The tournament clock now displays a total of 301 entries into Day 1c, making the running total at the current moment 654. There is just over an hour left of registration available, so that number should climb slightly higher before the registration period closes.
Meanwhile, the eleventh table in play just broke, meaning that there are 90 players still duking it out at the felt with the hopes of finding their names among those to make it to Day 2 when the night comes to a close.
A player raised to 4,000 from under the gun and received a call by another player in middle position. Action folded around to Igor Hot, who was on the button and went all in.
Hot was already sitting with a wall of chips and the reraise effectively put both other players in. They both were sitting with between 20,000 and 30,000, and the original raiser committed the rest of his chips after about 15 seconds.
The middle-position player then went into the tank for about 40 seconds before deciding to call as well. The dealer requested all three hands be turned up for the runout.
Under the Gun:
Middle Position:
Igor Hot:
The board ran out to give Hot a pair of kings on the river.
"Ace-king," said the dealer, pushing the king forward and announcing Hot's hand as best. Both players found themselves with no chips left to play and made their way from the tournament area as Hot scooped the pot and added to his stack.
"It's your day," said tablemate Cody Brinn. Though there are still four-and-a-half levels left in the night, Hot looks to be the chip leader by a decent margin despite some large stacks around the room.
A player opened from middle position to 3,500 and action folded around to Ahmed Taleb, who defended his big blind. The flop was and Ahmed checked to his opponent, who made a continuation-bet of 4,000. Ahmed called.
Both players checked the turn and the river came . Taleb made a bet of 10,000 and was quickly called.
Taleb tabled for trip queens with the nut kicker. His opponent flung his cards face up to the center of the table to muck them, displaying a second-best before the pot was shipped Taleb's way.
Ralph Massey opened to 5,000 from early position and received a call from Jill Bryant, who was on the button. The two went heads up to a flop of and Massey put out another 5,000 for a continuation-bet. Bryant quickly flicked in a T5,000 chip to call.
Action went check-check on the turn and the river came . Massey checked to Bryant and she threw out a bet of 10,000. Massey sent his cards to the muck.
After winning the pot, Bryant now finds herself with 170,000. She had accumulated a mass of chips earlier before losing them all to a massive river bluff, but has not missed a beat on bullet number two and is again well above the average stack in the room around one-third of the way through Level 12.
The MSPT Season 10 Player of the Year Race is in its home stretch and right now Mike Shin holds a healthy lead over both Adam Friedman and Matt Kirby.
At the end of the calendar year, the top-ranked player will receive POY recognition and a $10,000 Main Event buy-in for 2020.
With just a few stops remaining, Shin holds a big lead in the Player of the Year race. His 5,400 points are well ahead of Friedman, who is his next closest competition with 3,500 points.
Shin has amassed 10 MSPT cashes in 2019 which includes winning the MSPT Majestic Star back in January for $68,593 and finishing third in the MSPT Venetian over the summer for $334,000. That was the second-largest score of his career behind the $427,930 he received for finishing 12th in the 2016 World Series of Poker Main Event.
Stacks got all in preflop between Ben Wiora, who was in the cutoff, and the big blind, who was all in for his tournament life.
Big Blind:
Ben Wiora:
The two were in a coin flip situation as the board ran out , leaving the big blind's pair of fives to be nothing more than a five kicker two the queens and eights that were on the board. As such, Wiora's ace proved to be the difference in the hand and earned him both the pot and the knockout, bringing him just shy of a quarter-million in chips nearing the final break of the evening.
The remaining seven tables-worth of tables are on their final 10-minute break of the night. This is the last chance to register for the tournament: registration will close and become final when Level 13 begins at the completion of the break