$

Awarded to date

The Venetian

February 10 - 12, 2022
Main Event: 1027 Entrants
Winner: Ron West
recap_icon

EVENT RECAP

The sixth edition of the $1,100 buy-in Poker Bowl at The Venetian in Las Vegas featured a $500,000 guarantee, and a massive turnout of 1,027 entries over two starting flights resulted in a $991,055 prize pool. In the early hours of Sunday morning, the day of the NFL Super Bowl LVI between the Los Angeles Rams and Cincinnati Bengals, a winner was crowned in the MSPT Poker Bowl VI after Ron West defeated popular poker vlogger Johnnie “Vibes” Moreno at the conclusion of a two-hour heads-up battle. West took home the trophy and the $168,488 top prize.

There were 118 players who began the day, and with only ten eliminations before the money, the bubble didn't take long to burst. From there, it took around ten hours to make it to the final table. Among those to cash but fail to make the final nine were Michael Trivett (21st - $7,730), Jamie Kerstetter (25th - $5,550), Poker Bowl II champ Kfir Nahum (31st - $4,767), Kristen Nyman (34th - $4,767), reigning MSPT Player of the Year Kyna England (48th - $3,568), Jesse Lonis (50th - $3,568), Tim Reilly (59th - $3,072), Michael Wang (99th - $2,180), and Joseph Cheong (105th - $2,081).

With the final table set, a huge pot quickly developed with a three-way all-in on the flop. Anthony Danna had flopped a set, but was eliminated in ninth after West rivered the nut flush to take the chip lead and leave Brendan Shiller without many chips. Shiller soon hit the rail after running into a better ace. Brian Sivertsen made his exit next when flopping top pair, but ultimately losing the hand against a better kicker which improved to two pair on the river. Haoyu Tang made his way to the payout desk in sixth place when the rest of his stack went in against Moreno, and his dominated hand failed to improve.

Go Mori fell in fifth place when he lost a chunk of chips to West, and then the rest to Cedrric Trevino, who had Mori pipped. Trevino himself was the next one eliminated when he got his chips in and was flipping against West. Trevino made a better pair on the turn, but a two-outer came on the river to secure the pot for West.

Poker pro Aaron Massey bowed out in third after running his sevens into the nines of Moreno. The board ran out without any improvement and Massey was gone. That set up a heads-up match between Moreno and West, with the former holding a small chip lead. Moreno and West both had notable hands early in the tournament on their journey to the final table. Moreno tripled in the very first hand he played on Day 1, and West eliminated an opponent on a rollercoaster runout early on Day 1.

The players played heads up for over two hours and engaged in mostly small pots as the chip lead went back-and-forth. At one point, Moreno had an opportunity to lock up the win but he needed to improve with an inferior ace. Unfortunately for him, the board ran out without any help and the lead was relinquished to West. Eventually, Moreno moved all in with pocket deuces and West called with king-queen. A queen on the flop put West ahead, and he stayed there as the turn and river failed to improve Moreno, locking up the trophy and the $168,488 top prize for West.

Winner's Reaction “I feel really good,” West said. “I’ve had some close calls in the last few years, had a hard time closing out and had some rough patches today, but got lucky at the right time and stayed out of trouble at the right time… I think my biggest cash before this was just under $100k, so this smashed that.” West final tabled another MSPT tournament at The Venetian less than two months ago and earned $32,849 for that sixth-place finish. This time he improved upon that to earn not only his first MSPT win but also his all-time biggest score.

West came into the final table as the second-shortest stack, but quickly became the chip leader on a single hand that created a massive pot that was key on his path to eventual victory. “I was texting some friends over the course of the final table, ‘There’s no better feeling in poker than having eighty big blinds at a final table.' It’s just so unusual. It’s a credit to MSPT and the great structures, and it’s a credit to getting lucky, that’s for sure.” West had some words of praise for his heads-up opponent Johnnie “Vibes” Moreno, saying, “He was really solid. He’s obviously an incredibly nice guy… I absolutely just had better cards than him for a good portion of the final table and I was able to push him around a little bit because I had the goods most of the time… I think I had a pretty good feel for his game, and like I said, I got pretty lucky too.” “I’m dedicating this win to my friend Matt Salsberg who’s a really good friend of a lot of people in the poker community. A phenomenal poker player and an even better human being who has some real health struggles right now, and just sending him all the love and all the good vibes, and he knows that this one was for him.”

result

The RESULTS

Rank
Player Name
City
State
Amount
Points
1
CA 
$168,488
1,900
2
NV 
$124,675
1,700
3
NV 
$87,213
1,600
4
TX 
$62,436
1,500
5
Japan 
 
$46,580
1,400
6
TX 
$34,687
1,300
7
IA 
$26,065
1,200
8
IL 
$20,218
1,100
9
CA 
$16,154
1,000
10
CA 
$16,154
1,000
11
IL 
$12,388
900
12
CA 
$12,388
900
13
 
$10,703
800
14
CA 
$10,703
800
15
FL 
$10,703
800
16
NV 
$9,217
700
17
 
$9,217
700
18
NV 
$9,217
700
19
IL 
$7,730
600
20
NV 
$7,730
600
21
NV 
$7,730
600
22
IL 
$6,541
500
23
CA 
$6,541
500
24
CA 
$6,541
500
25
NJ 
$5,550
450
26
NV 
$5,550
450
27
NV 
$5,550
450
28
Dallas 
TX 
$4,757
400
29
NY 
$4,757
400
30
NV 
$4,757
400
31
NV 
$4,757
400
32
NV 
$4,757
400
33
AZ 
$4,757
400
34
FL 
$4,757
400
35
MN 
$4,757
400
36
CA 
$4,757
400
37
CA 
$4,162
350
38
NV 
$4,162
350
39
CA 
$4,162
350
40
TX 
$4,162
350
41
MN 
$4,162
350
42
MN 
$4,162
350
43
CA 
$4,162
350
44
Bowie 
MD 
$4,162
350
45
LA 
$4,162
350
46
TX 
$3,568
300
47
NE 
$3,568
300
48
IL 
$3,568
300
49
China 
 
$3,568
300
50
OR 
$3,568
300
51
MI 
$3,568
300
52
NV 
$3,568
300
53
CA 
$3,568
300
54
CA 
$3,568
300
55
IN 
$3,072
250
56
NV 
$3,072
250
57
Butler 
NJ 
$3,072
250
58
NV 
$3,072
250
59
NV 
$3,072
250
60
IL 
$3,072
250
61
Canada 
 
$3,072
250
62
MN 
$3,072
250
63
NV 
$3,072
250
64
CA 
$2,676
200
65
CA 
$2,676
200
66
NV 
$2,676
200
67
CA 
$2,676
200
68
Laurel 
MS 
$2,676
200
69
 
$2,676
200
70
Auburn 
CA 
$2,676
200
71
CA 
$2,676
200
72
Indio 
CA 
$2,676
200
73
Walnut 
CA 
$2,379
150
74
NV 
$2,379
150
75
NJ 
$2,379
150
76
WA 
$2,379
150
77
CA 
$2,379
150
78
Bremen 
IN 
$2,379
150
79
CA 
$2,379
150
80
MN 
$2,379
150
81
CA 
$2,379
150
82
 
$2,279
100
83
Omaha 
NE 
$2,279
100
84
CT 
$2,279
100
85
CA 
$2,279
100
86
NM 
$2,279
100
87
IL 
$2,279
100
88
CO 
$2,279
100
89
CA 
$2,279
100
90
NV 
$2,279
100
91
CT 
$2,180
75
92
 
$2,180
75
93
OH 
$2,180
75
94
GA 
$2,180
75
95
MA 
$2,180
75
96
NV 
$2,180
75
97
CA 
$2,180
75
98
CA 
$2,180
75
99
NJ 
$2,180
75
100
MN 
$2,081
50
101
Arvada 
CO 
$2,081
50
102
CA 
$2,081
50
103
TX 
$2,081
50
104
CA 
$2,081
50
105
NV 
$2,081
50
106
RI 
$2,081
50
107
MN 
$2,081
50
108
MS 
$2,081
50