The final event here with The MSPT at Venetian saw the $1,600 Main Event gather 238 hopefuls over the course of 2 starting days. This saw a total of 27 players advance out of the two days, each one of them guaranteeing themselves $3,469 and securing a first place prize of $73,019.
After the dust settled, it was local cash game player Sergei Kislinski who ended up winning his first MSPT and taking home a career best score of $73,019.
“It feels good to win something,” Kislinski said. “I’m a cash player, I’ve been playing poker since 2007, and I’d play tournaments here and there but never won any, so this is nice.” This is not only his biggest lifetime score, but first recorded tournament win.
The final day of this tournament included a lot of experienced tournament players including a five-handed match that included Ben Palmer, Francis Anderson, Nicholas Pupillo, and Adam Walton.
“Tournaments are a completely different game than cash. I used to play more how I felt, but in the last couple of years I started studying and the results started coming.” Kislinski went on to emphasize the importance of studying in all areas of poker in order to improve, not just tournaments. Kislinski will remain here for the rest of the month to play some more winter series before year’s end.
Final Day Action
A relatively fast final day occurred as Cody Raymond (27th-$3,469) and Timothy Chang (26th-$3,469) were eliminated on the first hand of the day. Brendan Shiller (23rd-$3,781), Justin Turner (20th-$4,213), and Qing Liu (19th-$4,213) were among some of those to follow them out the door.
Rob Wazwaz (18th-$4,213) found himself making another deep run, but a run of cards not going his way saw his massive stack fall out of the tournament. The points he accumulated here have added to his lead in the MSPT Player of the Year race. It will all come down to Running Aces as to who will take the title.
The final player to fall before the final table was Mitch Garshofsky who ended up all in with cards on their backs holding nines against Giuseppe Pantaleo’s ace-king. An ace-high flop would see Pantaleo take the chip lead into the final table, while Garshofsky finished one shy of the final table in tenth, collecting $6,614 for his efforts.
Final Table Action
It was only a short amount of time into the final table when Chad Lipton was eliminated in ninth. He had lost a massive pot to Adam Walton where Lipton had rivered two pair and Walton had rivered a straight. He was left with enough for the small blind the following hand and his nine-three could not best Walton’s ace-nine as he collected $8,008 for his efforts.
Despite starting the final table as the chip leader, it was Pantaleo who went out the door next. A massive preflop war occurred when Pantaleo held kings and Walton held ace-king and eventually both players got their chips in. The flop came safe, but the turn ace gave Walton the lead and Pantaleo could not his one outer on the river, giving Walton a massive chip lead and leaving Panatleo to collect $9,888 for his eighth place finish.
Walton would take out the next two players, with a bit of time in between the eliminations. The first came when Sergio Fernandez four-bet jammed with his pocket eights and Walton looked him up with pocket jacks and held to send out Fernandez in seventh place for $12,450.
Jose Demeyere came into the final table as the shortest stack, but through good timing and patience he secured a few ladders. His run would come to an end at Walton’s hands as he jammed his last chips in with sixes only for Walton to call him with ace-jack and flop two pair. Walton continued to build a chip lead while Demeyere collected $15,975 for his sixth place finish.
Sergei Kislinski and Ben Palmer would eventually overtake Walton’s chip lead and leave him as one of the shorter stacks with Francis Anderson and Nicholas Pupillo, but a competitive five-handed match would see the stacks shift around multiple times. Anderson would eventually triple barrel in a hand against Palmer which saw Palmer fold on the river. The following hand saw Walton cooler Palmer when Palmer held queens and Walton held kings. The kings held up to give Walton the chip lead again and leave Palmer on the short stack. His last chips would go to Pupillo as he moved in against Pupillo’s raise with ace-ten only for Pupillo to hold aces and eliminate the WPT champion in fifth place for $20,884.
Anderson would follow him immediately out the door as he moved in his chips with ace-seven while Kislinski called him with sevens and held up. The three handed match was set while Anderson ended his run in fourth place for $27,807.
The three handed match saw an even start with many small pots traded in between the three players. A massive pot where Walton flopped two pair against Kislinski would see Walton take a commanding chip lead, but the script got flipped a few hands later when Kislinski rivered two pair to best Walton’s top pair and take the lead again. Pupillo would be next to go as he moved all in against Kislinski with an open ended straight draw, while Kislinski flopped two pair. The board would not give any help to the straight draw, leaving Kislinski to take a massive lead heads up and the WSOP bracelet winner to finish in third place for $37,695.
A couple of months ago in the MSPT Venetian $1,100 Main Event, Pupillo and Walton both got three handed with Walton finishing in third and Pupillo in second. The inverse happened today as Pupillo took third while Walton finished his deep run in second place after rivering three fours against Kislinski’s boat. Kislinski would take home the title while Walton would take home $52,010 for his runner-up finish.
Thank you for reading along here at MSPTPoker.com. Be sure to check in again soon as the team heads up to Running Aces Casino.