Day 1a of the Mid-States Poker Tour (MSPT) Canterbury Park, the final stop of Season 7, drew 213 runners, which surpassed the advertised $200K guarantee with Day 1b still to go. After 14 levels of play, just 37 players remained with Jim Boone and his stack of 363,000 leading the way.
Boone got a great deal of his chips after scoring a rare triple elimination, the result of cracking aces with kings when a third cowboy appeared on the flop. Boone is on a bit of a hot streak in the last quarter of the season. In September, he had the best cash of his MSPT career when he finished third in the MSPT Running Aces for $32,321, and two months later he placed 15th in the MSPT Golden Gates for an additional $6,179. He’s certainly got the chips to make another deep run.
Others who bagged were World Series of Poker bracelet winner John Reading (277,000), Aaron Johnson (267,000), Alan Carty (266,000), MSPT Season 5 Ho-Chunk champ Jason Sell (204,000), John Morgan (101,500), MSPT Season 6 Player of the Year Mark Hodge (92,000), and MSPT Pro Matt Kirby (32,000).
Of course, not everyone was so lucky. Among those to fall on Day 1a were four-time WSOP Circuit ring winner Daniel Lowery, MSPT Pro Blake Bohn, MSPT Meskwaki champ Ken Komberec, Minnesota Poker Hall of Famer Mike Schneider, and Carl Carodenuto, who has not only won the last two MSPT Canterbury Park Main Events, but also leads the MSPT Season 7 Player of the Year race.
Speaking of the POY, a tight race is coming down to the wire here at Canterbury. Seven players were still in contention, but with two of them opting to skip the stop, five are essentially vying for the title. MSPT Season 6 Meskwaki champ Rich Alsup sits just 100 points behind the leader, and he’s primed to close that gap as he made it through to Day 2 with 140,500.
Likewise, two-time MSPT Jeremy Dresch made it through, albeit with 57,000. Dresch will need a win in this event to take the lead provided the field reaches 500 players. John Sun and Josh Reichard are the other two in the race, but both busted on Day 1a.
They will have the opportunity to play again on Day 1b, which will kick off at 4 p.m. local time on Saturday. As usual, we’ll be here to bring you all the action. Until then, goodnight from Minnesota!