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Kou Vang currently leads the MSPT Player of the Year standings.
We're back for more Mid-States Poker Tour coverage after a couple of weeks off. When we last checked in on the MSPT, Nebraskan Matthew Anderson took down MSPT Meskwaki for just over $100,000.
The room is eerily silent here on the second floor of Canterbury Park Casino in Shakopee, Minn., absent the usual hustle and bustle of the time just before an MSPT event. You wouldn't know it at the moment, but over 100 players will soon fill the room for Day 1a of MSPT Canterbury Park. The very first stop in MSPT history was here, drawing 130 players total, but nowadays the fields here are consistently north of 350.
We'll play 14 40-minute levels today, starting at 50/100, with each player wielding 20,000 in chips to start. Breaks will be given every three levels, and one reentry will be allowed for each player per starting day. The dealers are now taking their seats, and we'll be bringing so all of the live updates right here on PokerNews, so don't go anywhere.
We didn't see how it happened, but Lance Harris appears to have collected all but the last few chips of one unfortunate opponent to his left. According to Harris, he opened the button with and called a three-bet from the blinds. After flopping a combo draw, he called another bet before hitting his straight on the turn. His opponent got overaggressive with tens in the hole and was drawing dead.
Lance Harris, who has been unable to put together any deep runs in this Mid-States Poker Tour season, may be finding his groove here at Canterbury after a blazing start. He just stacked an opponent after betting 3,700 on the river with the community having come . The button raised to 9,700, and Harris put him all in for a few thousand more. The player seemed resigned as he called it off.
Harris flipped for the nuts, and his opponent flashed for a lower flush as he rose from his seat.
A player pushed all in from middle position for 7,350 after a flop, and Keith Addison made the call on the button. The big blind called as well, and an turned. The big blind slowly stacked his chips and placed them in the middle, and Addison excitedly announced a call.
"That looks like the nuts," a player said as Addison tabled his holding. Not quite, but close:
Addison:
Middle position:
Big blind:
Addison's boat held on the river, and he busted two opponents.
Mike Lang, pictured booking a chip lead at the end of Day 1b of MSPT Meskwaki.
Big blind Mike Lang bet 7,000 after a flop, and the button raised all in for 20,500. Tom Hammers, in the small blind, called the shove, and Lang called as well. A paired the board and completed a three-flush, and Hammers checked to Lang, who shipped all in. Hammers folded.
Lang:
Button:
Lang had turned a boat, but he still needed to dodge a king that would make his opponent a bigger boat, as well as an open-ended straight flush draw. The river was a blank, the , and Lang, who finished Day 1b of Mid-States Poker Tour Meskwaki as the chip leader, finds himself on another big stack.
Bill Romer bet 7,700 after fourth street made the board . Matt Alexander, who had checked, pushed all in for 20,100, and a third player in the pot shoved as well. Romer mucked face up.
"You're probably good," Alexander's opponent said. "I was just trying to build a side pot with [Romer]."
Indeed, Alexander's was ahead of his opponent's . The secured Alexander's double.
Jason Smith continues to accumulate chips. In a recent hand, a player under the gun opened for a raise and got shoved on by Aaron Johnson, who had about 30,000 in the small blind. Smith made the call, and the under-the-gun player called off his stack after agonizing for a bit.
Under the gun:
Johnson:
Smith:
Smith had woken up with the nuts, and they held up when not a drop of paint was found on the ten-high board.
We saw the aftermath of an all-in pot between former chip leader Jason Smith and new chip leader David Abramowicz. We didn't see Smith's mucked cards, but Abramowicz held on a board of , good for a straight on the turn. Smith sent 122,000 over to his opponent.
and called a three-bet from the blinds. After flopping a combo draw, he called another bet before hitting his straight on the turn. His opponent got overaggressive with tens in the hole and was drawing dead.
. The button raised to 9,700, and Harris put him all in for a few thousand more. The player seemed resigned as he called it off.
for the nuts, and his opponent flashed 
for a lower flush as he rose from his seat.
.
flop, and Keith Addison made the call on the button. The big blind called as well, and an 
turned. The big blind slowly stacked his chips and placed them in the middle, and Addison excitedly announced a call.
flop against the 
to bust Wazwaz.
, and Lang, who finished Day 1b of Mid-States Poker Tour Meskwaki as the chip leader, finds himself on another big stack.
face up.
. The 
secured Alexander's double.
on a board of 
, good for a straight on the turn. Smith sent 122,000 over to his opponent.