The final MSPT Main Event of the year has come to an end at Venetian Las Vegas and Jacob Perry is the champion after cutting a deal with Abhisek Panda in heads-up play.
Perry outlasted a field of 643 runners to win $99,084 from a total prize pool of $620,495. Panda took home $97,612 for second place after an ICM chop ended play.
Day 2 Highlights
Josh Reichard finished in 24th place for $4,468, but with no other Player of the Year candidates remaining in the tournament he wrapped up the top spot on the leaderboard for the 2022 season. Reichard crossed $2 million in career earnings with 10 MSPT Main Event cashes in 2022 and three final tables. He also earned his way into the MSPT Hall of Fame in 2022 with his 25th career cash in an MSPT Main Event.
The final MSPT event of the season also saw several players with Global Poker Index Player of the Year interests. Jeremy Ausmus and Adam Hendrix both had the opportunity to catch Stephen Song on the leaderboard with final table finishes, but both players failed to make it long enough to take advantage. Angela Jordison also came into the final day with the opportunity to take the lead in the Mid-Major Player of the Year race with a top-two finish, but she fell just short in fifth place after a great run that started from the beginning of Day 2.
Other players that made it to Day 2 but failed to qualify for the final table include Joao Simao, Barry Shulman, Michael Holtz, Ryan Laplante, Mitchell Halverson, Joseph Di Rosa Rojas, and Roland Israelashvili.
Final Table Action
The tournament was down to its final table after seven hours of play and it was Peter Mullin that was first to go when his sixes were defeated by Tamas Lendvai and his two pair.
After Mullin hit the rail, action slowed down and there were no eliminations for several levels until Lendvai hit the rail when his king-queen couldnt beat Panda’s ace-king. Panda was nearly out prior to the hand after Perry left him with just a few big blinds, but after a string of successful double-ups, Panda found himself right back in contention.
Richard Alati was next to go in seventh place after Jordison knocked him out with pocket kings, and Kenny Huynh wasn’t far behind after his king-ten lost to Panda’s ace-queen.
Jordison’s elimination brought the tournament down to four players, and the remaining quartet had plenty of chips to work with—until a short time later when Nipun Java got it in with pocket sevens. Waigel called with ace-queen and flopped a pair that would send Java out in fourth place. The hand gave Waigel a commanding chip lead against Panda and Perry as three-handed play got underway.
Panda fought back in the early part of the final three with aggressive play against Waigel, including a shove that took down a big pot after a 1,300,000 bet. Perry also picked up a few chips when he got a shove through Waigel, and the stacks were nearly even as Level 30 got started.
Panda continued his aggressive play and took more pots from Waigel until he had the lead. Waigel was next to go when he picked up ace-queen and flopped top pair, but Panda had pocket queens and Waigel was out in third.
Going into heads-up play, Panda held a 2:1 chip lead, but Perry cut into it after he flopped a flush and got maximum value when Panda rivered a straight. Perry soon pulled ahead after he picked up another flush and the players decided to split up the prize pool. Perry took the trophy with a slightly higher chip total.
That wraps up coverage of the final tournament of the 2022 MSPT season. Be sure to keep it with the PokerNews team for live updates from your favorite tournaments around the world in 2023.