Bally's Black Hawk Casino

Jeff Soffer Bags Top Stack After 20 Players Survive Opening Flight

Day 1a of The MSPT Season 15 Showdown Series $1,110 Main Event at Bally's Casino in Black Hawk, Colorado, has come to a close after seeing 171 entrants kick things off.

Almost a full day of action was played to completion with the hard stop of 20 players being reached with 32:08 remaining in the final level.

Typically, judging the chip leader comes down to the wire, but that wasn't the case for Jeff Soffer who sat atop the counts for majority of the late evening and ended the night with a staggering 800,000.

Tony Sallomano was a late arrival, but that didn't stop him from running up a 729,000 stack after a pair of ladies secured him a monster pot at the end of the night, taking a close second place finish to the night.

Event #13 winner Nader Wahdan (570,000), David Blankenship (470,000), and Brandon Volera (322,000) all bagged large as they rounded out the top five stacks.

Others to find a Day 2 berth include Antonio Vargas (200,000), defending champ Alex Cruz (146,000), Terence Reid (130,000), and WSOP bracelet winner Faraz Jaka (122,000).

Among those to try and fall on Day 1a included MSPT champ’s Steve Wilkie, & Kane Lai, MSPT Hall of Famer Josh Reichard, Scott Baumstein and Vincent Moscati just to name a few.

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.

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

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

MSPT Season 15 Black Hawk Showdown Remaining Schedule

End Day 1A Chip Counts

Player Name	Chip Count	Previous	Progress
Jeffrey Soffer	800,000	872,000
Tony Sallomano	729,000	435,000
Nader Wahdan	570,000	361,000
David Blankenship	470,000	345,000
Brandon Valera	322,000	250,000
Michael Slate	264,000	286,000
Michael Block	224,000	72,000
Antonio Vargas	200,000	365,000
Craig Dubberstein	184,000	262,000
Steve Karp	175,000	100,000
Cameron Bramwell	165,000	172,000
John Pierce	153,000	100,000
Alex Cruz	146,000	190,000
Terence Reid	130,000	205,000
Ryan Galpern	128,000	224,000
Jack Peterson	125,000	110,000
Faraz Jaka	122,000	197,000
Rory Hayes	121,000	223,000
Jonson Chutterlry	117,000	100,000
Josh Remitio	52,000	242,000

Nader Wahdan Tames Monster Stack

The MSPT returned to the beautiful mountainside of Black Hawk, Colorado for its second stop of the 15th season, and players have been duking it out over the past week inside Bally's Casino for its Showdown Series!

In Event #13: $250 No-Limit Monster Stack, 181 monster hunters took to the tables and created a $36,200 prize pool which was reserved for the top 21 players.

Among those to cash but fall before the final table were Mati Eaton (10th Place - $688), Nicholas Koto (15th Place - $543), Brandon Valera (16th Place - $471), and Hung Mai (20th Place - $434).

In the end, it was Colorado native Nader Wahdan who took down the lion's share of the prize pool along with the Sapdey trophy!

Monster Stack Final Table Results

* denotes chop

Hoesing Flushed Out by Blankenship

David Blankenship raised to 15,000 from the cutoff and then called Sean Hoesing’s 70,000 three-bet jam from the small blind.

Sean Hoesing:
David Blankenship:

Hoesing was behind until a deuce appeared in the window on the flop, but it also gave Blankenship a heart flush draw.

Unfortunately for Hoesing, his sweat didn’t last long as the dealer turned the completing Blankenship's flush, and river ended his night.

David Blankenship - 345,000
Sean Hoesing - 0

Ben Maidman Wins Event #12

Over the past week, players have been inside Bally's Casino duking it out for the MSPT Showdown Series in Black Hawk, Colorado.

In Event #12: $135 No-Limit Hold'em Nightly, a 44-player field took to the felt, and in the end, it was Ben Maidman who walked away the victor for the top prize and Spadey trophy!

Event #13 Results

Late Night Counts & Bust Outs

Player Name	Chip Count	Previous	Progress
Jeffrey Soffer	872,000	640,000
Antonio Vargas	365,000	351,000
Nader Wahdan	361,000	377,000
David Blankenship	307,000	245,000
Michael Slate	286,000	323,000
Craig Dubberstein	262,000	194,000
Ryan Galpern	224,000	177,000
Rory Hayes	223,000	241,000
Steve Wilkie	221,000	236,500
Faraz Jaka	197,000	166,000
Alex Cruz	190,000	110,000
Cameron Bramwell	172,000	186,000
Eric Hall	105,000	155,000
Josh Matti	82,000	83,000
Michael Block	72,000	85,000
Scott Baumstein	0	237,000
Thomas Fuller	0	70,000
Rodney Hurlbut	0	47,000

Defending Champ Doubles with Rockets

Defending Champ Alex Cruz was all in for 39,000 from under the gun after a flop and was called by Nader Wahdan from middle position.

Alex Cruz:
Nader Wahdan:

Cruz was ahead holding a made hand of aces and the turn followed by the river secured his double-up.

Nader Wahdan - 313,000
Alex Cruz - 110,000

Ed Apodaga and Dominic Romero Dominate Tag Team Event

The MSPT returned to the beautiful mountainside of Black Hawk, Colorado for its second stop of the 15th season, and players have been duking it out over the past week inside Bally's Casino for its Showdown Series!

In Event #11: $300 No-Limit Tag Team, 251 teamed players took to the tables and created a $28,865 prize pool which was reserved for the top 15 teams.

Among those to cash but fall before the final table were Michael Kennedy & Stephen Driggers (10th Place - $592), David Berger & Vincent Bribosky (11th Place - $592), Mary Huffman & Brenda Williams (12th Place - $592), Dennis Neeves & Randal Needens (13th Place - $492), Jarod Cosgrove & William Fierro (14th Place - $492), and Antonio Vargas & Daniel Barron (15th Place - $492).

Coming out the top team was Ed Apodaga & Dominic Romero, who took home the MSPT trophies and $7,041!

Tag Team Final Table Results

* denotes chop

Round of Chip Counts & Bust Outs

Player Name	Chip Count	Previous	Progress
Jeffrey Soffer	640,000	550,000
Antonio Vargas	351,000	175,000
Michael Slate	323,000	370,000
David Blankenship	245,000	216,500
Josh Remitio	242,000	155,000
Rory Hayes	241,000	192,000
Terence Reid	205,000	122,000
Craig Dubberstein	194,000	165,000
Cameron Bramwell	186,000	266,000
Ryan Galpern	177,000	217,500
Faraz Jaka	166,000	68,000
Eric Hall	155,000	143,000
Alex Cruz	110,000	30,000
Jack Peterson	110,000	89,500
Michael Block	85,000	172,000
Josh Matti	83,000	107,000
Sean Hoesing	79,000	93,000
Thomas Fuller	70,000	81,000
Rodney Hurlbut	47,000	105,000
Shawn Libersky	0	37,500
Josh Reichard	0	30,000
Thomas Ellsworth	0	34,000

The MSPT Takes Flight to JACK Cleveland!

For the first time this season, the Mid States Poker Tour is headed to JACK Cleveland Casino, January 31st - February 4th!

A series of $70 and $265 satellites will feed into the $1,110 buy-in MSPT246 Main Event which requires players to be 21+ to play.

The Main Event, which will offer a $500K GTD, will offer three starting flights with Day 1A beginning at 3:15 p.m. on Thursday, February 1st.

Day 1B will follow at 12:15 p.m. on Friday, February 2nd, with the final starting flight beginning at the same time on Saturday, February 3rd.

The surviving players from all starting flights will return at 11:15 a.m. on Sunday, February 4th, and play down until a winner is crowned.

Also, held that Sunday will be a $1,000 Pot-Limit Omaha 8 tournament beginning at 3:15 p.m.

In addition, the entire Main Event will be live reported in the MSPT blog.