries, but after 14 levels of play just 30 remained with Muneer Ahmed and his stack of 379,000 leading the way.

Ahmed is no stranger to Meskwaki as he won this very stop back in Season 3 for $89,184. Ahmed actually took a big hit late in the night after missing a flush draw, but once his table broke and he got a new seat, he caught fire, which included doubling his big stack holding pocket aces after an opponent shoved on him with nines.

Others who bagged up big stacks were Shawn "Reginald" Roberts (295,000), Josh Lyster (280,500), Josh Reichard (261,000), and Tom Frith (215,000), who round out the top five. Others who bagged, albeit with a bit less, were Todd "Odds" Haugen (205,000), Sherry Hammers (85,000), Scotter Clark (61,000), Rodger Johnson (50,000), and Jeff Bryan (34,500).

Unfortunately not everyone was so lucky. Among those to take a shot and miss on Day 1a were defending champ Rich Alsup, Rick Syverud, Thomas Peebels, John Reading, Nick Jivkov, Phil Mader, Dan "DQ" Hendrickson, Gerald Heckathorn, Phil Mader, Aaron Johnson, Allen Kessler, MSPT Team Pro Matt Alexander, and reigning MSPT Player of the Year Mark Hodge.

Hodge fell in Level 8 when he was down to his last 10,00. Eight players limped to see a flop, and then three of them ended up getting the chips in, including Hodge who held the . One of his opponents had flopped top pair with ​, while the other held a better flush draw with the . A third club spiked on the turn, and that was all she wrote for Hodge.

All Day 1a casualties will have the opportunity to try again on Day 1b, and Hodge has already confirmed he'll be in attendance. Others expected to take a shot are recent Wynn Main Event champ Ludovic Geilich, PokerNews Senior Writer Mo Nuwwarah, and Team Blue Shark Optics Pro Matt Schwartz, just to name a few.

Day 1b will kick off at 4 p.m. local time on Saturday. Join us then as we bring you all the action straight from the tournament floor right here in the MSPT Live Blog.