The first of three starting flights in the $1,100 MSPT Seneca Niagara – the tour’s first visit to Western New York – attracted 42 entries, but by the end of the night, just six bagged with Canada’s Illan Kandiah and his stack of 207,000 leading the way.

Others advancing were Daniel Wagner (146,300), Derrick Brown (136,000), Harp Padda (173,300), 2017 MN Poker Mag Player of the Year Todd Melander (59,400), and MSPT Season 5 Majestic Star champ Ken Baime (117,200).

Wagner is looking to replicate the success he had back in January. That is when he finished runer-up in the MSPT Cleveland Poker Open at JACK Cleveland for $72,701.

Not everyone was so lucky. Among those to fall on Day 1A were Kimo Sabe Mezcal MSPT Season 8 Player of the Year Chris Meyers, Steven Filipovic, Paul McLean, Jason Valenti, Paul Bitterman, Greg Britz, and Barry Krueger.

The Day 1B and 1C flights, which will take place at Noon local time on Friday and Saturday respectively, are expected to be even bigger and better. Among those we expect to see in action are John “Big Stick” Abraham, Minnesota’s Alex Winter, and 2018 MSPT Iowa State Poker Champion Brian Soja.

Of course, we’ll be there every step of the way to capture the action here in the live blog, so be sure to join us then.