$

Awarded to date

JACK Cleveland Casino

February 1 - 4, 2024
Main Event: 1156 Entrants
Winner: Matthew Eng
recap_icon

EVENT RECAP

The MSPT returned to JACK Cleveland Casino for the first time this season and it was one for the record books.

The $1,110 buy-in, $500K GTD Main Event was one to remember as a total of 1,1156 entries (237 from Day 1a; 380 from 1b; 539 from 1c) were tallied, which blasted passed the venue’s previous best field of 1,041 last year and the $1,119,820 prize pool was the largest in an Ohio casino.

After 14 hours of play, it was Illinois native Matthew Eng who navigated his way through to the finish line was for a $168,903 first place prize along with his first MSPT title!

“You know, I really hate driving, but something was telling me to come out here, so I buckled down and made what was a five-hour drive from Chicago and now I'm really happy I did”, Eng stated after his win.

“It feels really good”, Eng continued to say after his victory, “I’ve put a lot of time into this game, and it feels great to walk away with the win.”

The six-figure score was definitely a milestone for the 10-year poker vet as it surpassed his career live earnings, according to The Hendon Mob, and added his first major win to his resume.

“I would just like to thank my fiancé for always being cool and supportive when I play, I did it and I’ll be bringing home the trophy”, Eng added in his closing comments.

Day 2 Action

The final day saw 146 players returned to the felt and the field was stacked with 14 previous champs along with three Hall of Famer’s. With only 117 slated to get paid, a few handfuls of players needed to exit before players reached the money.

Among those to leave empty-handed were Greg Harris, Ronnie Lamb, Mike Suggs, MSPT champ Chris Meyers and MSPT Hall of Famer Rich Alsup, to name a few.

Only one level needed to pass before the Ben Lapointe’s Big Slick was flushed out on the river by James Yantz’s ace-six of clubs to burst the money bubble.

After Lapointe was washed down the stream, the march to the final table started and players began dropping like flies.

With payouts being yelled across the room, MSPT Hall of Famer Rob WazWaz started taking advantage of all the chips being thrown in the middle and was able to become the first player to eclipse the milly mark.

Unfortunately for the Hall of Famer, his hot streak would soon vanish after his flopped two-pair was counterfeited on the turn by Kevin Kerchenski and he fell to the bottom of the counts.

After falling to the bottom of the counts, WazWaz was unable to gain any momentum and was eliminated in 50th place ($3,559) shortly after.

With Alsup and WazWaz gone from the field, Umut Ozturk was the lone Hall of Famer left, but unfortunately for the Season 14 Player of the Year, his stack started to dwindle until his eventual 35th ($4,815) place exit.

After Ozturk’s departure, only seven former champs remained in the field and each would fall along the way with Satish Thakur (32nd Place - $4,815) being first to exit, followed by Bobby Noel (31st Place - $4,815) Abdul Amer (27th Place - $6,382), Alex Cruz (24th Place - $7,614), Ken Baime (17th Place - $10,974), and Chris Moon (12th Place - $15,677).

Final Table Action

Once players took their seats at the final table, a full level passed before the two big stacks got into some heated battles which ultimately saw Kerchenski depart in ninth place becoming the first final table elimination.

Shortly after getting a pay jump, the short stacks started tossing their chips into the middle with Adam Foster picking up a made hand of fives to move all-in with only to run into Ricky Ali’s superior pair of ladies, ending his tournament in eighth place.

Next up was Neal Aulick, who had a couple all-in’s push through until he ran his king-jack into MSPT champ Curtis Vierstraete’s dominating ace-king.

After climbing to second in the chip counts, Ali found himself next on the chopping block after losing back-to-back hands against Nazim Temiz, ending his run in sixth place for $40,313.

After Ali’s exit, Ryan Zickefoose pushed his short stack around until he was finally called by soon to be champ Eng from the big blind.

Zickefoose was behind and he couldn’t complete his flopped Broadway draw, ending his night in fifth place for $52,613.

With four player remining, chips were pretty evenly dispersed until Kyle Gross’s full house of eights and jacks fell short to Eng’s jacks full of nines.

Gross was able to secure one double before his ace-queen off suit was out-flopped by Temiz’s ace-eight, and he took a fourth place finish for $70,660.

After the few Gross hands, three handed action saw Temiz secure a double-up through Eng and he started catching some steam to accumulate the chip lead.

From there, Temiz continued to catch hands and looked down at the best one when Vierstraete got his short stack in the middle holding a made hand of sevens.

Unfortunately for Vierstraete, his pair of sevens weren’t lucky enough to crack Temiz’s pocket aces, and he took a third place finish for $127,000.

Once the former champ made his exit from the tournament field, the heads-up battle started Temiz holding a sizable 7:1 chip advantage against Eng, but he was able to catch a few double-ups to even the playing field.

Eng continued with his aggressive play collecting majority of the pots during the heads-up match until the final hand where he made an incredible call to take home the title along lion’s share for the record-breaking prize pool.

This wraps up our coverage of, yet another record-breaking tournament so make sure you join us when we make our way back to the Venetian, Las Vegas for back-to-back events for the Poker Bowl February 6th - 10th!

result

The RESULTS

Rank
Player Name
City
State
Amount
Points
1
IL 
$168,903
1,600
2
Avon 
OH 
$127,000
1,600
3
ND 
$127,000
1,600
4
PA 
$70,660
1,500
5
Canton 
OH 
$52,631
1,400
6
PA 
$40,313
1,300
7
WV 
$31,354
1,200
8
NY 
$24,636
1,100
9
OH 
$20,156
1,000
10
Parma 
OH 
$15,677
900
11
IL 
$15,677
900
12
MI 
$15,677
900
13
OH 
$12,318
800
14
OH 
$12,318
800
15
NJ 
$12,318
800
16
Kent 
OH 
$10,974
700
17
IL 
$10,974
700
18
PA 
$10,974
700
19
PA 
$9,070
600
20
NY 
$9,070
600
21
OH 
$9,070
600
22
MI 
$7,614
550
23
OH 
$7,614
550
24
TX 
$7,614
550
25
OH 
$6,382
500
26
OH 
$6,382
500
27
OH 
$6,382
500
28
PA 
$4,815
450
29
NY 
$4,815
450
30
OH 
$4,815
450
31
PA 
$4,815
450
32
MI 
$4,815
450
33
OH 
$4,815
450
34
OH 
$4,815
450
35
MN 
$4,815
450
36
MI 
$4,815
450
37
OH 
$3,695
400
38
OH 
$3,695
400
39
NY 
$3,695
400
40
Oregon 
OH 
$3,695
400
41
OH 
$3,695
400
42
MI 
$3,695
400
43
OH 
$3,695
400
44
Euclid 
OH 
$3,695
400
45
PA 
$3,695
400
46
OH 
$3,359
350
47
FL 
$3,359
350
48
Mentor 
OH 
$3,359
350
49
Parma 
OH 
$3,359
350
50
MN 
$3,359
350
51
IL 
$3,359
350
52
MN 
$3,359
350
53
OH 
$3,359
350
54
Solon 
OH 
$3,359
350
55
MI 
$3,023
300
56
IL 
$3,023
300
57
Stow 
OH 
$3,023
300
58
OH 
$3,023
300
59
OH 
$3,023
300
60
DE 
$3,023
300
61
OH 
$3,023
300
62
MI 
$3,023
300
63
OH 
$3,023
300
64
Dublin 
OH 
$2,911
250
65
Dayton 
OH 
$2,911
250
66
OH 
$2,911
250
67
OH 
$2,911
250
68
OH 
$2,911
250
69
NY 
$2,911
250
70
OH 
$2,911
250
71
Novi 
MI 
$2,911
250
72
OH 
$2,911
250
73
Mentor 
OH 
$2,799
200
74
OH 
$2,799
200
75
OH 
$2,799
200
76
MN 
$2,799
200
77
MI 
$2,799
200
78
Lemont 
IL 
$2,799
200
79
TN 
$2,799
200
80
OH 
$2,799
200
81
MI 
$2,799
200
82
OH 
$2,687
150
83
MI 
$2,687
150
84
MI 
$2,687
150
85
WV 
$2,687
150
86
Canton 
OH 
$2,687
150
87
OH 
$2,687
150
88
Attica 
NY 
$2,687
150
89
MI 
$2,687
150
90
OH 
$2,687
150
91
Hudson 
OH 
$2,463
100
92
OH 
$2,463
100
93
PA 
$2,463
100
94
MA 
$2,463
100
95
Medina 
OH 
$2,463
100
96
Powell 
OH 
$2,463
100
97
IA 
$2,463
100
98
IL 
$2,463
100
99
OH 
$2,463
100
100
OH 
$2,239
75
101
MI 
$2,239
75
102
PA 
$2,239
75
103
OH 
$2,239
75
104
 
$2,239
75
105
Troy 
MI 
$2,239
75
106
VA 
$2,239
75
107
PA 
$2,239
75
108
WI 
$2,239
75
109
FL 
$2,127
50
110
MI 
$2,127
50
111
OH 
$2,127
50
112
IL 
$2,127
50
113
IL 
$2,127
50
114
OH 
$2,127
50
115
Mentor 
OH 
$2,127
50
116
OH 
$2,127
50
117
Troy 
MI 
$2,127
50