$1,100 Main Event
Day 1a Completed
$1,100 Main Event
Day 1a Completed
Day 1a of the 2019 Mid-States Poker Tour (MSPT) Michigan State Poker Championship at FireKeepers Casino saw 322 entrants take to the felt. After 15 levels of play, just 36 remained with Nick Davidson and his stack of 498,000 leading the pack.
Joining Davidson atop the counts are Al Motiwala (493,000), Bryant Miller (476,500), Mitchell Bank (298,500), and Lou Ojeda (295,500), who round out the top five.
Others who advanced to Day 2 were Adam Lampehre (261,000), Randy Bullen (168,500), MSPT Season 5 Player of the Year Mike Deis (138,000), Minnesota’s Ian Matakis (131,500), and poker media veteran Sam Cosby (110,000).
Among those to fire and fall on Day 1a were MSPT Hall of Famers Kou Vang and Aaron Johnson, 2015 MSPT Michigan State Poker Champ Michael Ferrarotti, Tony Sinishtaj, Pauly “Walnuts” Bianchi, MSPT Meskwaki winner Nathan Trenkamp, and Minnesota Poker Hall of Famer Blake Bohn.
All of those players will have the opportunity to fire again if they so choose along with any newcomers. Speaking of which, some players spotted around the gaming floor who are expected to jump in are 13-time World Series of Poker Circuit ring winner Maurice Hawkins, MSPT champ Keith Heine, and two-time gold bracelet winner Dan Heimiller, just to name a few.
Day 1b of the tournament will kick off at Noon local time on Friday, with the 1c flight to follow on Saturday. The surviving players from all three flights will then return on Sunday to play down to a winner.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
498,000
268,000
|
268,000 |
|
|
493,000
178,000
|
178,000 |
|
|
476,500
144,500
|
144,500 |
|
|
298,500
298,500
|
298,500 |
|
|
295,500
29,500
|
29,500 |
|
|
279,000
279,000
|
279,000 |
|
|
269,000
224,000
|
224,000 |
|
|
261,000
1,000
|
1,000 |
|
|
246,500
246,500
|
246,500 |
|
|
239,000
239,000
|
239,000 |
|
|
230,000
230,000
|
230,000 |
|
|
204,500
204,500
|
204,500 |
|
|
185,000
40,000
|
40,000 |
|
|
168,500
78,500
|
78,500 |
|
|
161,000
64,000
|
64,000 |
|
|
158,000
18,000
|
18,000 |
|
|
143,000
143,000
|
143,000 |
|
|
138,000
8,000
|
8,000 |
|
|
136,500
136,500
|
136,500 |
|
|
||
|
|
131,500
58,500
|
58,500 |
|
|
||
|
|
131,000
131,000
|
131,000 |
|
|
123,500
123,500
|
123,500 |
|
|
119,000
6,000
|
6,000 |
|
|
112,500
112,500
|
112,500 |
|
|
110,000
60,000
|
60,000 |
The remaining 38 players will play five more hands before they bag up their chips and secure their spot for Day 2. Stay tuned to see end of Day 1A chip counts and a recap of today's action.
Bryant Miller opened to 10,000 from middle position and got called by the cutoff and the big blind.
On a flop reading ![]()
![]()
Miller put out a continuation bet of 12,500 and got called by only the cutoff.
Miller checked the action over to his opponent on the
turn card who bet 24,000. Miller called and they went to a river.
The
fell on the river and Miller check-called a bet of 29,500.
Miller: ![]()
![]()
Opponent: ![]()
![]()
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
332,000
142,000
|
142,000 |
Michael Donnelly got his last 29,000 all in preflop and was looking to get lucky against Gary Farhat.
Gary Farhat: ![]()
![]()
Michael Donnelly: ![]()
![]()
The ![]()
![]()
was dry for both players while the
turn paired Farhat. That left Donnelly looking for a ten on the river to stay alive, but it wasn't in the cards as the
bricked to put an end to his Day 1a run.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
85,000 | |
|
|
Busted |
A player in middle position raised to 6,000, a player in the hijack called and Jason Melasi called from the big blind.
The three players saw a flop of ![]()
![]()
. The original raiser put out a continuation bet of 7,500. The hijack folded and Melasi called.
Both players checked the
turn card and Melasi fired 9,000 on the
river and got snap called.
Melasi tabled ![]()
which was good enough to take down the pot.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
225,000 |
Level: 15
Blinds: 2,000/4,000
Ante: 4,000
A player in middle position raised 27,500 leaving himself 1,000 behind. Xiaofei Wen was in the small blind and called.
Wen bet blind before the flop of ![]()
![]()
was dealt. His opponent tossed in his last 1,000 and they both turned their cards over.
Xiaofei Wen: ![]()
![]()
Opponent: ![]()
![]()
The
turn card improved Wen to two pair but was a bad card for him as it gave his opponent eight additional outs.
The
river completed the board and Wen added the pot to his stack.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
140,000
140,000
|
140,000 |
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
260,000
160,000
|
160,000 |
|
|
225,000
175,000
|
175,000 |
|
|
190,000
65,000
|
65,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
180,000
5,000
|
5,000 |
|
|
125,000
25,000
|
25,000 |
|
|
50,000
15,000
|
15,000 |
|
|
Busted | |
|
|
Busted | |
|
|
Busted | |
|
|
Busted | |
|
|
Busted | |
|
|
Busted | |
|
|
Busted | |