Mark Hodge finally fell short of cashing in a Mid-States Poker Tour event after making the money an amazing six straight times. He said he lost the last of it when he picked up and ran into a player holding kings.
Ben Wiora opened to 7,000 in middle position and got a call from cutoff Steve Vang. Wiora bet 13,000 on the flop, and Vang asked to see his chips. Wiora had about 35,000 total, and Vang put him all in and was quickly called.
Wiora:
Vang:
Vang had the straight flush draw with top pair but needed improvement against the set of the Mid-States Poker Tour Ho-Chunk champ. The turn was a and the river a not enough for Vang
"Let's do it again," Rob Wazwaz said, preparing to let the table sweat his cards with him in the big blind facing a DJ Buckley shove for 27,500.
Wazwaz turned over the and then the . He decided to call.
"About what you hoped for," Buckley said, showing , meaning Wazwaz had live cards.
"Gift," Wazwaz said as the dealer spread a flop of , no help to him. The turn brought the though, and Buckley pushed his seat back, knowing he had just three outs, which he missed on the river.
Nicholas Aranda was in the cutoff on a board of and called 12,500 from the small blind. On the river, the small blind bet 23,000 and Aranda immediately announced a call.
Seventy-three players have survived the crucibles of two Day 1 flights and are set to fire up Day 2 here at Mid-States Poker Tour Meskwaki Casino in Tama, Iowa. Mario Hudson has the chip lead with a monstrous 380,000, miles ahead of second-place Joe Matheson (282,000). Next on the leaderboard is the Minnesota tandem of Thao "Scratch" Thiem (246,000) and Rob Wazwaz (244,000), who bagged the Day 1a lead.
Plenty of dangerous players look a little ways down in the chip counts as well. Matt Kirby (176,000), Josh Reichard (155,000), Ben Keeline (114,500), Dan Sun (113,000), Lance Harris (93,000), and Mike Ross (66,500) would have to be on anyone's short list of favorites to win it all. Indeed, Kirby and Sun have already claimed two MSPT wins each.
Action resumes at 10:30 a.m., and 36 players will make the money. Day 2 will begin at Level 15 (1,500/3,000/500) and progress with 40-minute levels until a final table has been reached. At that point, levels will move to one hour apiece and the live stream will kick off for your viewing pleasure. Stay tuned to find out who takes down the latest MSPT.