The MSPT returned to beautiful Venetian Resort in Las Vegas for the second time this season to host the Season 16 $1,600 Poker Bowl IX!
A total of 892 entries (166 from Day 1a; 263 from 1b; 463 from 1c) were tallied and on Monday, just seven players returned to action for the final day in hopes of securing the top prize from the $1,271,100 prize pool.
When the dust finally settled, it was South Dakota’s Anthony Scarborough who walked away with the incredible victory, securing the six-figure payday, along with the MSPT Season 16 Venetian Poker Bowl trophy.
“I don’t really know what to say, I’m pretty speechless right now,” a happy Scarborough said after his win, “It was an extremely tough field, but we are here and I’m happy to get the win.”
While the incredibly tough field included the likes of multiple bracelet winners, WPT champs and former MSPT champs, the newly crowned Scarborough paid homage to his fellow mid-western players who have been raking in success of their own.
“Winning this title means everything to me,” Scarborough went on to say, “I’ve followed Minnesota poker for a while now and truly believe that it’s one of the hardest states to win a poker tournament in.”
“That’s the reason I started playing the MSPT,” Scarborough continued to add, “I would travel to Minnesota to play these tournaments and now just watching guys like Umut Ozturk, Ian Matakis, Richard Alsup, Rob WazWaz, I mean I can list off over 25 players from that state that are just crushers, that’s what got me playing the MSPT and I finally got a win.”
Scarborough has now notched his sixth Main Event cash in the last four years and has added a title to his resume, one in which he amounts as a pretty high accolade for his poker achievements.
“It was a bucket list poker win,” Scarborough stated after his victory, “this is the only Midwest tour that comes where I’m from so it’s like I would rather win this I think then a bracelet to be honest.”
Day 3 Action
Once the final players got mic’d up for action, things kicked right into gear with former Venetian Poker Bowl champ Kfir Nahum losing three of the first four significant hands to start off the day, losing his massive chip lead off-the-bat.
While Nahum continued to drop down the chip counts, Stan Weng decided it was time to take a stand with a suited ace-seven only to have two-time bracelet winner Dan Heimiller roll over a dominating Big Slick.
Weng didn’t receive any help from the runout and became the first elimination of the day while the former champ Nahum, followed him out the door in fifth place after his Big Slick fell victim to Alex Kim.
After coming into the final day at the bottom of the chip counts, Michael Ung was able to receive a few pay jumps until he got frisky in a battle of the blinds to take a fifth place exit for $61,820.
From that point, the final four players agreed on a ICM chop that would see them continue play for an extra $40,000, along with the Season 16 Venetian Poker Bowl trophy.
The deal was made with Heimiller getting the top ICM amount as he sat atop the chip counts, but he would end up losing back-to-back crucial hands to Scarborough to take a fourth place exit for $136,124.
After Heimiller’s departure, Rick Green set-up Kim for a double to take the chip lead, only to be set-up himself by Kim and then lost a battle of the blinds against Scarborough to take a third place finish for $123,936.
Scarborough's final table reign would continue in the heads-up battle with him holding over a 2:1 chip advantage against Kim, as the match only needed a half level before Kim would miss his open-ended straight draw to take a runner-up finish while Scarborough secured his first MSPT title.
This concludes our coverage for the Venation Poker Bowl IX, but Season 16 of the MSPT continues this week as we head to JACK Cleveland Casino February 11th - 17th to host another trophy series, and MSPT team will be on hand providing updates for the $500K GTD $1,110 Main Event so make sure to come back