The MSPT kicked off its 17th Season once again at the beautiful Venetian Resort in Las Vegas with the $1,600 New Years Poker Open!
A total of 349 entries were tallied after three starting flights, and on Sunday, 40 players returned to Day 2 action to take their stab at the $500,000 prize pool.
Of those 40 players, only one was able to claim the top spot, and that was local pro and start-of-day chip leader Matt Wantman, who navigated his way through the tough field to claim the $96,284 first place prize along with his first MSPT title!
“Feels great,” Wantaman stated after his victory, “I haven’t really played anything for the past few weeks because of the holidays, and I wasn’t really planning on playing this event, just kind of popped in out of the blue, so it’s really nice to be fortunate enough to come over here and take it down.”
With over $10 million in lifetime earnings and countless poker accolades, Wantman has now added an MSPT title to his list of accomplishments and hopes to add another.
“It was crazy, pretty much going wire-to-wire all day, pretty surreal, and now that I won one, it’s pretty appealing to try and ship another to become a two-time champ.”
The victory marked Wantman’s seventh Main Event cash on the tour, and with his win, Wantman will also receive a $3,500 seat into the MSPT Championship Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open (RRPO), which will be held at the Seminole Hard Rock in Hollywood, Florida Nov. 18 – Dec. 2 boasting a $2,000,000 GTD Main Event!
Day 2 Action
The final day came back with 40 players already in the money, so action kicked right into gear with short-stack Alban Juen being the first elimination of the day, while Lily Kiletto followed him to the payout cage shortly after as part of the first batch of payouts.
After Kileeto hit the deck, 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 2013 WSOP Main Event Champ Ryan Riess (33rd Place – $3,726), the MSPT’s top casher DJ Buckley (20th Place - $5,369), bracelet winner Francis Anderson (19th Place – $5,369), MSPT champ Matthew Schulte (18th Place - $5,369), bracelet winner Darren Rabinowitz (17th Place - $6,271), and MSPT champ Kfir Nahum (16th Place - $6,271), setting the stage for the final table.
Final Table Action
Once the final table was set, soon-to-be champ Wantman found himself still at the top of the counts until MSPT champ Ron West won a race against two-time bracelet winner John Riordan, making him the first final table elimination.
Wantman would regain the chip lead after he eliminated Wai Kiat Lee with a lucky pair of ladies, while Dan Stavila followed him to the payout cage in seventh place.
The fast-paced final table action would continue with West securing another knockout after he turned the nut straight to eliminate Miquel Maimes in sixth place, while Wantman would match his knockout count by winning a race against Michael Walsh, ending his run in fifth place for $28,958.
A level later, Nick Rogers would succumb to the same fate as Walsh, as his Big Slick fell short to Dan Olsen’s pair of sevens, taking home a fourth place finish for $38,274.
Shortly after Rogers’ departure, West found himself all-in holding a pair of tens against Olsen’s superior pair of jacks and walked away with a third place finish for 51,322, bringing his MSPT lifetime earnings to $272,258.
After being down to 130,000 chips four-handed, Olsen fought his way back to a heads-up duel, but Wantman’s final day reign would continue as he chipped away at Olsen’s stack until the final hand, where he turned two-pair to send Olsen home runner-up for $69,804, while Wantman claimed the $96,284 top prize, along with his first MSPT title!
This concludes our coverage for this event, but Season 17 of the MSPT continues this week as we head to San Diego's Sycuan Casino for the first-ever Golden State Poker Championship, January 8th - 19th, and as always, that will be reported by our live reporting team starting Thursday, January 15th, so make sure to tune in!