Oberhauser Leads The Survivors Of Flight 1a of MSPT Venetian $1,100
After just over 10 hours of play, the starting field of 179 players in The Mid-States Poker Tour $1,100 No-Limit Hold’em Main Event at Venetian Las Vegas Nevada has played down to just 22 players who will return on Wednesday June 15th to play Day 2.
Leading the way is French player Valentin Oberhauser who ended the day with 538,000. Oberhauser acquired chips early on in the day with multiple confrontations with WSOP bracelet winner Kenny Huynh where in one instance he called down three massive barrels with three of a kind. He holds a commanding lead over the field, and has put himself in prime position to make a deep run to go for his first MSPT title.
MSPT Day 1a Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count |
| 1 | Valentin Oberhauser | France | 538,000 |
| 2 | Anselmo Villarreal | United States | 371,000 |
| 3 | Reg Powell | United States | 365,000 |
| 4 | Michael Liang | United States | 359,000 |
| 5 | Adrian State | Romania | 350,000 |
| 6 | Casey Stewart | United States | 278,000 |
| 7 | Justin Belforti | United States | 258,000 |
| 8 | Eluterio Rodriguez | United States | 242,000 |
| 9 | Sean Conklin | United States | 230,000 |
| 10 | Michael Luong | United States | 200,000 |
Also bagging at the end of the day was Reg Powell who ended third in chips with 365,000. Powell has been a staple of MSPT events for a while and his career best score was a runner up finish in the 2018 MSPT Iowa for $54,416. With this bag, he looks to get a large piece of the $1,500,000 guaranteed prize pool.
Other players that found their way to bags at the end of the night included Michael Liang (359,000), Casey Stewart (278,000), Justin Belforti (258,000) and last weeks MSPT Venetian fourth place finisher Jack O’Neill (173,000). Players who were unable to find bags included last week's final tablists Rohan Dhuper, and Fehim Hajdari, as well as Peter Lockwood and Kevin Garosshen. All of these players will have the option to play the following two days’ flights to try to make Day 2.
Given there was 18:35 left on the clock in level 13, the players will return on Day 2 and play the remainder of this level, unless one of the other flights ends earlier, with the blinds going up every 40 minutes after the completion of that level. The 22 players from this flight are the first players assured to play on the second day for this massive $1,500,000 guarantee. Stay tuned to PokerNews for all updates regarding this tournament.
Powell checked to Kamal who bet 9,000 and Powell responded to by raising to 40,000 which was enough to put Kamal all-in and Kamal called. 
which left both player's holdings unaffected as Powell eliminated Kamal and pushed his stack to over 200,000.
gave Stewart a pair of nines that gave him the lead and the river 
did not complete any of Dhuper flush or two pair draws and Stewart raked in the pot.
and Luong checked to the big blind who bet 6,000 which folded out the hijack. Luong moved all-in for 38,100 and the big blind called. 
leaving the set unimproved and Luong's flush scooped the main pot to eliminate his opponent, and the side pot to double through his opponent.
and Oberhauser check-called a bet of 4,500 from Huynh. 
rolled off on the turn and Huynh bet once more, this time to the tune of 18,000 which Oberhauser once more called. 
river card, Oberhauser checked a third time to Huynh who bet 45,000 which sent Oberhauser into the tank. After thinking about it for some time he called and Huynh turned over 
for king high, which Oberhauser could beat with his 
for three tens.
and Lockwood check-called a bet of 1,400 from Johnson. 
and Lockwood checked once more to Johnson who bet 3,000 and Lockwood called. 
and Lockwood led out for 4,500 which saw Johnson move all-in for 14,300 which saw Lockwood fold and Johnson pick up the pot.
and Huynh moved all-in for 14,000 effective and his opponent called after a short amount of time. 
giving Huynh three fives, and the river