The biggest ever MSPT at East Chicago Ameristar has come to its conclusion. The massive field of 861 players saw a total of 93 players collect a minimum of $1,800. After just over 14 hours, the starting field of the day was reduced to just one.

As the dust settled, it was MSPT regular and midwestern grinder Angela Jordison who took down her first MSPT for a career best score of $161,513. “This has just really been on my bucket list,” the newly crowned champion said with smiles aplenty. “I love this tour, I love the price point, I love the staff, I love everything about it. Every year on January 1st I write down ‘Win an MSPT’.”

This was Jordison’s fourth MSPT final table, having finished in fifth place each of the prior times. With cashes that date back to the mid-2000s, Jordison has been an experienced professional for many years in both cash games and tournaments. Recently her focus has been primarily tournaments and she has attributed her successes to her studying with JakaCoaching.com. “Faraz has been a great resource for me, I’ve been with the site since its inception, I have put a lot of time in on it. I was on a downswing for 6-9 months, so the only way I felt I could control things was to study more. So I did that, and things have worked out!”

$161,513 just edges out Jordison’s prior biggest lifetime score of $151,544. As far as the money is concerned, Jordison doesn’t see it changing anything for her. “I don’t have any big plans for, I don’t have anything I really want,” Jordison responded “I like to win, so the money will go into the savings.”

The final table was a lengthy affair, with the blinds escalating to a point where the average stack at the final table dipped below 20 big blinds. “That is one thing I have focused on in my studying the past year,” when asked about the overall depth of her stack in relation to the final table “Sub 10 big blinds, sub 15 big blinds. I am prepared so I don’t panic because my mindset is better now. I know what to do in these spots and today it just worked out.”

Jordison is a respected pro across the country and today was sporting a supportive rail of many midwestern regulars that are now her good friends like Josh Reichard and Sarah Stefan. “I came into midwest poker three years ago and I didn’t know anyone. Now this midwest community has become my family and they make me better because so many of them are so good.”

Even though she had missed her flight to finish out this tournament, Jordison took home her sizable trophy with a smile on her face ready to hop onto another flight and come back to the MSPT as the newest champion.

Final Table Results

Day 2 Action

The 93 players who returned to today were many shades of Chicago legends and MSPT grinders alike. With 30 players left, there were 8 former MSPT champions still in the running to claim another title.

Many famed players fell like Ari Engel (30th-$3,644), current POY front runner Chris Meyers (28th-$3,644), Chris Audrain (24th-$5,881), Rob Wazwaz (23rd-$5,881), Sarah Stefan (16th-$8,283), and defending POY Umut Ozturk (14th-$9,939).

The final player to fall prior to the final table was Zal Irani, who’s top pair was unable to hold up against John Reading’s open ended straight draw. The river completed the straight and Irani collected $11,596 for his tenth place finish.

Final Table Action

A stacked final table was reached where three former MSPT champions were each looking for their second title. The first elimination would be the result in a clash between two of them as MSPT Battle Creek champion Chris Moon moved in his last chips with pocket nines only for MSPT Riverside champion Craig Trost to call for most of his chips with ace-ten. Trost ended up making aces full of tens and Moon ended his run in ninth place good for $14,909 and some very desired POY points.

After that, over two and a half hours passed before there were any eliminations, despite a variety of all in and double ups. During this time, Michael Estes was extending his lead and separating himself from the rest of the pack while John Reading and Silvan Barbura would fall down the chip counts despite coming in as the chip leaders. The former chip leaders would clash again in a very similar situation to the earlier elimination as Barburu would move all in with pocket eights and Reading would call for less with ace-king. Unlike the last elimination, the pair flopped a set and the MSPT regular Reading would be eliminated in eighth place for $19,050 while Barburu would climb back up the chip counts.

It would be around this time when all of the stacks began to shorten up significantly, with Miguel Martinez sitting with just five big blinds. Angela Jordison managed to find a double up through Trost by cracking his jacks with ten-nine, but the tournament defining hand followed shortly after. Jordison raised the ace-queen on the button with Estes three-betting with ace-seven. She moved all in with the second biggest stack and in what Estes would later describe as a mistake, he dropped a few chips into the center before he realized how much she had. The hand would catapult Jordison into the chip lead while Estes was left with a similar stack to the rest of the table.

Martinez managed to find a couple of fortunate doubles, one of which was through MSPT champion Daniel Goepel, which left him the shortest stack of the bunch. Shortly after, Goepel would move his last chips in with ace-ten only for Martinez to look him up with aces and the MSPT Milwaukee champion would exit the tournament in seventh place for $24,020.

Estes and Jordison would clash once more as he called off his stack with ace-nine against Jordison who held ace-five. The flop brought some action as Estes flopped the nut-flush draw while Jordison paired up her kicker. No help was brought to the flush draw which saw Jordison rake in a pot to take more than half of the chips in play while Estes finished his run in sixth place for $31,474.

Shortly after, Barbura would see his hopes for a first MSPT dashed by one looking for his second. Trost had called off Barbura’s shove with ace-jack for most of his chips while Barbura was looking for his nines to hold. Once more, Trost left his opponent’s nines in the dust as he made aces full to put himself in second place and Barbura collected $41,414.

Martinez would find himself all in and at risk twice against Jordison while the tournament was four-handed, the first time his ace jack held against Jordison’s queen-six. The second occurred when the two of them saw a flop and his set of sevens held against Jordison’s flush draw, narrowing the gap between himself and Jordison.

Brad Siegel would be next on the chopping block as his stack whittled down to just a couple of big blinds and he ended up moving all in against Jordison holding king-eight against Jordison’s jacks. The board came out as no help to the king-eight and Jordison re-established her chip lead while Siegel collected his best ever live score of $54,666 for his fourth place finish.

The following confrontation would see Trost get his chips in with ace-ten against Martinez’ pocket sevens. Third time would not be the charm for Trost as this time the pair held up for his opponent and the MSPT Riverside champion finished his tournament in third place for $73,219.

Heads up would see Jordison start with a 3:2 chip lead against Martinez who reached heads up in an MSPT for the second time in just six months. Martinez got a few licks in, but Jordison’s lead quickly grew as eventually he was down to just eight big blinds. He moved in his last chips with pocket tens and Jordison called him with her ace-seven suited. The turn brought Jordison a flush and the river left Martinez unimproved as he hugged his competitor as he finished in second place for $99,395.

Thank you for reading along with us here at MSPTPoker.com. Be sure to check back in with us next week when the tour travels to Las Vegas at The Venetian.