Matt Anderson Leads Day 1b of Record-Breaking MSPT Potawatomi
The Mid-States Poker Tour (MSPT) Potawatomi Hotel & Casino in Milwaukee set a new record on Saturday as 241 Day 1b entrants joined the 246 from Day 1a to create a total field of 487 – the second-largest in MSPT history – and a prize pool of $487,000, a new Wisconsin state record. After 14 levels of play, just 41 remained with Matt Anderson and his stack of 280,500 leading the way.
Those players join the 42 survivors from Day 1a — which saw David Brown finish as chip leader with 312,500 – which means 83 players will return for Day 2 action on Sunday. Others who bagged up healthy stacks on Day 1b were reigning MSPT Player of the Year Pat Steele (277,500), Kenny Go (253,000), and John Sun (244,500).
Day 1b was filled with players firing their second, third, and in some cases fourth bullets. Brandon “oncommand” Meyers was one player that fired four times, but his hopes of cashing his third MSPT in a row came to an end when he busted early on. Others who fell on Day 1b included Jason Bobby, Eric Flesch, Mike “Wisco” Murray, Lisa Siemans, Zal Irani, Kou Vang, Ravi Raghavan, Justin Filtz, Jason Sell, and Judd Greenagel.
Another player to fall was Lob Khedup, who had also fired and missed on Day 1a. In Level 7 (250/500/50), it appeared a player had opened with a standard raise and Dan Graunke raised to 2,000 from the hijack. Khedup responded by moving all in for 9,850 from the cutoff. Graunke ended up making the call and the cards were turned on their backs.
Graunke: 
Khedup: 
Khedup got it in good, but the 
flop was bad news as Graunke flopped a flush draw. The 
turn gave Graunke the lead with tens, but Khedup must have been fixated on hearts as he didn't see it because when the 
appeared on the river he began to celebrate. The table quickly filled him in on what had happened, and that left Khedup shaking his head before exiting the tournament floor.
In Level 11 (600/1,200/200), we happened upon the action with 10,000 or so already in the pot and a flop reading 
. Mark "P0ker H0" Kroon had bet 4,700, and Jay Slonske raised him to 14,700. Not to be outdone, the ever-aggressive Kroon three-bet to 34,700, but Slonske responded by snap-shoving all in for 47,500 more. Kroon asked for a count and the table talk began.
"Kings no good?" Kroon asked. Slonske indicated they were not. "How could they not be good? I honestly think you have something dumb like queen-ten."
Kroon put together some chips as he continued to think aloud. "Why would you reraise me with a set?" he asked rhetorically. "I've played worse than this before. Maybe the only hand I beat is a 
." Kroon then tossed in a call.
Kroon: 
Slonske: 
Kroon went with his read and called with ace high, and he was in about as bad shape as he could be as Slonske did have the set. The turn left Kroon drawing dead, and even though the 
river gave him two pair, he sent the majority of his chips over to Slonske.
"I didn't think you'd reraise me," Kroon explained. Slonske then went on to win the next two hands to chip up to 200K, while Kroon was knocked down to 24,000. Amazingly, Kroon kept his composure and rebounded, eventually bagging 117,500.
While hundreds fell, plenty of notables made it through the night including Jay Slonske (205,500), Paul “Big Daddy” Elfelt (147,000), Larry Ormson (117,500), “Wild Bill” Romer (113,000), and Todd Brooks (103,500).
They will join the 42 players from Day 1a, which included big stacks Frank Swierczynski (295,500), Dan Goepel (263,500) Sunny Ali (249,500); former MSPT champs Ken Baime (202,000) and Jason Zarlenga (68,500); Mike Deis (150,000), who is currently second on the MSPT POY leaderboard; MSPT Team Pro Matt Alexander (107,500); and World Series of Poker bracelet winner Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin (55,500).
Day 2 is set to kick off at 10:30 a.m. CT on Sunday, and the field will play down to a winner. Of course the PokerNews Live Reporting Team will be on hand to capture all the action in our Live Reporting Section, as well as to live stream the final table action once the field is down to the final 10 players.