$1,100 Main Event ($150K GTD) Day 1a | 2020 Mid-States Poker Tour Grand Falls

08-28-2020 23:31 UTC-5

Ajayi Looking to Play Some More Golf Tomorrow

Chad Holloway

Level 12 : 1,500/2,500, 2,500 ante

Denver's Dapo Ajayi hasn't played much poker since January, which is when he finished runner-up in the WSOPC Thunder Valley for $91K. However, he had the itch and opted to travel to Grand Falls yesterday. A golf aficionado, he's already taken advantage of the property's award-winning course by playing three rounds already. It's looking like he'll have the opportunity to play even more tomorrow if he can bag the big stack he's currently sitting on.

In a recent hand, the under-the-gun player moved all in for 36,500 and Ajayi isolated with a three-bet from the hijack. The rest of the players folded and the hands were turned up.

Dapo Ajayi:
Opponent:

It was a flip and Ajayi was just looking to hold. That's exactly what he did as the board ran out a clean to give him the knockout.

Player	Chips	Progress
Dapo Ajayi	290,000 185,000	185,000

08-29-2020 00:21 UTC-5

Berk's Rollercoaster Ride Comes to an End

Chad Holloway

Level 13 : 2,000/3,000, 3,000 ante

Chicago's Michael Berk was on an up-and-down ride today. Midway through the tournament he was short but then hit his stride and worked a short stack into one of the bigger ones in the room.

Unfortunately for him, he lost a chip-leading pot that would've put him at 500K had he made it through the river. It happened on a flop when he held . His opponent had , and long story short a jack spiked on the river.

Berk was left with 100K but lost another big one to knock him down to just 6,000. In what would be his final hand of the Day 1a flight, Berk moved in from the hijack and Mike Lang called from the button. The player in the big blind put in an additional 3,000 and then the two active players checked it down as the board ran out .

Michael Berk:
Mike Lang:
Big blind:

Lang didn't seem to realize he had the ace-high flush, which proved the winner to send Berk out in Level 12.

Player	Chips	Progress
Mike Lang	70,000
Michael Berk	Busted

Tags: Michael Berk

08-29-2020 00:45 UTC-5

The Hammer Has Been Laid Down

Chad Holloway

Level 14 : 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante

Action folded to Bruce "The Hammer" Swart on the button and he moved all in for 43,000, which Denver's Dapo Ajayi called from the small blind.

Bruce Swart:
Dapo Ajayi:

It was a race but Swart needed to improve to stay alive. Unfortunately for him, that didn't happen as the board ran out to send him out the door in 34th place.

Player	Chips	Progress
Dapo Ajayi	200,000 30,000	30,000
Bruce Swart	Busted

08-29-2020 02:16 UTC-5

Kevin Berthelsen Leads 27 Survivors from Day 1a of MSPT Grand Falls

Chad Holloway

Level 15 : 3,000/5,000, 5,000 ante

If the Day1a turnout at Grand Falls Casino just outside Sioux Falls, South Dakota is any indication, there’s clearly a hunger for live tournament poker. The first of two starting flights closed with 226 entries, which nearly equaled the venue’s two-day record of 238 total entries back in 2015.

After a hard stop 10 minutes into Level 15, just 27 players bagged and tagged with Kevin Berthelsen and his stack of 541,000 leading the way. Rounding out the top five big stacks were William Chao (427,000), Stephen Cleghorn (357,000), Tim Garles (310,000), and Curtis Vierstraete (296,000).

Others to punch their tickets to Day 2 were Donnie Phan (248,000), Steve Federspiel (227,000), Kyna England (207,000), Jason Seitz (191,000), Tyler Kolness (141,000), and Ryan Phan (95,000).

Of course, not everyone was fortunate enough to make it through the night. Among those to fire and fall in Friday’s flight were two-time South Dakota State Poker Championship winner Ryan Skluzak, WSOP Circuit studs Blake Whittington and Nick Pupillo, Howard Hankin’s BFF Cody Brinn, “Bemidji” Eric Anderson, and MSPT Hall of Famer Rich Alsup.

Day 1b will get underway at 3 p.m. on Saturday. Late registration and re-entries will remain open through Level 12 (approximately 11:40 p.m.). PokerNews will be on hand to capture all the action, so be sure to join us then.