The Mid-States Poker Tour (MSPT) Running Aces comes to its conclusion as the final day of the $1,110 buy-in, $300K GTD Main Event gets underway at 11 a.m.
The three starting flights pulled together a staggering 920 total entries, which was enough to blast the $300k GTD and generated a 890,900 prize pool.
A total of 109 players found a bag during the three starting flights and those lucky enough to do so will be returning today for Day 2.
| Flight | Entries | Advancing to Day 2 |
|---|---|---|
| Day 1a | 225 | 25 |
| Day 1b | 282 | 33 |
| Day 1c | 413 | 51 |
| Totals | 920 | 109 |
Starting the day with the overall chip lead is Robert Michener who bagged large in Day 1a, and he will look to add his first MSPT title to his poker resume.
Hot on Michner's tail is Mark Sandness and Jeremy Dresch, who will be looking to capture their second MSPT running Aces Titles as they are the only other players to bag over 600k.
Top Stacks After Day 1 Flights
| Position | Player | MSPT Main Event Titles | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Robert Michener | 0 | 729,000 |
| 2 | Mark Sandness | 1 | 692,000 |
| 3 | Jeremy Dresch | 2 | 680,000 |
| 4 | Rocky Wylie | 0 | 542,000 |
| 5 | Ronald Olson | 0 | 524,000 |
| 6 | Ray Bullock | 0 | 521,000 |
| 7 | Jamie Allen | 0 | 454,000 |
| 8 | Steve Houle | 0 | 439,000 |
| 9 | Pat Steele | 1 | 404,000 |
| 10 | Clint Leitheiser | 0 | 385,000 |
Many other familiar faces will be battling it out for a shot at the six-figure top prize which include; Sam DeSilva (311,000), Tim Garles (295,000), MSPT champ Josh Reichard (292,000), MSPT Hall of Famer Rob Wazwaz (286,00), two-time MSPT champ Taylor Howard (242,000), three-time MSPT champ Matt Kirby (227,000), MSPT Hall of Famer Blake Bohn (192,000), and reigning champ Jeffrey Birt (120,000).
There will be 109 players returning for Day 2 action, but only 99 spots will be grabbing a piece of the prize pool.
Starting the day fairly close to the money might make for some conservative play, but judging by the first three flights, the tournament should retain the action-filled play that has been up to this point.
A min-cash will be paying $2,138, but all eyes will be on the $169,271 first-place prize that the eventual champion will be taking home, along with an MSPT Running Aces Main Event title.
MSPT Running Aces $1,110 Main Event Payouts
| Place | Prize | MSPT POY Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | $169,271 | 1,900 |
| 2 | $104,241 | 1,700 |
| 3 | $76,528 | 1,600 |
| 4 | $57,909 | 1,500 |
| 5 | $43,654 | 1,400 |
| 6 | $32,963 | 1,300 |
| 7 | $25,836 | 1,200 |
| 8 | $20,491 | 1,100 |
| 9 | $16,036 | 1,000 |
| 10-12 | $12,473 | 900 |
| 13-15 | $10,691 | 800 |
| 16-18 | $8,820 | 700 |
| 19-21 | $7,305 | 600 |
| 22-24 | $6,147 | 500 |
| 25-27 | $5,078 | 400 |
| 28-36 | $3,920 | 350 |
| 37-45 | $3,029 | 300 |
| 46-54 | $2,762 | 250 |
| 55-63 | $2,584 | 200 |
| 64-72 | $2,405 | 150 |
| 73-81 | $2,316 | 100 |
| 82-90 | $2,227 | 75 |
| 91-99 | $2,138 | 50 |
Day 2 Schedule
Cards will be in the air at 11 a.m. local time with blind levels lasting 40-minutes in length until heads-up play is reached, at which point they will be reduced to 30-minutes. Action will pick up from Level 15 with 13:00 remaining on the clock where blinds are 3,000/5,000/5,000.
Day 2 Structure
| Level | Length | Small Blind | Big Blind | BB Ante |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15 | 13 Minutes | 3,000 | 5,000 | 5,000 |
| 16 | 40 minutes | 3,000 | 6,000 | 6,000 |
| 17 | 40 minutes | 4,000 | 8,000 | 8,000 |
| 18 | 40 minutes | 5,000 | 10,000 | 10,000 |
| 19 | 40 minutes | 6,000 | 12,000 | 12,000 |
| 20 | 40 minutes | 10,000 | 15,000 | 15,000 |
| 21 | 40 minutes | 10,000 | 20,000 | 20,000 |
| 22 | 40 minutes | 15,000 | 25,000 | 25,000 |
| 23 | 40 minutes | 15,000 | 30,000 | 30,000 |
| 24 | 40 minutes | 20,000 | 40,000 | 40,000 |
| 25 | 40 minutes | 25,000 | 50,000 | 50,000 |
| 26 | 40 minutes | 30,000 | 60,000 | 60,000 |
| 27 | 40 minutes | 40,000 | 80,000 | 80,000 |
| 28 | 30 minutes | 50,000 | 100,000 | 100,000 |
| 29 | 30 minutes | 60,000 | 120,000 | 120,000 |
| 30 | 30 minutes | 100,000 | 150,000 | 150,000 |
MSPT Showdown Series Remaining Schedule
| Date | Time (CDT) | Tournament | Late Reg | GTD Prize Pool | Starting Stack | Blind Levels |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sunday, April 10 | 11:00 a.m. | $1,110 MSPT Main Event Day 2 | - | |||
| Noon | Event #10: $250 Last Chance NLH | 3:00 p.m. | $10,000 | 15,000 | 20 | |
| 3:00 p.m. | $135 Last Dance NLH | 5:10 p.m. | $3,000 | 12,000 | 20 |
Stay tuned here as the PokerNews will be on hand capturing all the action until a winner is crowned!