Bally's Black Hawk Casino

Day 1a of the MSPT Season 17 Colorado Poker State Championship at Bally’s Casino is officially in the books with 173 total entries tallied during the first flight.

With action needing to play down to 11% of the field, 15 levels were required, as there was 20:25 remaining on the clock once the hard stop was reached, with Cody Wentz and his stack of 756,000 leading the charge of the 20 advancing players by a wide margin.

Last year’s final tablist Erik Macias was able to catch some late-night steam to put 551,000 in his bag to end the night, while defending champ Antonio Vargas secured the final elimination of the night to join the half milly club, ending with 526,000.

Rounding out the top five stacks of the flight were Daniel Carr (412,000) and Thomas Schultz (371,000), while Corey Dodd (316,000), Taylor Fortini (241,000), Danny Gonzales (210,000), and Matt Livingston (164,000) all found a Day 2 berth.

Among those to try and fall on Day 1a included January’s Champ Vincent Moscati, Reza Sheykhi, Nader Wahdan, Zach Gutierrez, and fellow MSPT Champ Reza Yazdi, among others.

Those players, as well as any newcomers, have two more starting flights to jump back into action.

Day 1b will kick off at noon local time Friday, while the third and final flight, Day 1c, will take place at the same time on Saturday.

This is a best-stack forward event: If a player qualifies for Day 2 more than once, they may only play the higher chip stack; any lower stack(s) will be removed from play at the start of Day 2 and receive the lowest Day 2 payout.

Player of the Year points will only be awarded for the higher stack. Players will only receive credit for a single MSPT Main Event cash finish.

The surviving players from each flight will then return at 11:00 a.m. on Sunday to play down to a winner.

MSPT Season 17 Colorado Poker State Championship Schedule

Join us tomorrow as we continue to bring you all the action and eliminations straight from the tournament floor of Bally’s Casino!

Action on the table folded around to defending champ Antonio Vargas, who raised all-in from the small blind, and Daniel Gregg snapped off his 61,000 stack from the big blind.

“Well, that’s not good”, Vargas said before the two hands were tabled while waiting for the other two tables to finish.

Daniel Gregg:
Antonio Vargas:

Gregg was well ahead holding a premium hand of kings, but the flop brought a sweat as it gave Vargas a club flush draw.

The dealer then turned the , giving Vargas some more outs with a wheel draw, and just as he called for a “five”, the came crashing down to complete the board, ending Gregg’s night on the bubble.

Antonio Vargas - 526,000
Daniel Gregg - 0

With 21 players remaining, the hand-for-hand process has now started, as only 20 of them will be making Sunday’s Day 2.

For the second time this season, the MSPT traveled to the beautiful mountainside of Black Hawk, Colorado, and players have been inside Bally's Casino, duking it out over the past week for the 2026 Colorado Poker State Championship!

In Event #6: $200 NLH Nightly, a 191-player field took to the felt as night stalkers and generated a $30,560 prize pool that was paid out to the top 21 players.

Among those to cash but fall before the final table were Erin Rosebaum (10^th Place - $889), Lauren Miller (12^th Place - $889), Matthew Langford (13^th Place - $702), Sea Kim (16^th Place - $608), and Devin Weinburg (19^th Place - $562).

Coming out on top was Colorado native James Rodriguez, who came out on top with the lion's share of the prize pool and claimed his first Gold Card!

Final Table Results

Photo: Tanner Pray

Tanner Pray raised all-in from under the gun, and Tom Schultz looked him up from the cutoff.

Tanner Pray:
Tom Schultz:

It was a cooler situation for Pray, as Schultz rolled over the superior made hand, and the runout ended his night.

Tom Schultz - 350,000
Tanner Pray - 0

Photo: Glenda McCall

There was all-in action preflop between Tanner Pray from the small blind and Glenda McCall from the big blind, with McCall holding 38,000 effective.

Glenda McCall:
Tanner Pray:

McCall was ahead holding a suited king, and survived the runout to collect a double-up.

Glenda McCall - 80,000
Tanner Pray - 30,000

: Ameristar Casino St. Charles - St. Charles, MO

: September 1-7, 2026

: Ameristar Poker Open

: $1,110 Main Event / $300K GTD
$3,500 MSPT CHAMPIONSHIP SEAT ADDED TO MAIN EVENT 1ST PLACE

: 13 Gold Card Tournaments

: https://msptpoker.com/.../book-today-for-the-mspt...

Event Schedule: https://msptpoker.com/showpdf.ashx?eventID=734

Photo: Cody Wentz

There was heads-up action between Cody Wentz from the hijack and the button, with a board showing.

With roughly 100,000 already in the middle, Wentz check-called his opponent’s 65,000 all-in bet, and both hands were tabled.

Opponent:
Cody Wentz:

Wentz was behind, looking to connect on the river, and did, as the that fell completed his flush to eliminate his opponent.

Cody Wentz - 415,000