James Mendenhall Bags Lead in Day 1a Ohio State Championship No-Limit Hold’em
Day 1a of the Mid-States Poker Tour $1,100 Main Event in JACK Casino, Cleveland has come to an end with a hard stop being met with 22 players bagging up for the day. Due to the 186 entrants on the day, the floor declared a hard stop if 12% of the field was reached before the end of level 15 and it did happen.
The chip leader of the final 22 players in this flight is James Manderhall. The chip lead was being jockeyed around by four stacks all towards the top, but a late night surge for Mendenhall shot him up to the top of the counts. He now sits at 292,000, good for the current tournament ceiling.
Nipping at his heels are players William “Bill” Dopico with 389,000, Michael Pempin with 380,000 and Derek Hammonds with 368,000 chips. Each one of these individuals held the chip lead throughout some point of the day, with Hammonds holding it until the last two levels of the night. All are considerably healthy and are all looking to make a deep run on Day 2.
Other players that found their way to bagging included Scott Fitzhugh (261,000), Frank Lagodich (199,000), and Mark Lewandowski (193,000). Players that were not as fortunate included MSPT Riverside Champion Dan Sepiol, Bobby Noel, Michael Berk, and Nicholas Rigby. With unlimited re-entry permitted in this tournament, each one of them will have the opportunity to play again tomorrow the 6th in Day 1b and Saturday the 7th in Day 1c. The $500,000 guarantee on the prize pool still looms and the tournament is on pace to not only meet it, but exceed it.
12 PM on Friday the 6th is when the next day will begin with a 25,000 starting and 40-minute blind levels. Unlike this flight, there will be a 40-minute dinner break following level 9. Stay tuned to PokerNews for all updates on the tournament.
saw action check over to Pempin who bet 25,000. After thinking for some time, Matthew Zepp moved all-in for 144,000. Hammonds folded and Pempin quickly called. 
had Zepp only drawing to a chop and the river 
did nothing to change the situation and Pempin's stack neared 400,000 chips.
and Lewandowski checked to Wentz who continued for 6,000. Lewandowski responded by raising to 21,000 which Wentz quickly called. 
saw Lewandowski move all-in for 59,000 chips and Wentz quickly folded, giving Lewandowski a big late night pot.
saw action check over to Friedman who bet 12,000 which got one call form Pempin and folds from both other players. 
checked through to the 
river and Friedman bet once more, this time to the tune of 17,000. Pempin called and Friedman mucked his hand while Pempin turned over 
for kings-up which was good for the whole pot.
and the river king hit Range and he got the full triple, while the others chopped.
which gave Himmelbrand the main with a flush, but had Friedman scooping the side and the remainder of Lagodich's chips as well as a near full double.
and Berk stood up out of his chair after seeing the flopped set of his opponent. The turn of 
gave Berk a queen high flush and he sat back down in his seat. 
saw action check through to the 
river where the small blind led out for 8,000 and Lagodich called. The small blind turned over 
for nines-up which was good for the pot.
for a rivered flush and the other player left the tournament area as Hammonds moved to over 200,000 in chips.
and Rigby checked to Zepp who moved all-in for 15,600 which Rigby quickly called. 
