Morrell Leads Day 1b Field at MSPT Black Hawk $360 Regional
It wasn't easy, but Jerry Morrell has finished Day 1b of the Mid-States Poker Tour (MSPT) Black Hawk $360 Regional with the chip lead with a stack of 488,000. A total of 234 entries came to Bally's Black Hawk Thursday for the second of four starting flights and 32 players advanced, with Morrell narrowly leading Barb Visher (477,000) atop the counts.
In the final hands of the evening, Morrell and Visher wound up getting stacks in with Morrell holding ace-king of diamonds and losing to Visher's aces. Visher appeared to vault into pole position for the chip lead as tables balanced and Morrell moved on the very next hand.
Morrell's new table quickly put the ace-king of diamonds back in front of his face, where he wound up playing for stacks once more and winning a coin flip against pocket tens to get right back to where he was before. He then won a small pot at the end of the night, one that proved to be the difference in him being the leader when chips went into bags.
Jeff Heiberg (355,000), Kobie Keir (297,000), and Zach Gutierrez (277,000) rounded out the top five in counts, barely edging out three more players behind that finished the day above a quarter-million. Others to advance included Renato Spahiu (212,000), Noomis Jones (185,000), Randy Needens (126,000), Vincent Moscati (97,000), and Jason Vanstrom (74,000).
Of course, the vast majority of entrants did not advance, with Greg Collins, Tan Hoang, Nate Zoller, Brian Leitch, and Phil Gioia among those who fell short of finding a bag.
Two more starting flights remain for all looking to punch their ticket onto Sunday's Day 2 roster. Fifty-four have already advanced, and all players firing future flights are advised to arrive early as the house will certainly be full for each of the next two days. Registration for Friday's Day 1c opens at 10 a.m. local time, with play beginning at noon once more. As usual, PokerNews will be bringing you updates every step of the way.