The Mid-States Poker Tour Meskwaki saw Tour Pro Blake Bohn, who was fresh off a 23rd-place finish in the 2015 World Series of Poker Main Event, best a field of 410 entries to claim the coveted trophy, $101,229 in prize money, and his second MSPT title, making him just the fourth player to capture multiple MSPT titles. The win also vaulted him to the top of the MSPT Season 6 Player of the Year leaderboard.
Day 2 started out with 78 returning players, and the field lost 33 players before making the money with some of the more notable players to fall including Aaron Johnson, Josh Reichard, and Allen "Chainsaw" Kessler. In a unique bubble scenario, the official "bubble boy" was Isidro Sandoval who had started Day 2 with 81,000 in chips, but never actually took his seat or played a hand. So despite the fact that there were many short stacks, Sandoval only had three total hands before he was forced all in when hand-for-hand play began. Sandoval went out in 46th place, and the money bubble officially burst.
Some notable players that were eliminated in the money and before the final table included Tom Hammers ($1,981), David Gutfreund ($2,456), Mark Sandness ($3,962), and Angelina Rich who busted just short of the final table in 11th place ($5,151). If you recall, Rich took down the MSPT Venetian, the largest event in tour history, to become the first female MSPT champ.
The final table was extremely champion-heavy housing Dave Gonia, former MSPT Running Aces champion; Peixin Liu who won the an MSPT at Canterbury Park in Shakopee, MN; and Bohn,former MSPT champ of Grand Falls.
The first to fall was tour regular Rob WazWaz, who was eliminated in 10th place by Ryan Delorme after shoving his A♦4♣ against Delorme's J♣J♦. WazWaz failed to improve and his elimination set in motion the official final table of nine.
Phil Mader was eliminated in ninth place after he called an all-in shove from Greg Gates with the A♥K♣ against Gates' Q♣Q♠. When the flop came J♠A♣Q♦, Mader's pair of aces would not stand tall against Gates' set of queens. The 2♠ hit the turn and the 6♦ came on the river, ensuring that Mader was sent home with $7,924 for his efforts.
Shortly thereafter, on a board reading 9♥6♣2♥J♣9♣, James Wilson shoved all in and Justin Thurlow instantly called after having checked the river. Wilson had bluffed at the incorrect time as Thurlow had rivered trip nines while Wilson held merely ace-high. Wilson was visibly frustrated as he hit the rail after quickly shaking his opponent's hand.
It was a very up-and-down 30-minute span of play for Delorme, the eventual seventh-place finisher. He was involved in a big hand with Gonia in which he was left crippled with only a single big blind after his tens could not stand up to Gonia's pocket queens. Despite an immediate triple up, Delorme soon moved all in over an open from Gonia. Bohn called out of the big blind and Gonia came along as well. Delorme's pocket queens could not hold up against Bohn's king-jack off after a king-high board hit the felt, and Delorme was sent to the rail after putting up a strong fight.
The final table moved at a very fast pace following Delorme's elimination. The next large confrontation resulted in a double elimination. Bohn had raised to 125,000 in middle position, Jim Boone shoved on the button, and Gonia reshoved over the top in the small blind. Bohn called, having both of his opponents covered.
Bohn: 10♦10♣
Boone: A♣9♠
Gonia: A♠Q♠
Bohn's tens held, causing Boone to fall in sixth place while Gonia was eliminated in fifth place.
Liu was the fourth-place finisher for a payday of $28,725. On his final hand, Liu shoved all in on a 2♦9♣2♠3♦ board with the K♠J♣ and was instantly called by Gates, who hit a straight flush holding the A♦5♦ when the 4♦ hit the river.
Gates was the next to go after he moved all in on a J♥3♣5♣ flop and was called by Bohn. Bohn had flopped top pair with top kicker holding the A♥J♣ while Gates held a gutshot straight flush draw with the 6♣7♣. The turn came the 3♦ and the river the 2♠, bricking out for Gates.
Shortly after heads-up play began, Thurlow doubled up holding the A♥K♥ against Bohn's A♣5♥. This lead to them being relatively evenly stacked, but a few hands later, Bohn won a hand after hitting a flush on the river against Thurlow's flopped set of jacks.Thurlow doubled one last time before eventually being eliminated in second place after he shoved all in with the J♠9♠ against Bohn's Q♦9♣. Bohn hit a queen on the flop and it was all over when the turn and rivered failed to improve Thurlow.
With this second MSPT win, Bohn became the all-time MSPT money winner with $275,277 in total tour earnings. That cash, combined with his previous lifetime earnings, brings his to $2,342,339.