Day 1B of the 2017 MSPT Indiana State Poker Championship at Tropicana Evansville drew 173 runners, which along with 1A’s brought the total field up to 320 entrants. After 14 levels of play, local player Kevin Leek, who is seeking his first MSPT cash, bagged the big stack out of the 40 survivors with 261,500.

That is quite a bit behind that of the 1A chip leader, five-time World Series of Poker Circuit ring winner Kurt Jewell, who will begin Day 2 with the overall lead with 350,500 in chips. Others who bagged big on 1B were Kyle Brantley (209,000), Statish Thakur (207,000), Terrence Esparza (181,500), and Kevin Brenner (158,000), who round out the top five.

Also advancing from the flight were MSPT Season 6 Tropicana Evansville champ Mike O’Neill (124,000), MSPT champ and WSOP bracelet winner Nick Jivkov (108,500), MSPT Season 7 Tropicana Evansville Regional champ Adam Thomas (62,000), and the short-stacked Mike Rieck (16,000).

Of course, not everyone was fortunate enough to find a bag. Among those to fall on Day 1B were Kimo Sabe MSPT Mezcal Season 8 Player of the Year contender Keith Block, 2016 MSPT Wisconsin State Poker Champ Andy Rubinberg, MSPT Season 4 POY Pat Steele, WSOP bracelet winner Adam Friedman, and eight-time WSOP Circuit ring winner Robert Hankins.

Day 2 will get underway at 11 a.m. CDT on Sunday morning with 65 players remaining. As always, we’ll bring you updates straight from the tournament floor, so be sure to join us then.