2014 Mid-States Poker Tour FireKeepers Casino

Main Event
Day: 1c
Event Info

2014 Mid-States Poker Tour FireKeepers Casino

Final Results
Winner
Winning Hand
a9
Prize
$101,482
Event Info
Buy-in
$1,000
Prize Pool
$397,170
Entries
411
Level Info
Level
28
Blinds
30,000 / 60,000
Ante
1,000

The Dark Horse Brewery is Popular Amongst the MSPT Family

Level 10 : 500/1,000, 100 ante
Bryan Mileski, Eric Anderson and Adam Friedman at the Dark Horse Brewery.
Bryan Mileski, Eric Anderson and Adam Friedman at the Dark Horse Brewery.

There is a special place just down the road from FireKeepers Casino in Marshall, Michigan called Dark Horse Brewery. It's a local hot spot that makes some of the best beer around, and it just so happens to be a favorite place to visit among the MSPT family.

Allen Hilliker, who used to managed the FireKeepers Poker Room, is a part of Dark Horse Brewery, and he recently hosted the MSPT's Bryan Mileski and Eric Anderson, who took WSOP and HPT champ Adam Friedman for a visit on Friday nights (see picture).

Here's a look at the company's history courtesy of darkhorsebrewery.com:

A brewer slowly climbed from the lowest points of business life with a sore ass, as he ascended to a new level. Hark! The horse of the dark nature holds the scales where the wheat and barley feedeth, not taketh from the mouths of man. A non-filtered view of hard work, careful perseverance of expansion, sticking to what is believed to be the right way and the only way to stay true to high quality, and also, the vague understandings of possible humor; blurring his family’s, employees’ and customers’ drinking experience and vision between a no-bullshit approach to brewing big, outstanding beers and selling nonsensical imagery and haberdashery…Proven to the masses as a Darkhorse trademark for the man behind the reigns.

Can true patrons of quality, time and devotion deal with the inner workings of a mad-man’s psyche as he speaks of visions of smacking Umpa Lumpas with snow shovels, or allows the obscure drawings of lawn jarts and tinker toys to be hung on the walls of his establishment? They seem to…A madman’s passion for brewing comes out in strange ways indeed; where his employees and fellow brew house boys may know not how to deal with his tongue twisted ramblings and contortions of the face at first; where the same can definitely scare away newcomers.

True patrons know how to accept the obscure humor. Some have lent a hand in some way or another. They know what “pour to the line” means; they have been to every annual crawfish boil and some find the passion within themselves to put the Darkhorse name to skin…still they barely understand the immature drawings created in the brewery… True patrons know the hard work the brewers put in to create and keep the Darkhorse name in the lead.

Some things in life are easily read and some things keep you guessing. Should we take turns consuming garage sale items and vomiting them on the walls or should we follow the square, straight and narrow? Slip into the pub and look around. Go out and buy a six-pack, and read the holder the beer comes in. Read the back of your growler. When you’re done, you’ll either get it or you won’t. No matter, as you’re drinking some of the best fuckin’ beer made in the great state of Michigan. Period!

Tags: Bryan MileskiDark Horse Brewery

The Number Are In

Level 10 : 500/1,000, 100 ante

The Numbers are in! The Season 5 MSPT FireKeepers Main Event has attracted 411 runners (up from 301 last year) playing for $101,482 up top. The top 45 players will split the $397,170 prize pool as follows:

PlacePrize
1st$101,482
2nd$58,583
3rd$35,745
4th$28,795
5th$22,639
6th$18,866
7th$15,092
8th$11,518
9th$7,943
10-12$5,163
13-15$3,972
16-18$3,138
19-27$2,462
28-36$2,184
37-45$1,986

Some Updated Chip Counts

Level 10 : 500/1,000, 100 ante
Player Chips Progress
Chris Karambinis us
Chris Karambinis
130,000
Nai Gang Lin
Nai Gang Lin
120,000 -10,000
Beldar Shaholli
Beldar Shaholli
109,000
"Wild Bill" Romer
"Wild Bill" Romer
85,000 -2,500
Brandon Tharp
Brandon Tharp
80,000 5,000
Mike Ermie
Mike Ermie
80,000 7,000
Tyler Caspers us
Tyler Caspers
66,000 16,000
Mike Deis us
Mike Deis
55,000 14,000
Bob Buyce
Bob Buyce
50,000 -60,000
Nick Perkins
Nick Perkins
45,000 -17,000
Russell Harriman
Russell Harriman
40,000 -13,500
Elliott Hebden us
Elliott Hebden
30,000 16,000
Patrick Steele us
Patrick Steele
25,000 -1,000
Kou Vang us
Kou Vang
15,000 -15,000

Level: 10

Blinds: 500/1,000

Ante: 100

Time for Another Break

Level 9 : 400/800, 100 ante

Level 9 is in the books, and that means it's time for another ten-minute break. Registration and reentries are open through the break, but once Level 10 kicks off it'll officially close. When that happens we'll have official numbers and prize pool information for you.

Vang vs. Perkins

Level 9 : 400/800, 100 ante

Kou Vang opened for 1,600 from early position and the player in the small blind called. Nick Perkins then three-bet to 4,400 from the big, Vang called, and the small blind got out of the way.

When the flop came down {5-Diamonds}{a-Hearts}{2-Clubs}, Perkins led out for 5,600 and Vang wasted little time in folding. Not much of a hand, but it gave us a good excuse to update you on their chip counts.

Meanwhile, Nick Smith has been eliminated from the tournament.

Player Chips Progress
Nick Perkins
Nick Perkins
62,000
Kou Vang us
Kou Vang
30,000 -1,000
Nick Smith gb
Nick Smith
Busted

Tags: Nick SmithNick PerkinsKou Vang

Steele's Mystery Hand Revealed

Level 9 : 400/800, 100 ante
Patrick Steele
Patrick Steele

Patrick Steele, the reigning MSPT Player of the Year, opened for 2,000 from early position and received a call from a player in middle position. The cutoff called too, and once the button and blinds folded, three players saw a flop of {6-Spades}{4-Clubs}{8-Diamonds}.

Steele continued for 4,400, and it did the trick as both his opponents folded. Steele then flashed our reporter the {j-Spades}{j-Diamonds}, but did not show the table.

"Show one show all," one of the players joked. Seeing as Steele didn't reveal the hand to a player in the tournament he wasn't obliged to show. That said, he did give us permission to write his hole cards and then told the players if they really wanted to know all that have to do is go to PokerNews.com.

Player Chips Progress
Patrick Steele us
Patrick Steele
26,000 3,100

Tags: Patrick Steele

Rice is Cooked

Level 9 : 400/800, 100 ante

We missed his elimination, but Justin Rice just informed us that he met his end. According to him, he moved all in for 10,000 or so over the top of a raise from the cutoff. The call was made, and Rice was in bad shape with {3-}{3-} against his opponent's {9-}{9-}. The board ran out clean, and Rice, who fired a bullet on Day 1b, was out of the MSPT FireKeepers Main Event.

Player Chips Progress
Justin Rice us
Justin Rice
Busted

Tags: Justin Rice

Level: 9

Blinds: 400/800

Ante: 100