Set-Over-Set Vaults Steve Keplin to the Chip Lead on Day 1b of the RPT Casino State Championship
A massive cooler helped propel Steve Keplin to the overall chip lead on Day 1b of the $250 Roughrider Poker Tour Casino State Championship.
Keplin flopped a set of kings against Cody Olson’s set of fives to earn the knockout as the Belcourt, North Dakota native finished the second starting flight with 680,000, putting him atop the leaderboard with 26 more players advancing to Day 2.
Day 1b Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Steve Keplin | United States | 680,000 |
| 2 | John Choleva | United States | 590,000 |
| 3 | Dave Ouellette | United States | 454,000 |
| 4 | Jessica Kendall | United States | 405,000 |
| 5 | Andrew Taylor | Canada | 348,000 |
| 6 | Jamie Meidinger | United States | 336,000 |
| 7 | Corey Littlewolf | United States | 271,000 |
| 8 | Lonnie Barth | United States | 253,000 |
| 9 | Harry Anderson | Canada | 222,000 |
| 10 | Todd Wentz | United States | 216,000 |
John Choleva was also on the fortunate end of a cooler, flopping quad nines against Brent Slaubaugh’s two queens to double up in a pot worth nearly 400,000. He ended up in second place with 590,000, while Dave Ouellette (454,000), Jessica Kendall (405,000), and Andrew Taylor (348,000) round out the top five.
Others to survive the day included Jamie Meidinger (336,000), Corey Littlewolf (271,000), who finished sixth in this event last year, and 2023 RPT Player of the Year Duff Diseth (141,000). Several players who bagged the opening Day 1a took advantage of the ability to build a bigger stack in the later flight, but only Lonnie Barth and Slaubaugh survived again. Barth ended up with 253,000 compared to 103,000 on Day 1a, while Slaubaugh bettered the 126,000 he finished with on Day 1a by a few extra chips with 133,000. They’ll have their smaller stack taken out of play and be awarded $710 at the start of Day 2.
The bubble burst right at the end of Level 14, so action is currently projected to pick up on Day 2 at the beginning of Level 15 with blinds of 4,000/8,000 and an 8,000 big blind ante.
With 202 more entries on Day 1b, the field stands at 362 through the first two starting flights, with 44 players through to Day 2. There are two more starting flights tomorrow, Day 1c at 9 a.m. and Day 1d at 5 p.m.
PokerNews will be back inside the Spirit Lake Casino & Resort in St. Michael tomorrow providing live updates from what is promising to be a massive field.