Dale Belden Takes Overall Chip Lead Into Day 2 as 46 Players Survive Day 1b
The second and final starting flight of the Mid-States Poker Tour (MSPT) 2021 MSPT South Dakota State Poker Championship is in the books. Day 1b attracted 320 runners during Saturday's action, bringing the grand total to 585 entries (265 from Day 1a; 320 from 1b), making it the largest major ($1,100+ buy-in) in Deadwood history.
After the completion of Level 15, just 46 players bagged and tagged with Dale Belden and his stack of 548,000 leading the way. Belden was seen atop the counts for majority of the evening but the final hand of the night catapulted him into the top spot.
Belden was the only player to eclipse 500,000, with John Schroer (474,000), Phil Mader (435,000), Michael Baker (367,000), and defending champ Sergio Mireles (321,000) round out the top five stacks.
Others to punch their tickets to Day 2 were Tom Hammers (292,000), Travis Gant (230,000), three-time bracelet winner Adam Friedman (185,000), three-time MSPT champ Matt Kirby (117,000), and 2018 MSPT Player of the Year Aaron Johnson (92,000).
Of course, not everyone was fortunate enough to make it through the night. Among those to fire and fall in Saturday's flight were Mikiyo Aoki, Cory Nordstrand, Kyna England, MSPT Regional Champ Eric Atchison, Umut Ozturk and Ben Keeline, just to name a few.
Day 2 will get underway at 11 a.m. local time and play to a winner with 82 players returning to the felt. The top 63 finishers will get paid with the eventual winner walking away with coveted Deadwood custom trophy and the first-place prize.
PokerNews will be on hand to capture all the action, so be sure to join us then.