The MSPT traveled across country to JACK Cleveland Casino for the Season 16 Ohio Poker State Championship, and it was another one for the memory books.
A total of 824 entries (219 from Day 1a; 224 from 1b; 381 from 1c) were tallied and on Sunday, 88 players returned to Day 2 action to take their stab at the $797,780 prize pool.
Of those 88 players, it was Ontario native Renmei Liu who navigated his way through the tough field to claim the $156,414 first place prize along with his first MSPT title!
Liu has multiple deep runs on his Hendon mob profile, which includes a two third place finishes in WSOP bracelet events, with a career best score of $339,366 in last year’s WSOP Seniors event.
While also having a Circuit ring under his resume, Liu has never taken down a tournament for six-figure score until now, and that is something he is very proud of.
“I never ran like this before,” Liu stated after his win, “this is really nice.”
Liu was referring to dropping down to less than one big blind to start the final table but was able to go on an incredible run eliminating multiple tough opponents on his way to claiming his first six-figure score title!
Day 2 Action
The final day came back with 88 players already in the money, so action kicked right into gear with Ian Winkler being the elimination of the day while short stack Nicole Bartko found a pair of ladies to try and double with only to run into a pair of aces.
Bartko’s departure, a flurry of “payouts” could be heard throughout the room, as handfuls of players were walking to the payout table which included the likes of Brad Sailor (76th Place – $2,165), Patrick Coughlin 69th Place - $2,245), Mike Suggs (48th Place – $2,566), and Frank Lagodich (41st Place - $2,887).
Two-time MSPT champ Chris Meyers took an early exit than had hoped (36th Place - $3,528) but it notched his 24th Main Event cash inching his way closer into the coveted MSPT Hall of Fame while Vinny Giuliano (27th Place - $4,651), Dave Gutfreund (24th Place - $5,693), two-time MSPT champ Bobby Noel (16th Place - $8,019), fellow former JACK Cleveland champ Jon Lewis (15th Place - $9,623), and Daniel Wolf (10th Place – $11,227), all hit the rail to set the stage for the final table.
Final Table Action
Once the final table was set, Liu sat down with less than a big blind after jamming his pocket sevens into Mike Valore’s pocket kings but was able to get a second crack at them to find a quick double and received a triple-up to find some breathing room for his final table run.
After short-stack Liu climbed the ranks, Nick Barile found himself in a cooler against MSPT Poker Bowl IX champ Anthony Scarborough to become the first final table elimination while Joseph Distasio lost a flip to Liu and followed him to the payout table in eighth place.
Brian Springman was able to make back-to-back final table appearances her at JACK Cleveland and this one ended just like the last as he ran into a cooler for another seventh place finish.
Play then took a brief halt from eliminations until Scarborough out-kicked Tim Fleenor with Big Slick for a sixth place finish ($30,474), while Liu picked up the same hand to send Daniel Finley home in fifth place ($40,097).
Liu’s elimination spree would then continue as he sent home three-time bracelet winner Sean Troha in fourth place for 52,928 and then won a massive flip against Scarborough to end his tournament in third place ($70,892), setting up the heads-up match with his nemesis Valore.
The duel didn't last very long as Liu began the match with a 2:1 chip advantage and continually won pots until he collected them all by sending Valore home in second-place for $96,234 while Liu took home the title, along the six-figure payday!
This wraps up our coverage of another eventful tournament, so make sure you join us when we make our way to The Hollywood Casino in St. Louis for the Season 16 Missouri State Poker Championship Series February 18th - 23rd and as always, the MSPT live reporting team will be on hand providing updates for that event so make sure to come back!