Morfitt and Kapoor Close Strong in Massive Day 1a
The first flight of the $1,100 Mid-States Poker Tour Michigan State Championship came to an end early today. The starting field of 631 found itself shrinking down to just 73 players at the end of the night with 32 minutes left in Level 15.
It was Matt Morfitt who ended up bagging the overall chip lead of the flight with 528,000 at the end of the day. Morfitt is no stranger to MSPTs, having finished runner-up in the MSPT Canterbury Park for a career-best score of $115,053. The Des Moines Iowa resident saw his chip stack remain steady from level 8 onward and a late-night rush saw him climb to the top of the chip counts.
Day 1a Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Name | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Matt Morfitt | 528,000 |
| 2 | Jason Kapoor | 516,000 |
| 3 | De'andre Brown | 499,000 |
| 4 | Dominic Choma | 490,000 |
| 5 | Chris Moon | 478,000 |
| 6 | Craig Trost | 456,000 |
| 7 | Sumit Sapra | 406,000 |
| 8 | Brekstyn Schutten | 404,000 |
| 9 | Dionisios Bertson | 377,000 |
| 10 | Gary Stone | 374,000 |
Coming in hot on Morfitt's heels was Jason ��Clozer�� Kapoor, who finished the night with 516,000. Kapoor found himself putting two players at risk on the last hand of the night when he had queen-jack suited against ace-seven suited and pocket kings. The board ran out a straight and he scooped a massive pot to put himself in contention for the chip lead. Kapoor recently finished third place in the MSPT United States Poker Championship for $41,721. He is looking to better that finish and score with a deep run in this event.
Others that found their way to bags included MSPT Champions Chris Moon (478,000), Craig Trost (456,000), high stakes tournament regular Brekstyn Schutten (404,000), Michael Berk (300,000), Mario Arribas (248,000), CJ Peake (78,000), WSOP bracelet winners Keven Stammen (232,000), Dash Dudley (77,000), Rob Wazwaz (50,000), and 2009 WSOP Main Event Winner Joe Cada (75,000). They will all return on Sunday October 16th at 11 a.m. with 32 minutes left on level 15 unless another flight ends earlier.
This flight was not good to all, as many MSPT legends fell throughout the day like Pat Steele, Kevin Berthelsen, Aaron Johnson, Angela Jordison, Greg Himmelbrand, and recent hall of fame inductee Josh Reichard. Defending champion Dan Bekavac found his luck run out on a couple of bullets today, including two of them having his pocket aces cracked. Each one of them will have their chance to re-enter tomorrow's flight or the following day��s flight.
Day 1a had 631 entrants as compared to the last iteration��s opening flight total of 615. Play will continue for these players on Sunday the 14th unless they wish to forfeit their stack and play one of the other flights. Tomorrow��s flight begins at 12 p.m. and players will have their second chance to play for this $1,000,000 guaranteed prize pool.
Stay tuned to PokerNews for all updates regarding the next two flights, the final day and the conclusion of the tournament.