Kolman Bags Chip Lead, MSPT Stars Shine on Day 1b of Sycuan Main Event
Sebastin Kolman of Los Angeles, California will lead 21 more survivors into Sunday’s final day of the Mid-States Poker Tour (MSPT) Sycuan Showdown Series $1,100 Main Event with a massive 584,000 chips.
He’ll be joined by a who’s who of the MSPT as Rob Wazwaz (310,000), DJ Buckley (188,000), and Rich Alsup (136,000) all bagged to join the nine survivors from Day 1a.
A large part of Kolman’s stack came courtesy of a huge miscue by Jeffrey Jordan who ran his pair of nines preflop into Kolman’s kings after moving all-in for over 70 big blinds effective. Kolman never looked back and continued to grow his stack right until the end of the night.
Alsup looked to be cruising into Day 2 until the second to last level when his pocket aces were cracked by David Avina’s pocket queens, leaving him with just 10 big blinds. The MSPT Hall of Famer battled back to bag a healthy 136,000, while Avina did not survive the day.
Alsup’s may not have been the best comeback story of the day though, as Thuy (TK) Kawano fought back from just over 10,000 chips midway through the day to find herself a bag with 109,000 chips at the end of the night.
Other big stacks heading to Day 2 included Ulisese Liaina (492,000), Stephen S. O’Dwyer (344,000), and Andres Moran (328,000).
Sycuan Showdown Series Main Event Day 1b Top 10 Chip Counts
| RANK | PLAYER | COUNTRY | CHIP COUNT |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sebastin Kolman | United States | 584,000 |
| 2 | Ulisese Liaina | American Samoa | 492,000 |
| 3 | Stephen S. O’Dwyer | United States | 344,000 |
| 4 | Andres Moran | Mexico | 328,000 |
| 5 | Rob Wazwaz | United States | 310,000 |
| 6 | David Mann | United States | 278,000 |
| 7 | Rich Lanes | United States | 254,000 |
| 8 | Abdulkadir Bulle | Canada | 198,000 |
| 9 | DJ Buckley | United States | 188,000 |
| 10 | Genefredo Legaspi | United States | 186,000 |
The second of three opening flights drew a field of 182 players, adding to the 79 who fired on Day 1a. With 261 entries already, and Day 1c Saturday expected to draw a huge field, the $300,000 guarantee is now guaranteed to be shattered.
Among those that will need that final chance on Day 1c after busting this flight are WSOP bracelet winners Adam Friedman, Jim Collopy, and Justin Lapka, along with MSPT Sycuan January Main Event champion Gianluca Pace.
They’ll have their shot Saturday at 3 pm and PokerNews will be there for all the action, so be sure to join us then.
MSPT Showdown Series Remaining Schedule
| Date | Time (PDT) | Tournament | Late Reg | GTD Prize Pool | Starting Stack | Blind Levels | |
| Saturday, April 30 | 10:00 am | $265 Satellite – 1 in 5 advance to MSPT Main | 2:00 pm | 5 seats | 15,000 | 20 | |
| 3:00 pm | Event #10: $1,110 MSPT Main Event Day 1c | 11:40 pm | $300,000 | 25,000 | 40 | ||
| 8:00 pm | $135 Nightly NLH | 10:10 pm | $4,000 | 12,000 | 20 | ||
| Sunday, May 1 | 11:00 am | $1,110 MSPT Main Event Day 2 | - | ||||
| Noon | Event #10: $250 Last Chance NLH | 3:00 pm | $10,000 | 15,000 | 20 | ||
| 3:00 pm | $135 Last Dance NLH | 5:10 pm | $2,000 | 12,000 | 20 |
flop versus Rob Wazwaz who called.
and 
, denying Lardner's flush draw and sending him home shy of making Day 2.
, giving Avina a set, then for good measure he finished up with the 
and 
to give Avina quads and put Alsup on a short stack.
, which TK called.
to earn the pot and boost her stack to 40 big blinds.
, Victor Kulish bet 7,000 from the big blind, Kenneth Morey moved all in from middle position for approximately 18,000. TK called in late position, and Kulish then called to build a huge pot by the turn.
for a missed flush draw that she's fortunate didn't come in as Friedman showed 
for a winning pair of queens and a better flush draw that likely would have earned him a much bigger pot.