Waigel Leads Star-Studded Field of 28 Players From Day 1a of MSPT Venetian
Day 1a of the $1,100 Mid-States Poker Tour(MSPT) Main Event at Venetian Las Vegas has come to an end and Ezequiel Waigel is the chip leader after just over 15 levels of play. Waigel dominated a field of 254 players to lead the 28 survivors that will return on Friday to play for their part of the guaranteed prize pool of $300,000.
Waigel bagged 730,000 and he is followed on the leaderboard by Adam Hendrix in second with 459,000. Mitchell Halverson finished in third with a bag of 448,000, while Lokesh Garg and Angela Jordison round out the top five with 384,000 and 304,000, respectively.
MSPT Venetian Main Event Day 1a Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Chip Count | Day 2 Big Blinds* |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ezequiel Waigel | 730,000 | 122 |
| 2 | Adam Hendrix | 459,000 | 77 |
| 3 | Mitchell Halverson | 448,000 | 75 |
| 4 | Lokesh Garg | 384,000 | 64 |
| 5 | Angela Jordison | 304,000 | 51 |
| 6 | Barry Shulman | 297,000 | 50 |
| 7 | Gerald Luarca | 265,000 | 44 |
| 8 | Marquis Waters | 243,000 | 41 |
| 9 | Nesrin Can | 217,000 | 36 |
| 10 | Kfir Nahum | 217,000 | 36 |
* - based on the end of Day 1a
Day 1a Action
Hendrix sat down at the beginning of the day and he was closing in on the chip lead at the end of the night before Waigel pulled away with the eliminations of Romero and Saechao. Both Garg and Jordison were also big factors throughout the day and Garg picked up several eliminations while he held the early chip lead. Jordison came back from the felt to go on a tear in the late levels and finish in the top five.
Among the other players that survived Day 1a included Roland Israelashvili, Dylan Wilkerson, Barry Shulman, Joseph Di Rosa Rojas, and Jeremy Ausmus. Israelashvili had a big stack throughout the day and he commanded control of several pots, including a three-bet on the river that forced a fold in a big pot with Sergio Braga.
Those that didn’t make it included James Romero, Mike Lang, Miles Barnum, Mark Gregorich, Dustin Lee, Ryan Leng, Jesse Lonis, and Kao “Flexx” Saechao, who busted out to end the night when his pocket eights ran into the pocket aces of Waigel. Sarah Stefan also made a charge throughout the day and held an early chip lead, but she couldn’t punch her ticket to Friday’s finale in the first flight.
Romero was a also factor throughout the afternoon, and he commanded one of the leading chip stacks until Kfir Nahum caught up to his pocket kings with Big Slick and won one of the biggest pots of the night. He picked up a few chips after the setback, but he lost to ace-king for a second time when Waigel beat his pocket jacks and sent him to the rail. Nahum finished strong and he will return with 217,000.
Day 1a came to an end with 19:53 remaining in Level 16 and blinds at 3,000/6,000/6,000. Day 1b will kick off on Thursday at 11:10 a.m. and players will once again play 40-minute levels until approximately 11% of the field remains. The surviving players from both opening flights will meet on Friday at 11 a.m. for the Day 2 finale.
Be sure to keep it with the PokerNews team for live updates from the floor of the MSPT Main Event at Venetian Las Vegas.
and Waigel held on with pocket aces to bust Saechao and end the night with a commanding chip lead over the remaining 28 players.
on the board when Shannon Shorr bet 20,000 from the small blind and Philip Gilreath called from middle position. 
for the straight. Shorr shook his head and tossed the losing hand in the muck.
and Hall held on to turn a set of eights and bust Cristos.
and Stefan turned a set of kings to crack Barnum's pocket aces and send him to the rail.
. 
for a pair of jacks, but Quint had 
on the board when Desmond Haynes checked and his opponent went all in for 17,500. Haynes leaned back and thought over his options before he finally tossed out the chips to call and turned over 