The Mid-States Poker Tour (MSPT) returned to historic Deadwood for the 2023 MSPT South Dakota State Poker Championship at Silverado-Franklin Casino.
The $1,110 buy-in, $200K GTD Main Event was one to remember as a total of 434 entries (218 from Day 1a; 216 from 1b) were tallied, generating a $419,480 prize pool.
On Sunday, 53 players returned for Day 2 action, and after the dust settled, it was Wyoming native John Schroer coming away with the lion's share of the prize pool and his first MSPT title!
Schroer’s no stranger to making deep runs at Deadwood, as this was his third final table appearance dating back to 2021.
"You know, I never thought would win one of these,” Schroer stated after his win, “I wanted the trophy badly so I’m just very happy to walk away Champion.”
Schroer's first MSPT cash came back in 2021 when he finished second here at Deadwood for $73,201 and since then has accumulated just over $170,000 in MSPT earnings.
Day 2 Action
With 45 slated to get paid, only a handful of players needed to exit before players reached. Among those to leave empty-handed were Cash Hepper, Mark Fink, and Monty Pederson, just to name a few.
With players continuing to drop like flys, a double elimination occurred leaving the remaining players in the money without a hand-for-hand process.
Among those to fall along the way, albeit with a payday, were Austin Gates (10th - $6,712), Harold Brenden (16th - $4,614), MSPT champ Rodger Johnson (30th - $2,517), and DJ Buckley (43rd - $2,307).
Final Table action
Once players returned from their quick 10-minute break, inaugural MSPT St. Louis champ Umut Ozturk found himself in a cooler situation as he jammed his pocket kings into Lawrence Vigil's pocket aces to become the first final table elimination.
A few minutes later, Tom Estes hit the rail after losing a race with ace-queen against Jared Bonn's pocket jacks.
After players tightened up, a full three levels passed when Bonn jammed his short stack in the middle only to run into Kevin Ellis' pocket aces and Weston Wells would follow shortly after he failed to win a battle of the blinds against soon to be champ Schroer.
With five players remaining, Campbell held a slight edge over the rest, but Schroer tightened that difference after he stompped Vigil's Big Slick in fifth place for $23,071.
Four-handed action saw Campbell, Schroer, and Ellis holding majority of the chip in play, leaving short stack John Cap in dire need to make a move and he did with middle connectors.
Unfortunately for Cap, Campbell would wake up holding a dominating hand and send Cap on his way in fourth place for $30,622.
Three-handed action started with Campbell holding almost half of the chips in play but he lost the lead to Schroer after he was flushed out on the river.
From there, Schroer continued to pile the chips until he had them all, as he eliminated Ellis in the place for $41,529 with a made hand of tens, and Campbell was sent home in second place for $70,000 leaving Schroer the victor as he collected $79,337 to go along with the coveted Deadwood custom trophy.
The MSPT will be heading back to the Venetian in Las Vegas for back-to-back events being held May 26th - June 1st so make sure to tune in for our live coverage for both events!