$1,100 Main Event
Day 1b Completed
$1,100 Main Event
Day 1b Completed
The second of three starting flights has been played to its conclusion with 233 entries on Day 1b bringing the two-day total to 353. Umut Ozturk (402,000) found himself atop the counts when the day came to an end, finishing as the only player above 400,000.
Ozturk was seen with a comfortable stack throughout most of the day after registering shortly after play began. That was only the beginning though, as he found pocket aces twice at the right time in the last two hours, winning two huge pots and scoring two knockouts along the way. The second knockout brought him just below 350,000, and he chipped up a bit from there to reach his final resting total for the day.
Second in chips for the day was former MSPT Potawatomi champ Dan Goepel (392,000). Goepel busted his first bullet of the tournament within the first few hands after running the second nuts into the nuts. However, he got back in on the action and hung around for several hours before winning a huge coin flip to double during Level 11. That proved to be the turning point, as he continued to climb from there and looked to be a lock for the end-of-day chip lead until Ozturk made his charge.
Rob Wazwaz rounds out the top three, finishing the day with 374,000. Wazwaz had 130,000 during the penultimate level of the night before finding pocket kings and three-betting, only to see the original opener four-bet to put him all in with ten-nine suited. The pot put him over 250,000, and he increased that number by nearly another 50 percent before chips went into bags.
In total, 26 players advanced from the flight after two eliminations occurred on the final hand of play. Several of those to advance included familiar players around the MSPT such Nick Pupillo (250,000), Mike Shin (178,000), Yao "YY" Yin (123,000), and Andy Tran (46,000).
Many others, including Aaron Massey, Ralph Massey, John Sun, Alex Winter, and Ahmed Taleb were among those less fortunate and unable to find a bag during Friday’s heat. All players who have yet to qualify for Day 2 will have one final shot to do so on Saturday’s Day 1c, which will begin at 1 p.m. local time.
PokerNews will be back at it for the final heat to provide coverage as the Day 2 field looks to be solidified. Make sure to come back to see who will add their name to the list of 42 to have already done so.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Umut Ozturk | 402,000 | -16,000 |
Dan Goepel | 392,000 | 15,000 |
Rob Wazwaz
|
374,000 | 74,000 |
Gerald Siemienas | 316,000 | 36,000 |
Goran Filipovic | 289,000 | -10,000 |
Rob Dunn | 259,000 | -17,000 |
Nick Pupillo
|
250,000 | 42,000 |
Blake Whittington | 237,000 | 63,000 |
Nicola Ditrapani | 228,000 | 228,000 |
Eric Salazar | 210,000 | 210,000 |
Li Shen | 203,000 | 17,000 |
Mike Shin | 178,000 | 38,000 |
Louie Brazzoni | 158,000 | 158,000 |
George Dietz | 150,000 | -90,000 |
Casey Robbins | 141,000 | -29,000 |
John Reading
|
136,000 | 7,000 |
Yao Yin | 123,000 | -87,000 |
Matt Shepsky | 122,000 | -6,000 |
Kanat Ozturk | 102,000 | 102,000 |
Alain Medesan | 84,000 | -41,000 |
Todd Sladek | 81,000 | 81,000 |
John Sun | 61,000 | -40,500 |
Songjie Zhou | 49,000 | -35,000 |
Andy Tran | 46,000 | -164,000 |
Lisa Thomas
|
36,000 | 6,800 |
Both Phil Mader and another player busted simultaneously across two of the four remaining tables on the final hand of the night, bringing the total number of players down to 26 as play concluded.
Official chip counts will be provided shortly and a recap of the day's action will follow.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Phil Mader | Busted | |
Kelly Lopriore | Busted |
The tournament clock has been stopped at six minutes with three hands left to play.
There was around 27,000 in the middle from preflop action on a board of with heads-up action between Goran Filipovic, who was in the hijack, and his opponent in the small blind.
The small blind had 35,000 in front of him and was facing a decision for his remaining 107,000 as Filipovic had shoved over the top. The small blind went into the tank for over two minutes, resulting in Filipovic calling a clock on the player.
After the floor came and confirmed with the dealer that the small blind had had sufficient enough time to think, a 30-second timer was on. With 10 seconds left, the player flung his cards from the three-seat to the muck pile that was near the center of the table, giving up contention of the pot and choosing to fight another hand (or day).
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Goran Filipovic | 299,000 | 15,000 |
Matt Shepsky opened to 8,500 from middle position and action folded around to the big blind, who defended. The flop came and the big blind checked. Shepsky made a continuation-bet of 7,500 and the big blind called.
Both players then checked through the turn and river to take the hand to showdown.
The big blind showed and Shepsky tabled , pointing to the king briefly as he tabled it to show that his king high was good for the pot.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Matt Shepsky | 128,000 | 63,500 |
With 233 total entries for Day 1b, the rounded-down figure of 12 percent for a hard stop is 27 players. Despite Day 1a playing a full 15 levels, this figure is still in play to ensure that the tournament does not make it into the money during any Day 1 flight.
Twenty-eight players currently remain, meaning that play will end early if one more player is eliminated before the end of the night.
John Reading was in the hijack and opened the action with a raise to 10,500. He received a call from Yao Yin, who was in the small blind, putting action onto Gerald Siemienas in the big blind. Siemienas squeezed, putting in a three-bet to 29,500.
"That's a bit more!" said a player at the table after the raise was made. Reading quickly folded. Yin then thought for a few moments and folded face-up.
"You were behind!" said Siemienas with a grin.
"I know! Show it!" prodded Yin. Siemienas said no more as he raked in the pot.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Gerald Siemienas | 280,000 | 28,000 |
Yao Yin | 210,000 | 60,000 |
John Reading
|
129,000 | -34,000 |
Level: 15
Blinds: 2,000/4,000
Ante: 4,000