After just under four hours on Friday, it was Shea Quintin who took down the Mid-States Poker Tour (MSPT) $1,600 Main Event at Venetian Las Vegas for $324,946 and his first MSPT title. “I feel incredible,” the 26-year old said. “My previous best score was a little bit more than $28,000 and this is a little more than that.” It was Quintin’s first trip out to Las Vegas as he lives in Florida and has only played a few tournaments out here. He was joined on the rail by his father and best friend who embraced him joyously as he won. “I couldn’t have asked for a better rail," said Quintin, who bested a 1,644-entry field.
The players got down to the final table quickly when after defending his big blind, Hien Nguyen bet 60 percent of his stack on a king-high board, which Yulia Lisichkina responded by moving all in. Her top pair jack kicker was good against the top pair deuce kicker of Nguyen and he exited the tournament in 10th place for $36,780.
Final Table Action Action at the final table began with fireworks as it was 2015 MSPT Venetian Champion Angelina Rich who turned two-pair and a flush draw combination against Quintin’s made flush. The money went in on the turn and no help was offered to Rich on the river. She exited the tournament in ninth place for $36,780.
Start-of-day short stack Rickey Evans was able to secure a ladder payjump, but his luck came to an end when he put in his last four big blinds with pocket threes against Matthew Sabia’s pocket kings. No help came to Evans and he exited the tournament in eighth place for $45,448.
Kevin Ayow left shortly after in seventh place for $57,396 when he moved all in from early position with ace-ten suited, only to get looked up by Sabia’s pocket jacks. The flop gave Ayow a gutshot, but the turn and river brought no improvement and he exited the tournament area. Rohan Dhuper moved his last eight big blinds in with ace-king suited and was looked up by Sabia’s pocket sevens. The board ran out with no improvement to Dhuper and he saw his elimination in sixth place for $74,966.
All seemed to be going well for Sabia, but a massive cooler saw his chips going into Lisichkina’s stack. He got all of his chips in with pocket aces against Lisichkina’s ace-king suited, but the turn brought out a straight for Lisichkina to take a massive chip lead four-handed. Sabia exited the tournament in fifth place for $100,736.
Jack O’Neill could not get much momentum at the final table and put the rest of his chips at risk with ace-three suited against Lisichkina’s ace-king. The board ran out dry and Lisichkina collected more chips while O’Neill exited the tournament in fourth place for $135,877.
Fehim Hajdari lost a few pots to both Quintin and Lisichkina and eventually put himself all in and at risk with pocket nines against Quintin’s ace-jack. The flop and turn came safe for pocket nines, but an ace on the river gave Quintin the better pair and he knocked out Hajdari in third place for $178,045.
Lisichkina began heads-up play with a lead on Quintin and the players eventually talked an ICM deal that saw Quintin guarantee himself $264,946 and Lisichkina guaranteed herself $284,050 for both players best lifetime scores, while still playing for the trophy and $60,000 for first place. What followed was an extremely fast heads-up match as both players wasted little time with any decisions and played an aggressive fast-paced game that saw many swings in both directions. Lisichkina lost the lead briefly, before regaining it when she called an all-in bluff on the river with bottom full house against Quintin’s missed straight draw. Eventually, Quintin regained the chip lead and the final hand saw him raise with three queens on the turn, only for Lisichkina to move all in with an open-ended straight draw. Quintin called and the three queens held up for him to take the victory while Lisichkina saw her tournament run come to an end in second place for $284,050.