Day 1a of the Mid-States Poker Tour Grand Falls Casino in Larchwood, Iowa – which is just outside Sioux Falls, South Dakota – attracted 87 entries, which puts the tournament well on pace to surpassing the advertised $150,000 guarantee.
After 14 levels of play, the field was whittled down to the final 19 with Vale, South Dakota's Wesley Ismay (pictured) and his stack of 224,500 leading the pack.
Ismay, who ranks 16th on South Dakota's all-time money list with $93,235 in live tournament earnings, is looking for his first MSPT cash, and no doubt hopes to earn a payday similar to the $57,991 he won in 2009 after finishing 88th in the World Series of Poker Main Event.
Others who bagged and tagged were Timothy McReynolds (190,000), Joe Barnard (106,500), Phil Mader (90,000), MSPT Season 6 Player of the Year Mark Hodge (69,000), James Weaver (54,500) and Aaron Johnson (25,000).
Of course not everyone was so fortunate. Among those to fall on Day 1a were the father-son duo Brett and Josh Reichard; four-time WSOP Circuit ring winner Mark Fink; MSPT Pros Blake Bohn and Matt Alexander; MSPT Season 3 Running Aces champ Rodger Johnson; poker pro Jeff Fielder; and PokerNews reporter Mo Nuwwarah.
Of course all of those players have the option of returning for Day 1b at 4:00 p.m. local time Saturday. We'll be back then to bring you all the action and eliminations straight from the tournament floor of the MSPT Grand Falls Casino, so be sure to join us then.