2021 Mid-States Poker Tour Venetian
Day 1b Completed
2021 Mid-States Poker Tour Venetian
Day 1b Completed
Day 1b of the Mid-States Poker Tour (MSPT) Venetian $1,100 Main Event attracted 546 runners, which along with 1a’s 463 brought the total field up to 1,009 entrants. It was a great start to the New Year for both the venue and tour, which is entering its 12th season.
The $250K guarantee was nearly quadrupled as a $978,730 prize pool is up for grabs amongst the top 104 finishers. A min-cash will be worth $2,251 and the eventual winner taking home $190,850.
After 15 levels of play, just 76 players remained with Justin Ligeri and his stack of 458,500 leading the way. That is still a ways behind that of Day 1a chip leader Bill Kachel, who bagged 658,000.
Others to bag big stacks were former MSPT Venetian champ Kfir Nahum (440,000), Brent Hart (398,500), and Daniel Jones (363,000), who is looking to continue his good luck here in the Venetian DeepStack Extravaganza. Last month, he took down Event #9: $400 NLH Monster Stack for $33,772, and then a week later won Event #17: $250 NLH SuperStack for nearly $10K.
Others to survive the night were MSPT Canterbury Park champ (290,500), James Carroll (238,000), Saad Ghanem (235,500), Vic Peppe (222,500), Ben Keeline (208,500), Marle Cordiero (199,500), Josh Prager (129,500), Lexy Gavin (120,500), Denise Pratt (113,000), and Michael Rocco (55,500).
Of course, not everyone was fortunate enough to bag the second flight of the 170th Main Event in MSPT history. Among those to fall were former MSPT Venetian champ Bob Whalen, poker pro Nick Pupillo, WSOP Global Casino Champ AJ Kelsall, WPT and bracelet winner Pat “Flyin’” Lyons, former WPT Player of the Year Anthony Zinno, 2007 WSOP Main Event champ Jerry Yang, MSPT all-time money leader Rich Alsup, and three-time MSPT champ Carl Carodenuto.
The surviving players from both flights will return at 11 a.m. PST on Sunday, January 3 to play down to a winner.
Here's a look at the final table payouts:
Place | Prize |
---|---|
1 | $190,850 |
2 | $125,277 |
3 | $84,171 |
4 | $57,745 |
5 | $38,170 |
6 | $28,383 |
7 | $21,532 |
8 | $15,660 |
9 | $13,702 |
Remember, during the latest Venetian DeepStack Extravaganza, players must wear a mask and sanitize their hands before sitting down. Action is 8-handed at tables featuring Plexiglass dividers, which are wiped down each time a new player comes in. Additionally, dealers are required to sanitize their hands each time they enter and exit a table, and fresh decks of cards are circulated every two hours.
Click here for a look at the current Venetian DeepStack Extravaganza schedule.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Justin Ligeri | 458,500 | |
Kfir Nahum | 440,000 | 260,000 |
Brent Hart | 398,500 | 398,500 |
Daniel Jones
|
363,000 | 28,000 |
Sarkis Khachatryan | 363,000 | 245,000 |
Robin Rightmire | 317,000 | 317,000 |
Sukhdip Sangha | 314,000 | 314,000 |
Hieu Dang | 309,500 | 309,500 |
Michael Esquivel | 290,500 | -9,500 |
Camille Brown | 283,000 | 283,000 |
Jason Vanstrom | 263,000 | 263,000 |
James Carroll
|
238,000 | |
Saad Ghanem | 235,500 | 135,500 |
Vic Peppe | 222,500 | 132,500 |
Ben Keeline | 208,500 | 1,500 |
Marle Cordeiro | 199,500 | 199,500 |
Josh Prager | 129,500 | -200,500 |
Lexy Gavin | 120,500 | -49,500 |
Denise Pratt | 113,000 | -20,000 |
Michael Rocco | 55,500 | 55,500 |
Hamid Izadi | 42,500 | -202,500 |
Kyna England | Busted |
The tournament staff just announced the remaining 80 players or so will play five more hands before bagging and tagging on Day 1b. Stay tuned for some chip counts as well as a recap of today's action. In addition, we'll be posting the Day 2 seat draw as soon as it's made available by officials.
Lexy Gavin raised to 10,000 from early position and Ben Keeline made the call from his big blind.
After Keeline checked the flop Gavin made a continuation bet and was called by Keeline. Both players then checked the turn, and after Keeline checked again on the river Gavin bet 16,000 and was quickly called by Keeline.
Ben Keeline:
Lexy Gavin:
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Ben Keeline | 207,000 | 7,000 |
Lexy Gavin | 170,000 | 30,000 |
Level: 15
Blinds: 2,000/4,000
Ante: 4,000
Randall Brooks open-shoved his remaining 45,500 and Denise Pratt made the call from the next seat over.
Randall Brooks:
Denise Pratt;
Pratt was ahead preflop, but that changed on the action flop of , which put Brooks in the lead but still left Pratt with 10 outs. Unfortunately those outs were reduced to just two on the turn.
The river completed the board and sent the pot to Brooks.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Denise Pratt | 133,000 | 3,000 |
Randall Brooks | 98,500 | 98,500 |
Minnesota's Vic Peppe limped from early position and action folded around to Josh Prager, who exercised his option in the big blind by raising to 8,000.
Peppe called and then proceeded to call bets of 6,000 and 10,000 on the flop and turn respectively.
When the double paired the board on the river, Prager slowed down with a check and Peppe checked behind with the for jacks and sevens.
It was no good though as Prager had flopped a flush with his .
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Josh Prager | 330,000 | 220,000 |
Vic Peppe | 90,000 | -25,000 |
Unknown preflop action resulted in a short-stacked player getting all in for 17,000, Emanuel Kiprakis in for 80,000 total, and another player putting both at risk.
Emanuel Kiprakis:
Short Stack:
Big Stack:
Kiprakis had the best of it and he held after the board ran out . With that, Kiprakis eliminated the short stack and doubled through the big one.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Emanuel Kiprakis | 150,000 |
In back-to-back hands Jerry Brown went from the outhouse to darn-near the penthouse.
In the first hand there was a raise to 7,000, which Brown called from the hijack position. The button-player then three-bet to 26,000, which got a fold from the original raiser and sent Brown into deep thought before he eventually tossed in the chips for a call.
After Brown checked the flop the button-player said "All in," and before he could move his chips forward Brown called all-in and the players tabled their hands.
Jerry Brown:
Button Player:
The turn and river secured the double-up for Brown.
In the next hand, Brown hadn't even finished stacking his newly-acquired chips when a player moved all in and Brown made the call.
Jerry Brown:
All-in Player:
The board ran out and sent Brown even more chips to stack.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Jerry Brown | 242,000 | 242,000 |