For the second time in Season 6, the Mid-States Poker Tour visited Golden Gates Casino in Black Hawk, Colorado. The first of three starting flights attracted 126 entrants, but after 16 levels of play just 20 remained with Ross Reichert and his stack of 357,500 leading the way.

Top 10 Day 1a Chip Counts

Place	Player	Count
1	Ross Reichert	357,500
2	Lou Mortellarr	352,500
3	Kane Lai	304,000
4	Tom Bouziden	287,000
5	Matt Alexander	270,500
6	Ryan Brown	233,000
7	Bruce Russell	233,000
8	Aaron Thomas	225,000
9	Michael Ermie	222,000
10	Michael Sanders	205,000

Reichert got off to a hot start by scoring the first elimination of the day. It happened in Level 1 with a board reading when Reichert placed out a bet of 10,000, and Danny Gonzalez thought long and hard before releasing for the flopped straight. Todd "Odds" Hagen then moved all in with the for a flush draw, but unfortunately for him, he was drawing dead as Reichert held the for a full house. The meaningless was run out on the river, and Reichert was pushed the large pot while Hagan became the day's first casualty. From there, it was nothing but up for Reichert.

Of course not everyone was so lucky. Among those to fall on Day 1a were MSPT Golden Gates Regional champ Bobby Sanoubane, who fired two bullets; MSPT Team Pro Matt Kirby; Nebraska farmer Phil Mader; Bryan Devonshire, who finished sixth in the Colorado Poker Championship back in August; and Aaron & Ralph Massey, the latter a victim of a set-over-set flop.

It happened when four players each put in 2,500 preflop and took a flop of . Ralph Massey checked from the big blind, Corey Zedo bet 5,500 from middle position, and Aaron Thomas folded from the cutoff. Ben Keeline called from the button, Massey check-raised all in for 37,800 total, and Zedo moved all in over the top, which inspired Keeline to fold.

Massey:
Zedo:

It was bad news for Massey, who was drawing to the case three. The turn wasn't it, and neither was the river. Massey was felted on the hand, while Zedo jumped up among the chip leaders.

While dozens fell, some solid players advanced to Day 2 including Lou Mortellarr (352,500), who busted early and reentered; defending champ Kane Lai (304,000); MSPT Team Pros Matt Alexander (270,500) and Nick Pupillo (100,000); and the last women in the flight, Norecia Austin (50,000).

Day 1b will kick off at 12:00 p.m. local time on Friday with the plan of playing 16 levels. Late registration and reentries are open all day long, so chances are many Day 1a casualties will fire another bullet. The PokerNews Live Reporting Team will be on hand to capture all the action, which you can follow by clicking here.

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