2015 MSPT Canterbury Park Day 1a: Just 43 of 219 Survive with Yao "YY" Yin On Top
The first of two starting flights for the 2015 Mid-States Poker Tour Canterbury Park Main Event drew 219 entries to the racetrack and card room just outside Minneapolis, Minnesota on Friday.
This quickly rendered the $200,000 guarantee moot with Saturday's second Day 1 flight still to come. Through 14 levels of play, 43 survived and will return to play down to a winner — along with the Day 1b survivors — on Sunday at 11 a.m. local time.
On a night when it was announced that MSPT Pro Blake Bohn and "Minneapolis" Jim Meehan were inducted into Minnesota Poker Hall of Fame, it was MSPT Ho-Chunk Gaming Wisconsin Dells eighth-place finisher Yao "YY" Yin that stole the show. Yin flopped bottom set against MSPT title holder Jeremy Dresch's top two pair and held to grab a massive pot and the chip lead in Level 11.
He kept his foot on the gas after that on the way to bagging 268,000.
Top 10 Day 1a Chip Counts
| Place | Player | Count |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yao Yin | 268,000 |
| 2 | Willie Olson | 229,500 |
| 3 | Vladimir Revniaga | 186,000 |
| 4 | Hank Mlekoday | 186,000 |
| 5 | Justin Thurlow | 149,500 |
| 6 | Carl Carodenuto | 140,500 |
| 7 | Paul Ratajczyk | 131,500 |
| 8 | Joe Matheson | 129,000 |
| 9 | Chris Orvis | 125,000 |
| 10 | Gennady Shimelfarb | 120,000 |
Meanwhile, Bohn, current MSPT Player of the Year leader Mark Hodge, the venerable Allen Kessler, and MSPT Iowa champ Rich Alsup joined the masses in hitting the rail throughout the flight.
Alsup fell when Joel Klipping bumped it to 2,300 and Alsup shipped it in for 16,000 behind him. Klipping called with the J♥J♦ and was light years ahead of Alsup's A♥3♥.
Alsup picked up some outs on the 4♣10♦5♦ flop and paired up on the 3♣ turn. But the Q♦ river was no use to him and he hit the rail.
Meanwhile, others bagged contending stacks including Willie Olson (229,500), Vladimir Revniaga (186,000) and Hank Mlekoday (186,000).
While this group will be on ice until Sunday, Day 1b kicks off at 4 p.m. local time Saturday and organizers are expecting a field at least the same size.
PokerNews will be on hand from start to finish as the 2015 Mid-States Poker Tour Canterbury Park Main Event moves on and you are welcome to follow along by clicking here.
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