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Josh Brown Cracks a Million as 24 Players Survive Day 1a of the RPT Montana State Poker Championship
Josh Brown raced away from the field on Day 1a of the Roughrider Poker Tour $635 Montana State Poker Championship.
Brown was the only player to bag up more than 1,000,000 on the event’s opening flight, finishing up with 1,090,000 and atop the leaderboard as 24 players secured their spots for Day 2. He’s followed far behind by Leighton Lindsey (630,000), Josh Egle (604,000), Rick Lehman (551,000), and Keat O’Hearn (521,000).
Day 1a Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Josh Brown | United States | 1,090,000 |
| 2 | Leighton Lindsey | United States | 630,000 |
| 3 | Josh Egle | United States | 604,000 |
| 4 | Rick Lehman | United States | 551,000 |
| 5 | Keat O'Hearn | United States | 521,000 |
| 6 | Justin Fowler | United States | 462,000 |
| 7 | Leonardo Valenzuela | United States | 441,000 |
| 8 | Brian Lytle | United States | 417,000 |
| 9 | Damon Muehl | United States | 407,000 |
| 10 | Jeff Heiberg | United States | 391,000 |
Lindsey was already sporting a big stack when he flopped the nut straight in a three-way all in to earn the double knockout. Egle’s speciality today was flopping sets. He first hit a set of deuces to beat Nathaniel Palmer’s ace-king, then coolered Andrew Jelle with a set of threes after Jelle flopped top two pair.
Justin Fowler was lucky to survive the day. During the last level, he was all in for 205,000 with two kings but ran right into Brandon Luckey’s aces. Luckey’s luck ran out, though, and Fowler spiked top set on the flop to win the pot and double up. Fowler ended up with 462,000, while Leonardo Valenzuela (441,000), Damon Muehl (407,000), Alan Strouf (361,000), 2024 runner-up Weston Wells (309,000), Gabe Gaddis (304,000), and Alex Smith (117,000) also survived the day.
Strouf was responsible for sending out defending champion Dan Burcham, picking up ace-king and improving to a flush against Burcham’s ace-queen. Brad Magnus burned through all three of his allowed bullets today, while Steve Kelly, Dave Ouellette, Nick Hammarstrom, Miles Barnum, Kevin Ellis, Harold Brenden, and John Schroer were also sent to the rail.
A total of 141 players gathered inside the Billings Hotel & Convention Center today. A new crop of hopefuls gets their shot tomorrow on Day 1b beginning at 2 p.m. local time. All surviving players from the two opening flights then combine for Day 2 on Sunday, May 3, to play down to a champion.
Be sure to return tomorrow as PokerNews provides live updates from another action-packed day in Billings.