A 30-year-old poker pro from Orono, Minnesota, took down the 2015 Mid-States Poker Tour Canterbury Park Main Event on Sunday night.
Carl Carodenuto used an unpredictable and often maniacal style to earn the title and $116,103 first-place prize that came with it, besting a field of 470 entries when it was all said and done.
From two starting days that drew a Minnesota State record field, 93 players returned on Sunday to vie for the championship. They moved quickly past the 45-player money bubble and onto the final table of 10 that began with Willie Olson in the lead.
It wasn't long before DJ Buckley lost a race against Saad Ghanem to bust 10th, and MSPT Meskwaki winner Rich Alsup failed to outdraw Ryan Tyler's dominating ace to end up ninth, guaranteeing that Mark Hodge would pick up the coveted MSPT Player of the Year title.
Olson then extended his lead, shoving over a Vladimir Revniaga raise with pocket tens, getting called by Revniaga on nines and holding.
Short stack Dan Favreau then helped Carodenuto heat up when he ran jacks into his aces to bow out seventh, and after a period of chips flying around the table with no one busting, Brian Berthiaume ran ten-high into Kirby Rogers' ace-high and said goodbye in sixth.
Olson's run good continued when he dispatched Tyler in fifth, finding a pair with the dominated A♦Q♣ versus his A♥K♣. Plus, he busted a short-stacked Ghanem in fourth to take a lead into three-handed play.
That lead would not last, however, as he soon shipped fours into Carodenuto's sevens and handed it over to him.
Olson then busted third when Rogers slow-played kings to perfection against him to double through and leave him short and shoving.
Rogers appeared to be running over Carodenuto heads up, taking advantage of a some blind bets and snatching the lead away from him with some timely aggression, but after they took a break, Carodenuto returned to take it back.
First he called down a three-barreled bluff with bottom pair and then he got it in with big slick in great shape and held to capture MSPT glory and the lion's share of the event's prize pool.
Carodenuto's win marked the end of the wildly successful sixth season on the MSPT!