McMaster Surges to Chip Lead After Day 1a of MSPT Meskwaki Main Event
Day 1a of the MSPT Meskwaki Main Event attracted a grand total of 176 entries and when the cock crowed to signal the end of the day, only 20 remained.
Leading the remaining players at day’s end was Derek McMaster who caught an end-of-day whirlwind to catapult him to the top of the counts with 482,500. McMaster became a boisterous presence in the final couple of levels of play as he used his stack and his voice to start vacuuming all the chips at the table.
Finishing the day in second place was Nick Marsh with 443,000. Marsh rose to the top earlier in the day than McMaster and had a steadier rise to the top.
Taylor Howard (359,500), Alexander Condon (254,500) and Jason Trezak (244,000) rounded out the top five chip counts at the end of play.
Action was fast-paced for most of the day as tables broke at a steady yet rapid pace. The plan was to either play until the conclusion of 15 levels or until 12% remained, and in fact play went slightly beyond that as two players were eliminated on the last hand of the night to bring the surviving player count to 20, one lower than the target of 21. Those 20 will return at 11 a.m. on Sunday for Day 2 where they will combine with the surviving players of Day 1b.
Follow PokerNews for full Day 1b coverage to see who joins the 20 survivors from Day 1a for a bombastic Day 2.
and was called by the 
of Dash Saenz. 
and Saenz collected all of Spaeth's chips.
. Nick Marsh bet 8,000 and was raised to 18,000 by his opponent. Marsh thought a moment and called.
to gather in a large pot to swell his stack further.
. Action was checked around. The turn came the 
. Lang checked again and Friedman made a testing bet of 12,500. Lang thought it out for about a full minute before calling.
for nothing while Lang showed down the winner with the 
and took in the pot.
