2015 MSPT Michigan State Poker Championship Day 1c: Jason Smith Leads the 40 Survivors
The Mid-States Poker Tour Michigan State Poker Championship starting flights at FireKeepers Casino in Battle Creek, are over, and the surviving 110 players are set to play for the title on Sunday. On Saturday, 40 players managed to advance from Day 1c – which attracted 213 entrants to bring the total field up to 559 entries.
Jason Smith leads the pack with 278,000, though that's the lowest of the end-of-day chip leaders. Smith hovered around 100,000 or so for a lot of the day and finally topped 200,000 when he got AxAx against a player holding AxKx. The two players got it all in preflop and Smith's aces held up. That hand was in the penultimate level and set Smith up nicely to finish the day with the chip lead. Mike Ermie (250,500) and Mark Garrod (250,000) round out the top three.
Top 10 Day 1c Chip Counts
| Place | Player | Count |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jason Smith | 278,000 |
| 2 | Mike Ermie | 250,500 |
| 3 | Mark Garrod | 250,000 |
| 4 | Carmin Argiero | 185,000 |
| 5 | Nick Pupillo | 174,000 |
| 6 | Tongen Zhang | 168,500 |
| 7 | David Austin | 165,000 |
| 8 | Imari Love | 157,500 |
| 9 | Abbas Namazi | 154,500 |
| 10 | Steve Anderson | 151,000 |
MSPT Pro Nick Pupillo was able to work his stack up to 174,000, above the average going into Day 2. Pupillo got paid by top pair in a 70,000 pot where he held two pair. Pupillo is probably stoked after busting earlier today and making it to Day 2 on this last bullet.
He will join fellow MSPT Pro Jason Zarlenga in the Day 2 field, as well as MSPT regulars Steve Anderson (151,000) and Mark Hodge (26,000), the latter of which is contending for the MSPT Player of the Year title.
Meanwhile, Tony Pena played in multiple Day 1 flights, but he was unable to make it to Day 2. He busted a few levels before the end of the day when he played a hand with Paul Prentis. Pena raised all in preflop for his last 12,800 and action folded to Prentis, who was sitting directly to Pena's right. Prentis asked for a count and then called. He showed the J♠J♦ and Pena showed the K♥10♠. The board ran out A♣6♥3♠3♦9♦ and Prentis won the pot eliminating Pena.
Others who fell on Day 1c include Mark Ader, John Hoppas, Chuck Newcomb, Steve Berra, and Shane Raikes.
Day 2 will start at 11 a.m. local time Sunday. To see who is crowned the Michigan State Poker Champion and walks away with the $134,642 first-place prize, follow all the action in our dedicated live blog.
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