Rob Wazwaz opened to 35,000 on the button and James Livingston three-bet to 75,000. Wazwaz pushed forward a tall tower of orange T10,000 chips, and Livingston thought for a few minutes before saying he was all in.
"Nice hand," Wazwaz said. "You're ahead. I call."
Wazwaz:
Livingston:
A flop meant Wazwaz was nearly dead, and the ended it on the turn, filling Livingston up.
Thao "Scratch" Thiem opened to 12,000 and saw George Shabatura push all in from his left for 35,000. James Livingston on the button shoved his stack forward as well, what looked to be 113,000.
"I guess I'm all in too," Scratch said, opening . Livingston sighed and flipped , and Shabatura responded by flinging his cards into the muck.
The floor was called, and the players said they knew which two cards were Shabatura's. Shabatura said he had two eights, and the tournament director peeked down at the cards in question and turned over , as mucking isn't allowed in an all-in situation.
The board ran out , giving Livingston an unlikely flush to take most of Thiem's stack and bust Shabatura.
Mark Hodge finally fell short of cashing in a Mid-States Poker Tour event after making the money an amazing six straight times. He said he lost the last of it when he picked up and ran into a player holding kings.
Ben Wiora opened to 7,000 in middle position and got a call from cutoff Steve Vang. Wiora bet 13,000 on the flop, and Vang asked to see his chips. Wiora had about 35,000 total, and Vang put him all in and was quickly called.
Wiora:
Vang:
Vang had the straight flush draw with top pair but needed improvement against the set of the Mid-States Poker Tour Ho-Chunk champ. The turn was a and the river a not enough for Vang
Seventy-three players have survived the crucibles of two Day 1 flights and are set to fire up Day 2 here at Mid-States Poker Tour Meskwaki Casino in Tama, Iowa. Mario Hudson has the chip lead with a monstrous 380,000, miles ahead of second-place Joe Matheson (282,000). Next on the leaderboard is the Minnesota tandem of Thao "Scratch" Thiem (246,000) and Rob Wazwaz (244,000), who bagged the Day 1a lead.
Plenty of dangerous players look a little ways down in the chip counts as well. Matt Kirby (176,000), Josh Reichard (155,000), Ben Keeline (114,500), Dan Sun (113,000), Lance Harris (93,000), and Mike Ross (66,500) would have to be on anyone's short list of favorites to win it all. Indeed, Kirby and Sun have already claimed two MSPT wins each.
Action resumes at 10:30 a.m., and 36 players will make the money. Day 2 will begin at Level 15 (1,500/3,000/500) and progress with 40-minute levels until a final table has been reached. At that point, levels will move to one hour apiece and the live stream will kick off for your viewing pleasure. Stay tuned to find out who takes down the latest MSPT.