5:30  WE HAVE OUR 10 MINNESOTA CHAMPIONS

Wow what a day of poker!!!  They got after it early and often until we got to 12.  Once we reached 12 people it took over an hour before we lost anyone.  And then it happened....Within 5 minutes and two hands we lost both 12 and 11.  Jesper Wangle who played a great short stacked tournament moved all in with QJ without enough to make a legal raise.  It went around to the big blind who was Terry Dusterhoft who was priced into calling with 6-9 off suit.  The flop A-K-10 Jesper flops broadway and stays alive.  Two hands later Jesper is in the small blind with Tim Johnson in the big.  Folded around Jesper looking to pick up more chips moves all in right after his double up.  Tim looks down to A-K of hearts and makes the call.  Jesper was holding 8-9.  The window card was a 8, but the next card was an Ace.  That sealed the deal and we were down to 11 with one to go before heading to Las Vegas.

The next hand with a flop of A-2-3 Mike Rassier had moved all in and one of our chip leaders since the beginning of the tournament Joe Bushlack made the call holding A-Q.  Mike was also trying to steal holdling J-10 and unable to catch up.  The crowd went nuts as we went from not loosing anyone for over an hour and loosing two in two hands.  Our ten Minnesota champions were set and here they are.....

1)  Clay Lipke from Primetime in Breezy Point
2)  Dave Chaput from Z103 in Fergus Falls
3)  Ryan Aldrich from Primetime in Breezy Point
4)  Joe Bushlack from Echo Lanes in Austin
5)  Linda Ralidak from the Thirsty Moose in Hibbing
6)  Mark Moench from Z103 in Fergus Falls
7)  Terry Dusterhoft from Fat Daddy's in Alexandria
8)  Tim Johnson from the VFW in Moorhead
9)  Anthony Hendricks from the Rusty Nail in Thief River Falls
10) Jason Hauf from JC's Corral in Dilworth

1:15PM  DOWN TO 3 TABLES

The short stacks were getting them in early as we lost our first 11 players in about 45 minutes of play.  Not on a short stack was our 2nd biggest stack, Jeremy Cumber.  He was looking to add to his chip stack as he called a player's all-in when he had top pair and a flush draw with AK and a player was drawing to 5 outs with QJ when the 3rd Q appeared on the river to take half his stack.  He got a cooler a few hands later when his QQ ran into Tim Johnson's AA to cripple him and was out a few hands later.
Other players out are Richard Miske, Dan Eberly, Craig Johanneck, Holly Raden, Lon Remme, Glenn Kilen, Brian Gjelhaug, Scott Marwick, Vance Giroux, and Tim Holden. 

Top 10 chips stacks:
Aaron Vadner - LJ's, Remer 153.5k
Jeremy Cumber - Park Rapids Eagles 127.5k
Mike Travis - Audubon Liquor Store 114.5k
Todd Feske - Courtney's Comedy Club, Moorhead 108k
Jason Hauf - JC's Corral, Dilworth 90k
Mike Munoz - Boxer's, Faribault 86.5k
Clay Lipke - Primetime, Breezy Point 84.5k
Tim Johnson - Moorhead VFW 75k
Jesper Wrangle - Broadway Pizza, Champlin 74k
Richard Miske - Erick's Bar, St. Paul 68.5

8:00PM END OF DAY 1

We've wrapped up play for day 1...

There are 42 players left.  

7:20PM

Down to 58 players.  Several featured players have run out of chips, including Joel Smith, Jeremy Heller, and Greg Anderson.  Plus, all of the multi-bar champs (4 of them) have busted!

Aaron Vadner from LJ's Sports Bar in Remer is having one heck of a day, he's now got over 200k. 

6:00PM  DINNER BREAK

Down to 87 players at the break.  This is a 2-day event due to the structure and size of the field.  We have a side bet on how many players we will be down to at 8pm, when the tourney will wrap up for the day..

Here are the overall chip leaders at this point:

1. Aaron Vadner - LJ's Sports Bar, Remer (88k)

2. Anthony Hendricks - Rusty Nail, Thief River (67k)

3. Joe Buchlack - Echo Lanes, Austin (63k)

4. Brian Gjehlaug - Champps, Eden Prairie (62k)

5. Mike Munoz - Boxers, Faribault (58k)

6. Joe Cumber - Park Rapids Eagles (53k)

5:10PM MARCUS HOLM BUSTS

Marcus Holm ran bad after the 2nd break, having run into a set of aces with a set of 10's and losing a big favorite to a runner-runner straight. 

Other notes:

Brian Gjelhaug from Champps in Eden Prairie is having a good start with about 50k.

Richard Miske from Erick's busted Shaun Steinbach from Z103 in a 45k pot...

109 players left. 

4:35PM

Barry Larson from the Sunset Bar & Grill is among the overall chip leaders with 53k.  Mike Travis from the Audubon Liquor Store is not far behind with 48k. 

4:05PM 2ND BREAK

We're down to 149 players.  Former champs Jeremy Heller and Greg Anderson are still alive.  

3:05PM STEEL WHEEL

Denny Carey from Flicek's in Londale hit the "Steel Wheel" (ace through 5 straight flush).  He's playing with shades made famous by Greg Raymer.   

2:30PM  FIRST BREAK

Here are the current chip leaders:

Joe Bushlack 28.3k Echo Lanes, Austin

Mike Travis 23.5k Audubon Liquor Store

Jeremy Cumber 22.4k Park Rapids Eagles

Craig Champa 21.5k Jim's Sports Bar, Chisholm (Cowboys guy)

Marcus Holm 22.1k Bayside & Champps, Excelsior/Eden Prairie

1:00PM

Cowboys vs. Vikings.  Two players sitting next to each other get all their chips in preflop.  Each player is sporting the colors of their favorite team.  The Vikings player shows pocket Kings, but the Cowboys player has pocket Aces, and they hold up.  The Vikings lose again...

12:04PM 

We've just started and already we've lost our first player, Zach Larson from the Montevideo VFW!  Four minutes in, I think that might be a record...Sometimes poker really sucks!