IMPROBABLE: SENTI WINS MSPT CANTERBURY
One month after finishing seventh in the WSOP Main Event, Jason Senti came home with a splash
What a way to announce his return.
In his first live tournament since a seventh-place finish at the World Series of Poker in November earned him $1.3 million, St. Louis Park’s Jason Senti was crowned Minnesota State Poker Tour Champion at Canterbury Park on December 13 for $38,540.
Senti outlasted Drew Johnson in a two-hour heads-up battle.
The storyline is pretty extraordinary. Senti has become, by nature, the face of Minnesota poker over the last few months. He has a charismatic, likeable personality to go along with a lethal poker game, and he rarely turns down a media request.
On Day 1 of the two-day, $100,000 guaranteed MSPT Main Event, Senti showed up near the beginning of level two. With 136 players already registered -- a blizzard nearly wiped out two days of qualifying that would likely have bumped the field up over 200 -- Senti was mistakenly turned away from the registration table.
“They said I was too late,” Senti laughed. “But they wound up letting me in anyways.”
And it’s a good thing he wound up playing. The $38,000 pales in comparison to $1.3 million, but there’s just something special about winning a big tournament in his home state.
“Winning a tournament is always a good feeling, and this was especially true as it was the first tournament I have played in the midwest since making the November Nine last summer,” Senti said on his blog at BlueFirePoker.com. “I am glad I was able to make a good showing. It wasn't that long ago that I was screwing around in 2/4LHE and trying to satellite into the $1100 tourneys at Canterbury Park. Its amazing to think how much everything has changed for me with regards to poker in the last 4 years.”