To the Top: David To Bags Day 1a Lead at Potawatomi
Mid-States Poker Tour Potawatomi kicked off Friday with the tour's second stop of the year in Milwaukee, and David To bulldozed through Day 1a, the first of two starting flights, to bag 515,000. That's by far enough to top the 42 surviving players out of the 246 who took part in the 14-level day.
Jerry Gumila (303,500), Jack Torcolese (249,500), and former MSPT runner-up Thomas Peebles (223,000) also bagged healthy stacks.
To already had a solid stack in Level 13 (1,000/2,000/300) when a player moved all in for 34,400 in middle position and To shoved over that in the cutoff with a stack that covered the table. The big blind had about 50,000 and called off with the 
. To had it dominated with the 
and the third player held the 
. To flopped a queen to score the double knockout and extend his chip lead.
Then, To finished the night strong in one of the last hands when three players saw a 
flop. Action checked to Jason Seefus, who bet 10,000 on the button. To made it 27,000 in the big blind, and Seefus came back over the top with 80,000 after the third player folded. To put Seefus all in for 53,000 more and the latter called with the 
. To had flopped a flush with 
and held.
Other players to punch Day 2 tickets included Brett Reichard (143,500), Rodger Johnson (98,000), Jason Seitz (69,000), and Yossi Azulay (39,500).
Notable runners to bust were Jonathan Dimatteo, Nick Kost, "DQ" Dan Hendrickson, Ravi Raghavan, Josh Reichard, Mark Kroon, Prince Gaspard, Mike Ross, last year's champ Jason Mirza, and MSPT Team Pros Blake Bohn, Matt Alexander, and Matt Kirby.
Those players will have another shot on Day 1b, which kicks off at 4 p.m. Saturday.