Who Will Walk Away the MSPT Grand Falls Regional Champion?
The Mid-States Poker Tour (MSPT) Grand Falls Casino comes to its conclusion as the final day of the $360 buy-in, $50K GTD Regional Event gets underway at noon.
The three starting flights pulled together a staggering 794 total entries, which was enough to blast by the $50,000 guarantee with $231,054 being the closed prize pool. A total of 113 players found a bag during the three starting flights and those lucky enough to do so will be returning for Day 2 action.
Starting the day with the overall chip lead is Abraham Garang who bagged large in Day 1a and he will look to add his first MSPT title to his poker resume.
Top 10 Stacks After Day 1 Flights
| Position | Player | Hometown | MSPT Regional Event Titles | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Abraham Garang | Sioux Falls, SD | 0 | 629,000 |
| 2 | Jason Lich | LaCrosse, WI | 0 | 498,000 |
| 3 | Paul Camby | San Francisco, CA | 0 | 475,000 |
| 4 | Tommy Nguyen | Sioux City, IA | 0 | 467, 000 |
| 5 | Justin Rustvold | Brandon, SD | 0 | 404,000 |
| 6 | Taylor Howard | Blair, NE | 0 | 388,000 |
| 7 | Jeff Dye | Sioux Falls, SD | 0 | 380,000 |
| 8 | Mark Fink | Sioux Falls, SD | 0 | 357,000 |
| 9 | Paul Kelly | Albert Lea, MN | 0 | 350,000 |
| 10 | Josh Nieman | Sioux Falls, SD | 0 | 350,000 |
Many other familiar faces will be battling it out for a shot at the top prize which includes Terence Reid (286,000), defending champ Swadeep Mishra (278,000), Daryl Oppelt (278,000), Paul Johnson (258,000), Matt Alexander (165,000) and Cy Church (137,000).
There will be 113 players returning for Day 2 action but only 81 spots will be grabbing a piece of the prize pool. Starting the day fairly close to the money might make for some conservative play, but judging by the first three flights the tournament should retain the action-filled play that has been up to this point.
A min-cash will be paying $644, but all eyes will be on the $46,020 first-place prize that the eventual champion will be taking home, along with an MSPT title.
MSPT Grand Falls Regional Event Payouts
| Place | Prize | MSPT POY Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | $46,020 | 600 |
| 2 | $28,297 | 533 |
| 3 | $20,705 | 500 |
| 4 | $15,391 | 467 |
| 5 | $11,733 | 433 |
| 6 | $8,972 | 400 |
| 7 | $6,902 | 367 |
| 8 | $5,291 | 333 |
| 9 | $4,141 | 300 |
| 10-12 | $3,428 | 267 |
| 13-15 | $2,761 | 233 |
| 16-18 | $2,301 | 200 |
| 19-21 | $1,932 | 167 |
| 22-24 | $1,633 | 133 |
| 25-27 | $1,334 | 100 |
| 28-36 | $1,012 | 83 |
| 37-45 | $851 | 67 |
| 46-54 | $782 | 50 |
| 55-63 | $736 | 33 |
| 64-72 | $690 | 25 |
| 73-81 | $644 | 17 |
Day 2 Schedule
Cards will be in the air at noon local time with action picking up from level 16 where blinds are 3,000/6,000 with a 6,000 big blind ante. Blinds will remain 30-minutes in length for the duration of the tournament.
A transition from the big blind ante to a standard ante will come into play when 27 players remain.
Day 2 Structure
| Level | Length | Small Blind | Big Blind | BB Ante | Standard Ante |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16 | 30 minutes | 3,000 | 6,000 | 6,000 | 1,000 |
| 17 | 30 minutes | 4,000 | 8,000 | 8,000 | 1,000 |
| 18 | 30 minutes | 5,000 | 10,000 | 10,000 | 2,000 |
| 19 | 30 minutes | 6,000 | 12,000 | 12,000 | 2,000 |
| 20 | 30 minutes | 10,000 | 15,000 | 15,000 | 3,000 |
| 21 | 30 minutes | 10,000 | 20,000 | 20,000 | 3,000 |
| 22 | 30 minutes | 15,000 | 25,000 | 25,000 | 4,000 |
| 23 | 30 minutes | 15,000 | 30,000 | 30,000 | 4,000 |
| 24 | 30 minutes | 20,000 | 40,000 | 40,000 | 5,000 |
| 25 | 30 minutes | 25,000 | 50,000 | 50,000 | 5,000 |
| 26 | 30 minutes | 30,000 | 60,000 | 60,000 | 10,000 |
| 27 | 30 minutes | 40,000 | 80,000 | 80,000 | 10,000 |
| 28 | 30 minutes | 50,000 | 100,000 | 100,000 | 20,000 |
| 29 | 30 minutes | 60,000 | 120,000 | 120,000 | 20,000 |
| 30 | 30 minutes | 100,000 | 150,000 | 150,000 | 30,000 |
Keep your eyes on PokerNews as we provide updates through the event's conclusion.