Day 1B of the MSPT Venetian $1,100 buy-in, $2.5 million guarantee Main Event attracted 1,002 runners, which along with Day 1A’s 839 brought the total field up to 1,841 entries. That means the tournament is still shy of the $2.5 million guarantee, but with Day 1C still to go, there’s little doubt the prize pool will end up being closer to $3 million.
After 15 levels of play, Indiana’s Mike Shanahan bagged up the chip lead among the 117 survivors with 377,500. That is just ahead of Day 1A chip leader Ludovic Riehl, which advanced with 370,000. Rounding out the top five Day 1B chip counts are Frankie Flowers (361,500), Daniel Wendorf (355,500), Mike Hack (352,500), and Cristian Castro Martinez (318,500).
Shanahan is riding a heater as he is just a couple weeks removed from winning the largest poker tournament in Michigan state history. He defeated poker pro Aaron Massey heads up in the MSPT FireKeepers Casino – a tournament that attracted 1,066 entries – and took home a $216,829 first-place prize.
Others who advanced to Day 2 were November Niner Jerry Wong (254,000), Iowa’s Jeff Fielder (187,500), MSPT Season 8 bestbet Jacksonville champ Jermaine “Lion” Gerlin (138,000), Todd Breyfogle (131,000), 2016 MSPT Wisconsin State Poker Champ Andy Rubinberg (119,000), Patrick Serda (104,000), Gennady Shimelfarb (78,000), and 2001 WSOP Main Event champ Carlos Mortensen (38,500).
Among those to fall throughout the day were poker lawyer Mac VerStandig, 2012 PCA winner John Dibella, PokerStars employee Garry Gates, bracelet winners Ronnie Bardah and Kathy Liebert, and former host of Marriage Boot Camp Jim Carroll. In addition, a slew of former MSPT champs hit the rail including Luke Arora, Brett Blackwood, John Sun, and defending champ Thomas Boivin.
All of those players will have the opportunity to try again on Day 1C, which will kick off at Noon local time on Wednesday. In addition, any player that bagged can give it another go, to try and improve as this is a best-stack-forward tournament.
Registration for Day 1C will remain open through the night, so if you want to avoid waiting in lines or possibly being an alternate, we recommend you get to The Venetian and register early. Don’t worry, your stack won’t be blinded off; in fact, it won’t be put into play until you show up.
Be sure to check back tomorrow for all the latest and greatest straight from the floor of the MSPT Venetian.