Bally's Black Hawk Casino

For the second time this season, the MSPT traveled to the beautiful mountainside of Black Hawk, Colorado, and players have been inside Bally's Casino, duking it out over the past week for the 2026 Colorado Poker State Championship!

The series started off with a bang after Event #1: $400 Mini Main NLH recorded a 1,222-entry field, the second largest at Black Hawk, creating a $407,870 prize pool that smashed the $100k guarantee and paid out to the top 133 players.

Among those to cash but fall short of the final table were Eric Smidinger (11^th Place - $5,700), James Coca (14^th Place - $4,479), Reza Yardi (22^nd Place - $2,647), Barb Visher (29^th Place - $1,710), and Reza Sheykhi (50^th Place - $1,222).

In the end, it was defending Colorado Poker State Champ and newly crowned bracelet winner Antonio Vargas who took down the opening event for the $48,124 top prize, along with his second Gold Card!

Final Table Results

A series of preflop raises led to three-way all-in action between Brandon Boland from middle position, Kevin Clyde from the hijack, and the button, with Boland holding the effective stack of 17,500.

Brandon Bolden:
Kevin Clyde:
Button:

Clyde was ahead after finding another pair of ladies on the flop, but Bolden was in the lead with top pair.

The turn then kept things sweaty, as it gave Clyde a diamond draw, but the completed the board on the river, securing Bolden his triple-up, while Clyde collected the button’s remaining 23,000.

Kevin Clyde - 62,500
Brandon Bolden - 52,500

There were four players who took to a flop, and action was checked to the initial raiser, who fired out a 3,000 continuation bet.

Only Nate Zolller called from the hijack, and the dealer turned the .

Action went check-check, and the completed the board on the river.

Another knock on the table saw Zoller take a stab at the pot with a 3,600 bet, and it did the trick as his opponent released their hand into the muck.

Nate Zoller - 45,500

: Rivers Casino - Des Plaines, IL

: August 4-9, 2026

: Illinois Poker State Championship

: $1,110 Main Event / $750,000 GTD

$3,500 MSPT CHAMPIONSHIP SEAT ADDED TO MAIN EVENT 1ST PLACE

: 11 Gold Card Tournaments

: https://www.riverscasino.com/desplaines/visit/where-to-stay

Event Schedule: https://msptpoker.com/showpdf.aspx?eventID=723

Photo: Kevin Clyde

There was all-in action preflop between Reza Sheykhi from under the gun and Kevin Clyde from the hijack, with Clyde holding 9,600 effective.

Kevin Clyde:
Reza Sheykhi:

Clyde was ahead holding a pair of ladies, and they held strong as the runout secured his double-up.

Reza Sheykhi - 26,700
Kevin Clyde - 20,200

Justin Dreiling raised from the hijack, and Diego Rodriguez defended his big blind to see a flop.

Rodriguez check-raised to 2,500 after Dreiling tossed out a 600 continuation bet, and Dreiling fired back with a 6,000 three-bet.

A quick call was then made by Rodriguez, who then tossed out a 30,000 bet after the was turned and Dreiling released his hand into the muck.