The 2020 Mid-States Poker Tour (MSPT) Golden Gates $360 Regional Event became the first tournament in Colorado poker history with more than 1,000 entries after a record-setting field of 400 came to Saturday��s final starting flight to generate a four-day total of 1,087 entries. Of those entries, 138 players will be returning to the Golden Gates Casino and Poker Parlour Sunday for Day 2 to determine a champion.
The four individual Day 1 chip leaders will take the top four stacks into the day, with Day 1a chip leader Luis Rosa (641,000) leading the way. He is the only player coming into Day 2 with over a half-million, but Day 1c chip leader Nader Wahdan (484,000) and Day 1d chip leader Rick Burleson (478,000) aren��t far away. Day 1b chip leader Abhinav Parakh follows behind them with a stack of 414,000, giving him just shy of a 70 big-blind stack when play resumes.
Others to enter the day with above-average stacks include Greg Geller (390,000), Zach Gutierrez (371,000), Kevin Eyster (341,000), Nate Zoller (251,000), and Greg Collins (240,000).
Also in contention is November 2019 MSPT Golden Gates $1,100 Main Event champion Steve Wilkie (167,000). Wilkie comes into the day another year older, celebrating his birthday with the hopes that this past year��s successes will lead to him also being another year wiser.
Cards get in the air at noon local time with 30-minute levels continuing until a winner has been declared. Play will resume at the beginning of Level 16 (3,000/6,000/6,000) with a standard big-blind ante in play until the final-three table redraw when 27 players remain. At that time, levels will revert back to a traditional ante for the duration of the tournament. Fifteen-minute breaks will occur at the end of every four levels.
Twenty eliminations are needed before the money is reached, with 118 of the 138 set to lock in a first-level payout of $620. A final table appearance guarantees a payday of $5,870, and a prize of $59,525 along with the MSPT trophy is up for grabs to the eventual winner.
Who will win the largest tournament in this state��s history? Stay tuned to PokerNews to find out.