Ryan Brown Leads Final Flight of MSPT Golden Gates Regional Event
The final starting day of the $360 MSPT Golden Gates Regional Event drew the biggest field with 360 players but only 57 found a bag for Day 2.
All in all, the four flights combined attracted 915 competitors generating a prize pool of $274,500 but only 131 of them will return to the felt tomorrow to continue to battle it out.
The top 99 finishers will be guaranteed a min-cash worth $659, but all eyes will be on the first-place prize of $52,155 as well as the MSPT trophy.
Ryan Brown earned the honors of Day 1d chip lead with a stack of 443,000. He now shares the overall chip lead with defending champion Aaron Frei who bagged the exact same stack on Day 1a. Brown already has a couple of cashes at the MSPT but he will be looking to make a deep run, and take home his first MSPT trophy.
Other players who made it near the top of the leaderboard through this final flight include Raymond Swingle (333,000), Joel Verbeck (326,000) and James McGee (295,000).
Verbeck acquired most of his chips after winning a massive pot in a three-way all in. He was at risk on the flop with an open-ended straight draw against the player in the hijack who had two pair and Steve Wilkie who had a better two pair. The turn was just what Verbeck needed for a straight and he took over the chip lead, but couldn't keep it till the end of the day.
Some of the familiar faces that also bagged today inlcude Griffin Malatino (286,000), Scotter Clark (89,000), Steve Klaus (87,000), and Ben Keeline (54,000). Keeline has over $2.4 million in total live earnings including major titles. He will be chasing another victory to add to his resume.
Among those to bust throughout the last starting day were David Blankenship, Leland Fox, Steve Wilkie, Ken Mann, and Ming Chang to name just a few. Blankenship forfeited his stack on Day 1a after bagging 84,000 with the hope of bagging a bigger stack for Day 2. However, he saw his hopes vanish as he couldn't find another bag.
All Day 1 survivors combine to a single field on Sunday, November 17th at noon local time to continue to battle it out until a winner is crowned. Action will resume at Level 16 which features a small blind of 2,000, big blind of 5,000, with a 5,000 big blind ante. PokerNews will be your one-stop-shop for all the action.
and Sweeney stayed ahead, eliminating Decker.
and the player in early position checked. Lang bet 4,000 and his opponent check-called.
and the player in early position check-called another bet of 5,500 from Lang.
river completed the board and this time, the player in early position led out with a bet of 11,000. Lang went deep into the tank for a few minutes and eventually the clock got called on him. Within five seconds left on the countdown, Lang made the call. The player in early position showed 
for a bluff and Lang tabled 
to win the pot with a pair of tens.
giving Chang a flush draw. However, the 
turn and 
and Aweida stayed ahead, eliminating his opponent.
giving Vancleave quad tens. The 
and the big blind checked. Tulien bet 1,000 and the big blind check-called.
and was checked through to the 
river. The big blind checked once more but Tulien bet 2,000. His opponent called. The big blind showed 
to win the pot with kings and jacks with an ace-kicker.
when Andrew Sargent checked from the small blind. The player in the hijack bet 400 and the cutoff called. Sargent check-called as well.
but that wasn't good enough as Sargent revealed 
to win the pot with trip sevens.