Waalen Leads the Way on Day 1a of the 2020 MSPT Canterbury Park $1,100 Main Event
Day 1a of the 2020 Mid-States Poker Tour (MSPT) Canterbury Park $1,100 Main Event saw 223 entries logged and the accompanying action did not disappoint. Fifteen levels were on the docket for the day but the 12% figure of 26 players needed to reach a hard stop was attained just under a half hour early.
When that mark was reached, Brandon Waalen was the one atop the count. Waalen emerged as one of the big stacks in the room nearing the final break of the evening with a stack of around a quarter-million and built that figure up to 395,000 early in Level 14. He continued climbing from there and ended the day with 567,000, the only player with a stack over a half-million.
Following behind to round out the top five are four other players with over 400,000 in Kevin Boyer (453,000), Justin Thurlow (449,000), Jason Fitzpatrick (432,000), and Chan Pelton (417,000)
Other notable players to advance included Blake Bohn (331,000), Aaron Johnson (250,000), Richard Alsup (80,000), DJ Buckley (62,000) and Matt Kirby (55,000). Plenty of others were less fortunate: former MSPT Canterbury Park champions Rob Wazwaz and Kou Vang were only a couple of the day’s casualties, with others such as Phil Mader, Jesse Rockowitz, and Nghia “3 Putts” Le also unable to find a bag as play went on throughout the evening.
Saturday’s Day 1b will be the second and final opportunity to advance to Sunday’s Day 2, where the field will combine and play down to a winner. The $300,000 guaranteed prize pool has already come close to reaching 75% of its figure and that number is sure to be outdone on the second flight.
Like on Day 1a, cards are in the air at 3 p.m. Saturday for Day 1b. PokerNews will be on hand to bring you all the action, so be sure to come back and follow.