The MSPT returned to JACK Cleveland Casino for the third and final time this season, hosting a four-event series which was headlined the $1,110 buy-in, $500K GTD Main Event.

A total of 896 entries (219 from Day 1a; 316 from 1b; 361 from 1c) were tallied and on Sunday, 106 players returned to Day 2 action to take their stab at the $867,620 prize pool.

Of those 106 players, 12 were past champs on their quest for another Main Event title and after 12 hours of play, hometown hero Anthony Hancovsky denied them all as he navigated his way through the tough field to claim the $103,928 first place prize along with his first MSPT title!

A 20-year vet in the game who decided to take a break from the bad beats in cash games, never had a doubt in his mind that he wasn’t bringing the MSPT title back home to Cleveland.

“I’ve been telling everyone for the last few months that I was going to be bringing this title back home to Cleveland and no one believed me, so it feels good to prove them wrong”, Hancovsky said after his win.

Hancovsky was able to silence the doubters and walked away with his first career six-figure payday in the process.

MSPT Season 15 JACK Cleveland Final Table Results

*denotes chop

Day 2 Action

The final day came back with 106 players already in the money, so action kicked right into gear with one of the 12 MSPT champ’s hitting the rail early as Sherman Wu ended up being the elimination of the day while fellow champ and MSPT Hall of Famer Aaron Massey caught an early double with a pair of aces.

After Massey’s double, a flurry of “payouts” could be heard throughout the room, as handfuls of players were walking to the payout table which included the likes of Brad Sailor (81^st Place – $2,264), two-time MSPT champ Ken Baime (78^th Place - $2,264), WSOP bracelet winner Billy Kopp (71^st Place – $2,348), and Season 15 POY points leader Chris Meyers (52^nd Place - $2,684).

Both Meyers and Biame were able to inch their way closer into the coveted MSPT Hall of fame while DJ Buckley was able to notch another cash in the record book with his 44th place finish ($3,019).

Defending champ Bobby Noel wasn’t able to claim back-to-back titles here at JACK Cleveland, but his 42nd place exit took his career MSPT earnings over the half milly mark as he now sits in 13th place on the leaderboard.

Former champs continued to fall by the wayside as Massey (39^th Place - $3,019), Jon Kim (37^th Place - $3,019), Richard Bai (36^th Place - $3,690), Umut Ozturk (34^th Place - $3,690), and Jon Lewis (32^nd Place - $3,690) all hit the rail in quick succession, leaving only former champ remaining in the field.

Final Table Action

Once the final table was set, the lone surviving former champ Chris Moon sat atop the chip counts while Hancovsky sat in second, and they got to work early.

Hancovsky started the final table domino by showing his opponent’s he had no mercy by outkicking his good friend Val Bencivenni to become the first final table elimination.

Shortly after, Hancovsky would continue with the elimination of Ron Kaleal, as he sent him home on a pair of rockets in eighth place while Brian Springman followed him to the payout table in seventh place.

Next on the chopping block was Michael Spagnolo who got his chips in good holding a dominating ace-king to John Rasch’s ace-queen, only to have a queen come on the runout ending his run sixth place for $31,875.

With his final table mates putting in work, Moon decided it was time for him take a turn as he called Joe Makdessi’s all in bet holding a suited ace. Makedssi was holding a suited queen-nine and flopped an open-ender only to come up short to take a fifth place exit for $41,941.

With four players remaining, the chips between them started shuffling around as they were tossing around double-ups like they were playing hot potato.

Luckily for Hancovsky, he was able to catch the last double-up which ultimately led to him taking the chip lead before an ICM chop was discussed and agreed upon, which saw him take the title back home to Cleveland for a six-figure payday!

This wraps up our coverage of another eventful tournament, so make sure you join us when we make our way to The Ameristar in East Chicago August 22nd - September 2^nd, to host a 10-trophy event series and as always, the MSPT live reporting team will be on hand providing updates for the $300K GTD $1,110 Main Event so make sure to come back!