Lisichkina Leads Final Ten in MSPT $1,600 Main Event; Rich Gunning For Second Title
After twelve hours and fifteen levels of play, the start of the day field of 233 was brought down to the final 10 in The Mid-States Poker Tour $1,600 No-Limit Hold’em Main Event at Venetian Las Vegas Nevada. The final ten players are all guaranteed $36,780, but all eyes remain on the first place prize of $360,670.
Leading the way with a commanding lead is Russian-born player Yulia Lisichkina who ended the day with 12,575,000. Lisichkina played multiple bigger pots with a few tables left that had her at, or floating around the chip lead for the latter half of the day. It wasn’t until the last level of play where she called a massive all-in against Arman Sogomonian, where she cemented her lead as by far and away the chip leader. Lisichkina saw some success last WSOP with seven cashes, but with her guaranteed score of $36,780, she has already topped her best score to add to her $139,894 of lifetime earnings.
Following behind her is Fehim Hajdari who bagged 8,575,000. While Hajdari found a steady increase of chips throughout the day, it was a late night surge that ended up propelling him to second in chips with a knockout of Ricardo Gonzalez, and a massive pot against Angelina Rich where he had made the nut flush. The Danish player has already more than doubled his lifetime earnings to secure his biggest cash of his career, and is setting himself to be potentially the first winner of an MSPT from Denmark.
Shea Quintin bagged third in chips with 6,175,000, many of which came from the knocking out of two players, Simeon Spasov and Erik Carvalho. Matthew Sabia came into the final three tables with a massive chip stack, but lost many chips in a kings versus aces versus ace-jack cooler against Angelina Rich. Sabia still bagged 4,600,000 and will look to top his biggest cash of $155,515 with a win. Jack O’Neill ended the night 3,600,000 after a relatively swingy final few levels. O’Neill’s career earnings will pass $1,000,000 after this guaranteed payout and he looks to add top his own biggest score, which currently sits at $175,300.
Angelina Rich is looking to add her name to the list of two-time MSPT champions as her very own title was won at Venetian in 2015 for $304,386. She comes into the day with 3,125,000 and is one of two women remaining in this field. Kevin Ayow (2,875,000), Hien Nguyen (2,800,000), Rohan Dhuper (2,625,000) and Rickey Evans(1,900,000) round out the field of other returning players, each one of them looking for their biggest score and first MSPT title.
Final Day Chip Counts
| Player | Chip Counts | |
| 1 | Yulia Lisichkina | 12,575,000 |
| 2 | Fehim Hajdari | 8,575,000 |
| 3 | Shea Quintin | 6,175,000 |
| 4 | Matthew Sabia | 4,600,000 |
| 5 | Jack O'Neill | 3,600,000 |
| 6 | Angelina Rich | 3,125,000 |
| 7 | Kevin Ayow | 2,875,000 |
| 8 | Hien Nguyen | 2,800,000 |
| 9 | Rohan Dhuper | 2,625,000 |
| 10 | Rickey Evans | 1,900,000 |
Action On The Day
Play was fast and furious from the very beginning with only one level passing before the bubble burst as 52 players who came into the day were unable to find a cash. The unfortunate bubble boy was Enrique Villacres when his ace-queen ran into MSPT Deadwood champion Taylor Howard’s pocket aces.
Post Bubble Play
Players in the tournament continued to be eliminated at a rapid rate for quite a while. Players like Ryan Scully (171st-$3,280), WSOP 2017 Main Event Runner-Up Dan Ott (153rd-$3,514), MSPT Champions Rich Alsup (143rd-$3,631), Taylor Howard (40th-$8,902), Josh Reichard (28th-$10,308) and Greg Himmelbrand (26th-$12,182) all were eliminated prior to days end. The final two eliminations of the night were Erik Carvalho (12th-$28,437) and Arman Sogomonian (11th-$28,437), the first of which had lost a flip against Matthew Sabia when his pocket queens fell short against ace-king, and the other lost when he moved all-in with queen-high and a gutshot on a three spade board, only for Lisichkina to call him with the ace-high flush draw and a gutshot of her own.
Players will return to the Venetian at 12:00 for Day 3 where levels will start at 100,000-200,000 and a 200,000 big blind ante. Blinds will last 40 minutes each and players will take a 15-minute break after every three levels. Play will continue until a winner is crowned. Stay tuned to PokerNews for all updates on the MSPT $1,600 No-Limit Hold’em Main Event.