The 2015 Mid-States Poker Tour continues today with a return to Milwaukee's opulent Potawatomi Casino — the very same venue where the tour set a Wisconsin state record for field size, attracting 487 entries this past September.
Back then it was Michigan's Jason Zarlenga who booked a $120,164 win in the second-largest event in MSPT history.
This time around even bigger numbers are expected as the MSPT has plans to obliterate its $200,000 guarantee.
The first of two starting flights is set to go off at 4 p.m. local time today, with a second at 4 p.m. Saturday and plans to play down a champion Sunday, April 12.
Today, the $1,100 buy-in for the Main Event will get players a 20,000-chip starting stack which they can use to weave their way through 14 40-minute levels on Day 1a.
Players who advance from Day 1a are not eligible to play in Day 1b. The remaining players from each flight will combine on Sunday and play down to a winner. The Main Event final table, featuring 60-minute levels, will be broadcast live (15-minute delay) with hole cards on msptpoker.com and PokerNews.
The PokerNews Live Reporting team will be on hand to capture all the action throughout and players can use the MyStack app to update chip counts straight into the live blog.
To download the My Stack app free on either Apple or Android, click here.
Madison, Wisconsin's Gerald Heckathorn found an early double and now sits at the top the chip counts with close to 40,000.
He picked up pocket tens and picked off one opponent who shoved pocket sixes on the turn of a queen-high board.
The tens held and Heckathorn, who already has two deep runs on the MSPT this year, making 12th in Tama, Iowa and fifth at Baraboo, Wisconsin, is off to the races again.
Joe Landazzi drove up from nearby Chicago, Illinois and its a good thing he made it on time for the 4 p.m. start.
Landazzi is off to about as good a beginning as one could expect here in Milwaukee after flopping three different sets.
He got one player all in with eights against his pocket aces preflop and even though he didn't need it, Landazzi still managed to make a set to bust him and vault into the early chip lead.
Due to the huge number of entrants here on Day 1a, the poker room across the hall from the Woodland Dreams event center where the event is playing out has had to accommodate a number of tables.
A quick check over there showed short-stacked structure junkie Allen Kessler nursing a nub and Anthony Breunig making hay.
Breunig claims a number of big hands and a few sets have helped him climb the leader board on over 70,000 now.
Mark Kroon is out and Bill Wagner is up near the top of the counts after a Kroon meltdown moments ago.
Apparently Wagner flopped a set of eights and even check-raised a Kroon bet on the turn, but Kroon still didn't get the message.
Wagner checked again on the river and Kroon shipped it in with seven-high, leaving the room rather quickly when Wagner called and showed him the goods.
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