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

08-28-2020 13:53 UTC-5

Welcome to Day 1a of the MSPT Grand Falls Main Event!

Chad Holloway

At the beginning of the year, the Mid-States Poker Tour (MSPT) was primed for Season 11 and even hosted three stops before the COVID-19 pandemic interrupted things, just like it did for so many other tours and venues.

This weekend, the MSPT Season 11 continues, at least for one stop, with the $1,100 buy-in, $150,000 GTD Main Event at Grand Falls Casino, just outside Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

The event, which requires players to be 21+ and will be live reported by PokerNews, marks the first mid-major tournament in the United States in nearly six months.

The $1,100 Main Event, which will require players to wear masks, features two starting flights beginning with Day 1A at 3 p.m. today. Day 1B will take place at the same time on Saturday, August 29. Both days will play 15 levels. The surviving players from both flights will then return at 11 a.m. on Sunday, August 30 to play down to a winner.

Tournament officials plan to make use of their large event center by spacing out tables as a pandemic precaution.

The MSPT last visited Grand Falls Casino for a Main Event back in September when Jesse Rockowitz topped a 175-entry field to win the tournament for $45,425. The time before that, Ryan Skluzak bested a 226-entry field to win it for $54,427.

The last MSPT stop in general, which took place March 4-8, was actually at Grand Falls Casino, though it was a $350 buy-in Regional Event. Swadeep Mishra took down that tournament for $23,467

MSPT Grand Falls Remaining Schedule

Date	Time (CDT)	Tournament	Chips	Location
Friday, August 28	10 a.m.	$250 Satellite – 1/5 advance to $150K GTD Main Event	15,000	Event Center
Friday, August 28	3 p.m.	$1,100 Main Event Day 1a	25,000	Event Center
Saturday, August 29	10 a.m.	$250 Satellite – 1/5 advance to $150K GTD Main Event	15,000	Event Center
Saturday, August 29	3 p.m.	$1,100 Main Event Day 1b	25,000	Event Center
Sunday, August 30	11 a.m.	$1,100 Main Event Day 2	-	Event Center

_{*Visit msptpoker.com for a complete listing of rake and staff fees.}

08-28-2020 15:24 UTC-5

Download the PokerNews MyStack App and Update Your Chip Count

Chad Holloway

Level 1 : 100/100, 100 ante

PokerNews has activated the My Stack App for this event, allowing you to directly adjust your chip counts in our live reporting blog using your iPhone or Android phone.

You can download the app for iPhone or Android now to get started. Then, create a new PokerNews account or update your current one to start updating your status immediately. Your followers can see all the live-action that you're involved in.

Click here to download the My Stack app for iPhone, or click here to download the My Stack app for Android.

08-28-2020 15:38 UTC-5

Two-Time MSPT Champ Off to a Hot Start

Chad Holloway

Level 1 : 100/100, 100 ante

Two-time MSPT champ Dan Bekavac, who traveled up from Chicago to play in the tournament, has gotten off to a hot start thanks to a double in the first hand he played.

We missed it as it happened, but learned some details after the fact. As Bekavac told it, six players committed 300 preflop to see a rainbow flop. Bekavac, who was in the cutoff with , bet 1,500 and got one caller. On the turn, Bekavac bet 5,000 and then called when his opponent min-raised to 10,000.

An on the river was gin for Bekavac and he moved all in. His opponent called with a set of sevens and Bekavac shipped the double. He then proceeded to win the next two hands to pull out to an early chip lead.

Player	Chips	Progress
Dan Bekavac	66,800

Tags: Dan Bekavac

08-28-2020 17:24 UTC-5

Phan Set Up; Heads to Re-Enter

Chad Holloway

Level 4 : 200/400, 400 ante

In one of the first hands after he late registered the tournament, Donnie Phan got involved in a big hand against MSPT Hall of Famer Rich Alsup.

It happened after the under-the-gun playe opened and the Rich Alsup, who was on the button, three-bet. Phan looked down at the in the small blind and promptly four-bet. The UTG player folded, Alsup called, and the flop came down .

Phan checked, Alsup bet 4,000, and Phan check-raised all in for 15,000. Alsup snap-called and Phan discovered the bad news.

Donnie Phan:
Rich Alsup:

The case on the turn left Phan drawing dead, and to rub salt in the wound a appeared on the river to give him a losing kings full.

Phan headed to the cashier to re-enter the tournament.

Player	Chips	Progress
Donnie Phan	Busted

Tags: Donnie Phan Rich Alsup

08-28-2020 19:01 UTC-5

Sun Sets on Skluzak

Chad Holloway

Level 6 : 300/600, 600 ante

Former MSPT Grand Falls champ Ryan Skluzak, who is also a two-time South Dakota State Poker Champion from 2016 and 2017, has found himself on the rail.

Unfortunately for the agricultural retail salesman, who has three kids with his wife Breanna Skluzak (who also plays poker), his first tournament in six months is done as he's busted two bullets already and is unable to play tomorrow.

Before he departed, Skluzak shared some details on his final hand.

As he told it, he held the and saw a flop of . Some action went down, another appeared on the turn, and the rest of the chips went in.

Ryan Skluzak:
Opponent:

The river was a brick and Skluzak's trip queens went down in flames to the full house.

Player	Chips	Progress
Ryan Skluzak	Busted

Tags: Ryan Skluzak

08-28-2020 20:33 UTC-5

Brinn Hooks Himself a Double

Chad Holloway

Level 8 : 500/1,000, 1,000 ante

We happened upon the table with a player in the tank and 6,400 out in front of him. He was contemplating what to do as Cody Brinn was all in for 16,300. The two chatted a bit, and while the player didn't seem too excited about it, they made the call nonetheless.

Cody Brinn:
Opponent:

Brinn had the better pocket pair and he shipped the double after the board ran out a clean .

Player	Chips	Progress
Cody Brinn	33,000 27,000	27,000

Tags: Cody Brinn

08-28-2020 20:57 UTC-5

"Red Bull Robbie" Brings Big City Experience to Grand Falls

Chad Holloway

Level 9 : 600/1,200, 1,200 ante

Back in the day, Robbie Thompson was a staple at the annual World Series of Poker in Las Vegas. Not only that, he was a fixture on the poker circuit.

So how did the man, who hails from nearby Egan, South Dakota (Pop. 720) and still lives in the same house he did when he was just three years old, get to such a spot in the poker world?

In 1993, Thompson, who used to work manual labor, took a job as a blackjack dealer.

“After a couple years in the pit, I made my move to poker,” Thompson previously said in an interview with CardsChat. “I was leaving my shift one day and my manager asked if I would deal poker that night. She knew that I played, so without any training I sat in the box to a 7-Card Stud hi-lo game and the rest is history.”

Eventually, around 2002, Thompson became a traveling dealer and worked his first WSOP in 2004. Two more years of experience saw him dealing the WSOP final table, and from there it was off to gigs on the European Poker Tour and World Poker Tour. In 2008, he had his chance to become the final table announcer of the WSOP.

In 2017, things came full circle when Thompson got off the road and Renee Thomas, the poker room manager at Grand Falls, offered him a job. As it happened, she was the aforementioned manager who gave him his start 25 years earlier.

Thompson has been using his big-time experience here at the Grand Falls poker room ever since.

Tags: Robbie Thompson

08-28-2020 22:06 UTC-5

Anderson's First MSPT Event Since 2012 Ends as Vierstraete Thrives

Chad Holloway

Level 10 : 1,000/1,500, 1,500 ante

The under-the-gun player raised to 3,500 and five players called, including Eric Anderson in the small blind. Anderson is no stranger to the MSPT having worked for the tour for seven years, though now he finds himself on the otherside as a player. This is the first MSPT event he's played since 2012.

Both Anderson and the player in the big blind checked and the UTG player continued for 8,500. Curtis Vierstraete called from middle position while another player got out of the way. Anderson then check-raised all in for 22,500, Max Young folded from the big blind, and the UTG player called.

Vierstraete then jammed over the top for what looked like another 30,000 or so and the UTG player called that as well.

Curtis Vierstraete:
Eric Anderson:
UTG Player:

Vierstraete was ahead with a set, but the turn did give Anderson an up-and-down straight draw. Unfortunately for him, it didn't come in as the bricked on the river to give Vierstraete the big pot.

Player	Chips	Progress
Curtis Vierstraete	125,000
Eric Anderson	Busted

Tags: Eric Anderson Curtis Vierstraete

08-28-2020 22:47 UTC-5

Seitz Survives Bekavac

Chad Holloway

Level 11 : 1,000/2,000, 2,000 ante

Former MSPT champ Jason Seitz moved all in for 31,000 from early position and Dan Bekavac three-bet jammed over the top from the cutoff. The rest of the players got out of the way and the hands were turned up.

Dan Bekavac:
Jason Seitz:

It was a bad spot for Seitz but he got lucky when the flop delivered him an ace. Neither the turn nor river changed a thing and Seitz shipped the double.