Welcome To Day 1c of the MSPT Black Hawk $1,110 Main Event
Registration has already begun for Day 1c of the Mid-States Poker Tour (MSPT) Black Hawk $1,110 Main Event, the third and final starting flight of the tournament; and as is the norm on Saturdays for tour stops here, Bally's Black Hawk is expected to be completely full by the time cards go in the air at noon local time and stay that way throughout most of the afternoon.
A total of 349 entries have already been recorded throughout the first two starting flights, just 50 shy of the three-day total from the last MSPT Main Event that was held here in November 2019. The tournament's $200K Guarantee has also already been surpassed by a long shot, and another full turnout makes a field of greater than 600 almost certain.
Just 40 have advanced so far after each flight has hit 12% of the field prior to the originally scheduled 15 levels set to be played on Day 1 to result in a hard stop and create a new ending for the following flights. Most recently, Friday's flight finished with 33:30 remaining in Level 15 (3,000/5,000/5,000) with Canada's Michael Wyporowich (556,000) taking the overall chip lead. Wyporowich surpassed Day 1a's top finisher Michael Kinzer (488,000) as well as Dapo Ajayi (475,000), who is currently third in the counts.
Because of Friday's hard stop, Day 1c will play until 3:30 remains in Level 14 (2,000/4,000/4,000) and then pause the clock to play a certain number of hands to finish the night. However, a ton of poker will be played prior to that time, with Level 1 beginning at 100/100/100 and players starting with 25,000.
Levels will last 40 minutes throughout the day with 10-minute breaks after every three levels and a 40-minute dinner break at the completion of Level 9 (600/1,200/1,200). Registration for the final flight will remain open through the final break of the night, closing at the beginning of Level 13 at approximately 9:10 p.m. local time. At that time, registration will also be closed for the tournament, with official prize pool details to come by the end of the night.
Plenty of talented poker players such as Scott Stewart, Vincent Moscati, Derek McMaster, Danny Gonzales, and defending champion Steve Wilkie have been among those yet to advance, and most if not all will likely be among the masses taking their final shots at finding a bag.
All who advance will return on Sunday at 11 a.m. local time for Day 2 to join the 45 already on that roster and play down to a winner. PokerNews will be on the floor throughout the rest of the tournament to provide updates on all the chips certain to fly in Black Hawk's thin mountain air. Keep it here to catch all the action.