The MSPT traveled to FireKeepers Casino for the first time this season to host the Season 16 Michigan Poker State Championship, and the turnout was another mouth dropper.
The $1,110 buy-in, $1,000,000 GTD Main Event was one to remember, as a total of 3,040 entries were tallied, which blasted passed the venue’s previous record field of 2,883 and posted a whopping $2,947,300 prize pool.
After an action-packed weekend, it was Wisconsin native Corey Wick who emerged victorious to claim his first MSPT title along with a career-best $397,587 first-place prize.
“It feels amazing,” Wick said after his win, “This is my first live tournament win ever, it's something that feels impossible so to be able to take this down feels great.”
Wick came into the final day with a top five stack and was able to cruise his way to the final table sitting second in chips.
It was there where Wick would hit a few road bumps after he doubled-up the two short stacks to fall to the bottom of the counts himself.
When things got desperate, Wick got his chips in the middle holding two dominated hands but was able to pull ahead both times to start gaining momentum.
“It was completely undeserved,” Wick stated after his two double ups, “He (Ryan Brown) was probably the best player at the table, and probably should have won, but he caught the worst run of hands all caused by me.”
Wick then went on to eliminate Brown shortly after with a pair of kings which propelled him on his way to winning first MSPT title and a career payday.
“It’d be nice to have the 2x next to my name but if this is the only one I win, I won’t complain.”
Final Day Action
The final day came back with all 334 players already in the money, so action kicked right into gear with players like Phil Mader, 2013 WSOP Main Event Champion Ryan Riess, Diannie Hull, and Paul Cross all falling in the first batch of eliminations.
The rush of players to the payout line continued with MSPT Hall of Famer’s Umut Ozturk (262nd Place $2,503), Aaron Johnson (237th Place $2,798), Rich Alsup (219th Place $2,798), and Chris Moon (218th Place $2,798) all had their final day cut much shorter than anticipated.
With the march to the final table in full swing, others to fall along the way albeit with a payday, were MSPT Hall of Famer Keith Heine (133rd place - $3,681), Season 14 Michigan Poker State Champion Travis Young (87th place - $4,859), MSPT champ Hall of Famer’s Patrick Steele (78th place - $9,572), & Josh Reichard (61st place - $7,068), along with MSPT champ Sean Hinton (44th place - $25,712), and Chris Meyers (19th place - $20,616).
Final Table Action
Once players took their seats at the final table in the new, MSPT branded poker room at FireKeepers Casino, it didn't take long for action to kick into gear with Dale Kirgis becoming the first final table elimination while Oliwer Sankiewicz followed him out the door shortly after in eighth place for $50,656.
The MSPT’s top casher DJ Buckley started the day with 89,000 in chips and maneuvered his way to a seventh-place finish after Ryan Brown found a king on the river to end his run for $65,381.
It was another notch on the belt for Buckley as it marked his 72nd Main Event cash along with his 13th final table appearance which moved him up into 5th place on the all-time leaderboard.
Six-handed action saw Sung Kim sitting at the bottom of the counts and he got his remaining chips in the middle holding suited connectors, only to have Jose Montes flop Broadway to end his run for $85,085.
Unfortunately for Montes, his momentum wouldn’t continue as he called the wrong side of flip against Travis McCullough to take a fifth place finish for $108,261.
With four players remaining, Wick needed to make some moves sitting as the short stack and did, as he came from behind to win two double ups against Brown, which eventually led to his fourth-place departure for $142,248.
Three-handed action saw Ryan Eamon holding a slight chip advantage over Wick while McCullough sat at the bottom of the counts.
McCullough eventually made his move with an ace-nine only to have Wick flop Broadway with a suited ace-queen make end his run in third place for $182,448.
Heads-up action then saw Wick take a 3:1 chip advantage over Eamon, and he made quick work of him as he placed runner-up for $244,462 while Wick claimed a career score of $397,587 while becoming the MSPT Season 16 Michigan Poker State Champion.
This wraps up our coverage of yet another record-breaking tournament so make sure you join us next when we make our way down to the Ameristar in East Chicago May 20th - 26th and our reporting team will be on hand providing updates for the $300K GTD $1,110 Main Event so make sure to come back!