Himmelbrand Dominates Day 1c
Day 1c of the 2015 Mid-States Poker Tour Maryland Live! Casino Main Event concluded with 15 percent of the field remaining mid-way through the final level of the night. East Coast tournament notable Greg Himmelbrand topped the 19 survivors, bagging 307,600 in chips. His stack will be good for the overall lead heading into Sunday's Day 2, besting Adam Friedman, who topped Day 1b with just over 285,000. Himmelbrand has more than $800,000 in career cashes, mostly around the East Coast, and will be looking for his first big score at Maryland Live! Casino.
The third and final flight of the tour's first journey to the Northeast proved to be by far the most successful, drawing 122 runners to push the overall total to 270. Trevor Savage (217,000), Lenard Adams (208,600), Dennis Tsai (194,900), Vinod Moorjani (186,900), Matthew Kottal (134,100), and Derek Dempsey (42,000) were some of the players managing to survive along with Himmelbrand.
Surviving is one thing, but thriving is another, and Himmelbrand did the latter. He already had heaps by Level 11 (600/1,200/200), but that's when he solidified his chip lead in a massive pot with Emad Alabsi.
Himmelbrand opened for 2,600 in middle position, and Alabsi made it 6,700 to go from the button. Himmelbrand came back with 12,600, and Alabsi dropped in a five-bet to about 25,000. Himmelbrand jammed for Alabsi's remaining 30,000 or so, and Alabsi called with the 
. Himmelbrand had it beat with the 
, and a ten-high run out boosted Himmelbrand to a monstrous 270,000.
MSPT team pro Nick Pupillo, tour points leader Mark Hodge, David Gutfreund, Jordan Hogans, and Stan Jablonski were a few of the players joining Alabsi on the rail during the course of play.
The 47 players who have survived the three Day 1 flights combine at 11:15 a.m. Sunday morning for Day 2. They'll play down to a winner, who will take home a yet-to-be-determined first-place prize. Be sure to come back for the live updates, as there will be no stream at this stop.