The 2020 Mid-States Poker Tour (MSPT) Golden Gates $360 Regional Event became the first tournament in Colorado poker history with more than 1,000 entries after a record-setting field of 400 came to Saturday’s final starting flight to generate a four-day total of 1,087 entries. Of those entries, 138 players will be returning to the Golden Gates Casino and Poker Parlour Sunday for Day 2 to determine a champion.
The four individual Day 1 chip leaders will take the top four stacks into the day, with Day 1a chip leader Luis Rosa (641,000) leading the way. He is the only player coming into Day 2 with over a half-million, but Day 1c chip leader Nader Wahdan (484,000) and Day 1d chip leader Rick Burleson (478,000) aren’t far away. Day 1b chip leader Abhinav Parakh follows behind them with a stack of 414,000, giving him just shy of a 70 big-blind stack when play resumes.
Others to enter the day with above-average stacks include Greg Geller (390,000), Zach Gutierrez (371,000), Kevin Eyster (341,000), Nate Zoller (251,000), and Greg Collins (240,000).
Also in contention is November 2019 MSPT Golden Gates $1,100 Main Event champion Steve Wilkie (167,000). Wilkie comes into the day another year older, celebrating his birthday with the hopes that this past year’s successes will lead to him also being another year wiser.
Cards get in the air at noon local time with 30-minute levels continuing until a winner has been declared. Play will resume at the beginning of Level 16 (3,000/6,000/6,000) with a standard big-blind ante in play until the final-three table redraw when 27 players remain. At that time, levels will revert back to a traditional ante for the duration of the tournament. Fifteen-minute breaks will occur at the end of every four levels.
Twenty eliminations are needed before the money is reached, with 118 of the 138 set to lock in a first-level payout of $620. A final table appearance guarantees a payday of $5,870, and a prize of $59,525 along with the MSPT trophy is up for grabs to the eventual winner.
Who will win the largest tournament in this state’s history? Stay tuned to PokerNews to find out.