Justin Ligeri Bags Big Stack on Day 1b of MSPT Venetian
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.
flop was gin for Pekarek, who paired his ace. Neither the 
turn nor 
river changed a thing and Pekarek, who won the 2019 WSOP Event #9: $600 No-Limit Hold'em Deepstack for $398,281, pulled in the pot, which put him close to the 400K mark.
.
flop paired the at-risk player but that was all the help they'd get as the 
river gave the pot to Prager, who vaulted into six-figure terriroty.
