Friedman Steamrolls Day 1b Field

After a very unsuccessful Day 1a, Adam Friedman returned to the Mid-States Poker Tour Belle of Baton Rouge Main Event and rolled the field in a 14-level tour de force, bagging 356,500 to take a monster lead — more than double the next biggest stack. Not only will Friedman have the most chips heading to Day 2 on Sunday, he will also bring one of the most formidable tournament résumés, sporting more than $1.6 million in cashes.

Friedman's luck began turning early in the day, when he got it in with Jeff Grimes after a flop during Level 9 (400/800/50) for a 76,000-chip pot. Friedman held the for overs and a straight draw, but trailed Grimes' . The turn brought a king for Friedman, and he held on through the river.

Later, he had built that up to a room-leading stack when he played the pot of the tournament thus far, again facing off with Grimes. Both players had checked a flop, and Friedman checked again on the turn. Grimes fired out a bet, and Friedman made a big check-raise. Grimes shoved in after starting the hand with around 100,000, and Friedman called with for a flopped straight. Grimes was drawing dead with .

From there, Friedman turned the aggression up to peak levels, but he lost a bit before the end of the night.

Just six other players made it through the Day 1b field: Mihail Karasoulis (151,000), Josh Mancuso (128,000), Brandon Creel (110,000), Broderick Scott (102,500), Adam Simoneaux (69,000), and Richard Hairston (43,500). The seven survivors will join the 17 who made it through Day 1a to create a 24-player field for Sunday.

Rick McGown, Duma Lowery, defending champ Shawn Schoreck, Mike Lang, and Daniel Holmes were among those joining Grimes on the rail during Day 1b.

Schoreck's title defense ended when he saw a player open for a raise to 2,700 and John Galik call. On the button, Schoreck put his stack of about 20,000 in, and the opener folded after it got back to him. Galik snapped, however, as he'd flatted the powerful . Schoreck had , and a run out of meant his day was done.

Two-time MSPT runner-up Lang, meanwhile, flatted a raise from Simoneaux in the blinds and then open-jammed the flop for about 10,000 during Level 11 (600/1,200/200). Simoneaux quickly called with the , and Lang politely wished him a happy birthday after he bricked off with the .