Tan Hoang is among the most recent slew of eliminations from the tournament, having been eliminated by Adrian Buckley. According to Buckley and tablemate Ryan Dodson, Hoang got the last of it in with ace-four against Buckley's two nines, with Buckley ultimately leaving Hoang drawing dead by the turn.
The tournament is on a 10-minute break as of the completion of Level 16, with the fast and furious action having brought the field down to 128 in just one level's time.
A three-way all-in had just ensued with Chris Carlson and Samir Al-Hadwan both standing up and making their ways from the table.
"Aces full of jacks will take it all," said the dealer, with Scott Horvath's having flopped the nuts to score the double knockout. He now has 689,000, a total greater than what Day 1 chip leader James Rodriguez (670,000) started the day with.
There was a four-way, single-raised pot to a flop of where action checked to Isaiah Easter in the cutoff. He bet 45,000 and was check-raised to 95,000 by Joseph Gunn in middle position. Easter called.
Gunn committed his remaining 162,000 on the turn and Easter thought for around half a minute before tossing a chip forward that landed about a foot in front of him.
Joseph Gunn:
Isaiah Easter:
Easter let out a groan upon seeing Gunn's tens, and he failed to connect with one of the two remaining nines in the deck on the river to result in Gunn earning the pot and the full double.
The first table has just broken less than halfway through the first level of play in the afternoon. Here's a look at those who've already bitten the dust, as 135 players now remain.
Action folded around to Mindaugas Kerbelis in the small blind and he open-jammed for just under 90,000. Samir Al-Hadwan immediately called in the big blind.
Mindaugas Kerbelis:
Samir Al-Hadwan:
The board ran out , giving Kerbelis four extra outs on the flop. However, none hit and he was eliminated at Al-Hadawn's expense.
One hundred and forty-four players will return to Bally's Black Hawk on Sunday at 11 a.m. local time for Day 2 of the Mid-States Poker Tour (MSPT) $360 Regional. Four starting flights produced 998 total entries, creating a prize pool of $299,400 that 16 tables' worth of players will compete for with $55,383 set to go to the eventual champion.
Day 1a chip leader James Rodriguez (670,000) saw his end-of-day total from the very first flight wind up completely uncontested by the three remaining flights, none of which produced a bag of more than 500,000. Day 1b chip leader Jerry Morrell (488,000) fell just shy of that mark and enters the day second in chips.
Keith Wright (388,000), who bagged the Day 1 chip lead finished fourth in chips through the combined field, while Day 1d chip leader Matthew Ludiker (370,000) finished just outside the top five overall, though his stack of nearly 62 big blinds gives him plenty of room to work with as he comes into the day sixth in the counts.
Other notable players to enter the day with well-above-average stacks include Tan Hoang (346,000), Ryan Dodson (334,000), Zach Gutierrez (277,000), and Steve Wilkie (275,000).
James Rodriguez
The talent doesn't stop there going down the leader board either, as Ben Keeline (227,000), Danny Gonzales (209,000), Phil Gioia (181,000), Aaron Frei (160,000), and Adrian Buckley (124,000) are still just a fraction of those still well in contention to make a charge to the top.
Two more players of note are that of Erasmus Morfe (208,000) and Alex Kotliarsky (285,000). The pair chopped the last MSPT Black Hawk $360 Regional Event heads up in January 2020, with Morfe taking home the trophy and top prize of $53,048 and Kotliarsky earning $43,000. Kotliarsky bagged a top-five stack on Day 1a and has enjoyed the last three days off, while Morfe joined the party on Saturday's final flight and got through with an above-average stack as well.
Erasmus Morfe
Like Day 1, levels will last 30 minutes until the very end of the tournament. Play will resume in Level 16 (3,000/6,000/6,000) with 10-minute breaks occurring at the completion of every four levels, or two hours of play. Per MSPT structure, the tournament will revert from a big-blind ante to a traditional ante when the final three tables are reached with 27 players remaining.
The top 108 places will make it into the money, meaning there's plenty of work still to be done before reaching that mark as exactly one-quarter of the Day 2 field will walk away empty-handed. A first-level payout will earn players $629, with payouts increasing at regular intervals all the way down to the final table, where everybody will be guaranteed more than $5,000 worth of profit on their buy-in.
Payout Information
Place
Prize
1
$55,383
2
$34,132
3
$25,449
4
$18,862
5
$14,371
6
$11,078
7
$8,683
8
$6,587
9
$5,389
10-12
$4,192
13-15
$3,593
16-18
$2,934
19-21
$2,455
22-24
$2,036
25-27
$1,707
28-36
$1,317
37-45
$1,018
46-54
$928
55-63
$838
64-72
$778
73-81
$749
82-90
$719
91-99
$659
100-108
$629
PokerNews has been bringing you updates from the very first second of the tournament and will maintain the status quo until a champion has been crowned. Be sure to stick around.
having flopped the nuts to score the double knockout. He now has 689,000, a total greater than what Day 1 chip leader James Rodriguez (670,000) started the day with.
where action checked to Isaiah Easter in the cutoff. He bet 45,000 and was check-raised to 95,000 by Joseph Gunn in middle position. Easter called.
and Easter thought for around half a minute before tossing a chip forward that landed about a foot in front of him. 
to result in Gunn earning the pot and the full double.
, giving Kerbelis four extra outs on the flop. However, none hit and he was eliminated at Al-Hadawn's expense.
