The MSPT returned to Riverside Casino for a third and final time this season, hosting a six-Gold Card Event Series.
Our featured $1,110 buy-in, $300K GTD Main Event headlined the series, attracting 591 entrants after three starting flights, and on Sunday, only 64 players returned for Day 2 action.
After roughly 12 hours of play, it was Indiana native Anthony Kastelic who navigated his way through the tough corn field to come out on top to win the $115,559 top prize and his first MSPT title!
“Feels a bit surreal, kind of dreamy,” Kastelic said after his win.
“I had a couple of fortunate spots when there were two tables left, but you can’t win without a little luck,” Kastelic continued to say, “besides that, I thought I played really well today and made really good decisions.”
The victory secured Kastelic his largest career score to date, with his first coming at the beginning of the year in his home state of Indiana.
“I needed this win for my confidence,” Kastelic stated, “I won my first live event earlier this year for $87,000, and ended up making four more final tables, but wasn’t able to close out any of those.”
“This MSPT win has also been dodging me,” Kastelic went on to say, “I made my first final table on the tour back in 2019 and went into the final table with the chip lead, but I blew it and ended up finishing in fourth place.”
Kastelic continued, “I needed that experience though, not only to make me better, but to also take this game more seriously, and I have.”
“This final table was a really tough one with great opponents and a lot of back-and-forths,” Kastelic added, “I got into trouble, but I was able to bounce back, and I needed that, I needed the validation that the first win wasn’t a fluke, and I got it.”
Kastelic's incredibly tough Day 2 included a field with 15 former champions, six of whom are in the Hall of Fame, and three were former Players of the Year, but he was able to out-duel the lot en route to earning a six-figure career score and his first MSPT title!
MSPT Season 16 Riverside Final Table Results
| Place |
Player |
Prize |
POY |
| 1 |
Anthony Kastelic |
$115,559 |
1,700 |
| 2 |
Aaron Johnson |
$70,993 |
1,500 |
| 3 |
Max Havlish |
$51,726 |
1,400 |
| 4 |
Kou Vang |
$38,520 |
1,300 |
| 5 |
Bohdan Slyvinskyi |
$29,165 |
1,200 |
| 6 |
Jeff Copeland |
$22,011 |
1,100 |
| 7 |
Bruce Fagan |
$17,059 |
1,000 |
| 8 |
Justin Coliny |
$13,207 |
900 |
| 9 |
Greg Sessler |
$10,455 |
800 |
The final day came back with 64 players already in the money, so action kicked right into gear with MSPT champ Curtis Vierstraete being the first elimination after he ran into the pocket aces of Randy Perkins.
Vierstraete’s elimination sparked a fire as players like Jeff Kenny, Tony Olguin, Dennis Stevermer, and Dave Bashel all fell in the first batch of eliminations.
Tony Olguin
The rush of players to the payout line continued with MSPT champs Jake Wilding (53rd Place - $2,201), Jason Sell (52nd Place - $2,201), Joe Matheson (34th Place - $2,744), DQ Dan Hendrickson (32nd Place - $2,641), Keith Heine (28th Place - $2,641), Craig Trost (26th Place - $3,412), and Rich Alsup (25th Place - $3,412 all had their final day cut much shorter than they had hoped.
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MST Hall of Famer & Bracelet Winner Rich Alsup
Former MSPT champs would continue to drop as three-time champ Nick Barksdale had his three-peat Halloween treat cut short to take a 22nd place exit for $4,017, while back-to-back Player of the Year Umut Ozturk lost a big flip to be sent home in 21st place for $4,842.
After Ozturk’s departure, Jake Long had his eyes set on closing the distance in the POY race, but he was only able to get a few spots above Ozturk (18th Place - $5,503), while the MSPT’s top casher DJ Buckley (17th Place - $5,503), and MSPT champ Steve Federspiel (16th Place - $5,503), and defending champ Mike Estes (15th Place - $6,603) just missed out on the final table.
Jake Long
Final Table Action
The final table saw a bunch of familiar faces at it, one of which was Justin Coliny, who was looking to improve off his seventh-place finish here from earlier this year, but he ended up being set up by eighth place after Greg Sessler fell to the same fate in ninth place.
MSPT Champ Jeff Copeland
Minnesota’s Bruce Fagan came into the final table with the top stack, but lost back-to-back hands to take a disappointing seventh-place exit, while MSPT champ Jeff Copeland fell to fellow champ Max Havlish shortly after in sixth-place.
Not so long after Copeland’s departure, Bohdan Slyvinskyi found a pretty pair of ladies to roll with, but was tripped up by Havlish’s ace-jack offsuit to fall in fifth-place.
Bohdan Slyvinskyi
After Slyvinskyi’s departure, chips shuffled around for a little bit before MSPT Hall of Famer Kou Vang got his chips in the middle after flopping two-pair, only to have soon-to-be champ Kastelic turn a better two-pair to end his run in fourth-place for $38,520.
With three players remaining, Havlish held almost half of the chips in play but ended up losing a couple of brutal hands to lose the lead and had MSPT Hall of Famer Aaron Johnson river Broadway to end his run in third-place for $51,726.
From there, the two chip stacks were completely even until Kastelic started to chip away at Johnson until he was able to hoist his first MSPT trophy, and a payday good for $115,559, while Johnson finished runner-up for $70,993.
This wraps up our coverage for this event, but the MSPT will be heading back to the Ameristar in East Chicago from November 18th - 23rd, and our reporting team will be on hand to provide updates for the $300K GTD $1,110 Main Event. So, make sure to come back!