Nick Davidson Leads as 36 Advance from 2019 MSPT Michigan State Championship Day 1a Field
Day 1a of the 2019 Mid-States Poker Tour (MSPT) Michigan State Poker Championship at FireKeepers Casino saw 322 entrants take to the felt. After 15 levels of play, just 36 remained with Nick Davidson and his stack of 498,000 leading the pack.
Joining Davidson atop the counts are Al Motiwala (493,000), Bryant Miller (476,500), Mitchell Bank (298,500), and Lou Ojeda (295,500), who round out the top five.
Others who advanced to Day 2 were Adam Lampehre (261,000), Randy Bullen (168,500), MSPT Season 5 Player of the Year Mike Deis (138,000), Minnesota’s Ian Matakis (131,500), and poker media veteran Sam Cosby (110,000).
Among those to fire and fall on Day 1a were MSPT Hall of Famers Kou Vang and Aaron Johnson, 2015 MSPT Michigan State Poker Champ Michael Ferrarotti, Tony Sinishtaj, Pauly “Walnuts” Bianchi, MSPT Meskwaki winner Nathan Trenkamp, and Minnesota Poker Hall of Famer Blake Bohn.
All of those players will have the opportunity to fire again if they so choose along with any newcomers. Speaking of which, some players spotted around the gaming floor who are expected to jump in are 13-time World Series of Poker Circuit ring winner Maurice Hawkins, MSPT champ Keith Heine, and two-time gold bracelet winner Dan Heimiller, just to name a few.
Day 1b of the tournament will kick off at Noon local time on Friday, with the 1c flight to follow on Saturday. The surviving players from all three flights will then return on Sunday to play down to a winner.