MSPT Poker Bowl V Main Event Day 1a | MSPT Poker Bowl V at Venetian Las Vegas

02-05-2021 00:10 UTC-7

Vilchez Takes Staggeringly Large Stack into Day 2

mnuwwarah

Level 15 : 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante

Day 1a has ended at Mid-States Poker Tour Poker Bowl V at Venetian, and one player shined far brighter than all the rest during the 15 levels of play.

Jesse Vilchez turned a 25,000 starting stack into 1,157,000, a staggering total gives him more than 10% of the chips in play thus far. It's easily more than double the number bagged by second-place Amy Patel, who finished with 486,000.

Hailing from Michigan, Vilchez has made a habit of late cashing MSPT events at Venetian. He finished third in November in the $1K event for $91,502, then he got 77th in the $1,600 for $4,961. Overall, he's got $757K in live cashes.

Today, he simply victimized Phil Gioia in two massive spots. First, he doubled up with top pair of queens when Gioia couldn't get away from pocket tens and a live gutter on the turn. That gave Vilchez a huge stack of more than 100 big blinds, but so large was Gioia's own stack that he remained the tournament leader.

No matter, as the next pot would shift all of the chips to Vilchez. He three-bet in late position against Gioia's open then was happy to call off his entire stack with pocket aces. Gioia had eights and didn't improve, sending nearly all of his chips over and leaving Vilchez the overwhelming leader.

Overall, about 45 players advanced out of 412 entries, which enabled the tournament to breeze past the $350K guarantee by building a prize pool of almost $400K on the first starting flight alone.

Some others who made it through included MSPT stalwart Rich Alsup, former WSOP Main Event champ Ryan Riess and Blake Whittington, who has already booked two wins in side events this series.

Among those running dry on chips were Jordan Cristos, Pat Lyons, Mike Shin, Katie Lindsay and James Carroll, coming off a six-figure score here in the last MSPT on site just a month ago.

They'll all have another chance on Day 1b, which is set for 11 a.m. on Friday.

02-04-2021 23:18 UTC-7

Vilchez Wins Biggest Pot of Tournament Thus Far

mnuwwarah

Level 15 : 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante

We came upon the aftermath of a truly titanic pot between Jesse Vilchez in the cutoff and Phil Gioia on his right. The stack of Vilchez was being counted down, and it was in the neighborhood of 500,000. He had in front of him, with the board having run .

As the chips were being pushed to Vilchez, a player said Gioia had shown down , having raised and then shoved all in over Vilchez's three-bet.

Player	Chips	Progress
Jesse Vilchez	1,000,000 542,000	542,000
Phil Gioia	20,000 -480,000	-480,000

02-04-2021 19:47 UTC-7

Lyons Finds the River Save

mnuwwarah

Level 10 : 600/1,200, 1,200 ante

Pat Lyons, pictured in the last MSPT here.

After a cutoff open and a button three-bet to 7,000, Pat Lyons woke up with a cold four-bet shove for 43,700 in the big blind. The opener mucked but the second player snap-called with .

Lyons was in bad shape with but got some help with a flop. The turn missed him but the on the river gave him a winning full house.

Player	Chips	Progress
Pat Lyons	100,000 74,000	74,000

02-04-2021 15:08 UTC-7

"Go Tank Somewhere Else Bro"

mnuwwarah

Level 4 : 200/300, 300 ante

Ryan Hunsinger opened on the button for 600, Jordan Cristos made it 2,600 on his left, and Hunsinger called. On the flop, Cristos bet 1,600, Hunsinger raised to 4,500 and Cristos went into the tank. After a bit of thinking time, Hunsinger called a clock.

With about five seconds left, Cristos moved in for 10,200 and Hunsinger beat him into the pot with .

"Go tank somewhere else, bro," Hunsinger said, standing up as Cristos slowly tabled .

Cristos didn't improve on the turn or river and Hunsinger collected his stack.

Player	Chips	Progress
Ryan Hunsinger	40,000 40,000	40,000
Jordan Cristos	Busted

02-04-2021 13:15 UTC-7

History of MSPT Poker Bowl at Venetian

mnuwwarah

Level 2 : 100/200, 0 ante

MSPT Venetian Poker Bowl IV Main Event Day 1a

Back in 2017, the Mid-States Poker Tour expanded its deal with Venetian to include an early February event coinciding with the Super Bowl. Dubbed the Poker Bowl, the tournament built on a relationship that already included a series of monstrous summer events that built some memorable prize pools.

The Poker Bowl began with a somewhat modest $300,000 guarantee, one that proved to be quite a bit smaller than the actual turnout. More than double the required number of entries turned up (695) and it came down to well-known pros Jordan Young and Ankush Mandavia. The two struck a deal that saw both players earn more than $100K, with Young as the official winner.

In 2018, the Poker Bowl returned with an expanded guarantee of $500K. The number would be easily beaten again with 827 entries, and this time, the final four came to a deal. Kfir Nahum and Matthias De Cercq would get the lion's share with $108,410 apiece — the former took home the title via the slightest of chip leads — and John Ploski ($84,743) and Bob Shao ($76,926) got the rest.

The guarantee was upped once again for 2019 with $650,000, but it was again easily surpassed with more than 1,000 entries and a prize pool just shy of $1 million. This time, the last three made a deal, with Eli Ross and Pedro Mendes each getting about $119K but Canada's Brian Wilson snagging $143,929 and the title.

Venetian bumped to number to an even $1 million for 2020 and they finally had a mild sweat with the turnout, but 1,093 entries still made for a prize pool of $1,060,210. Another deal ended play, with five players this time divvying up the remaining monies. Bob Whalen had the most chips by a fair amount, so he secured $140,152 while three European players (Grachia Minasian, George Brady, Thomas Lust) and one other American (Oluwashola Akindele) got between $85K and $100K.

MSPT Poker Bowl at Venetian Event History

Year	Event	Entries	Prize Pool	Winner (Prize)
2017	MSPT Poker Bowl	695	$681,100	Jordan Young ($117,381)*
2018	MSPT Poker Bowl II	827	$806,325	Kfir Nahum ($108,410)*
2019	MSPT Poker Bowl III	1,022	$996,450	Brian Wilson ($143,929)*
2020	MSPT Poker Bowl IV	1,093	$1,060,210	Bob Whalen ($140,152)*

*reflects final table deal

02-04-2021 11:09 UTC-7

Welcome to Day 1a of MSPT Poker Bowl V at Venetian

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Just a month after it awarded a pair of six-figure prizes right here at Venetian, the Mid-States Poker Tour is back in action with another big $1K event.

This time around, a $350,000 guarantee has been attached to MSPT Poker Bowl V, the tour's annual stop pairing up with the Super Bowl, scheduled for Thursday through Saturday to allow for everyone to enjoy the festivities and the game on Sunday.

Last year, 1,093 entries packed the poker room here when Bob Whalen topped a five-way to scoop up more than $140K where the smallest payout was $85K. However, that was before the pandemic considerably decreased room capacity.

MSPT Poker Bowl V kicks off at 11:10 a.m. local time with Day 1a, the first of two starting days.

Day 1a will see the field play down to 11% or through 15 levels lasting 40 minutes apiece. Registration and reentry is allowed through the first nine of those levels, up until the start of 600/1,200/1,200. PokerNews will be on hand for all those levels and the ones following to provide live updates, so keep an eye on this space to follow the action.