The MSPT traveled back home to Running Aces Casino in Columbus, Minnesota, to host its annual Winter Poker Classic $1,110 Main Event for the Season 16 Finale!
A total of three starting flights combined to produce an 838-entry field, which was enough to blast the $500k guarantee and generate a $811,360 prize pool.
On Sunday, only 94 players returned for Day 2 action, and after a hefty 13 hours of play, it was local Buzhyew “BK” Ansha who out-dueled MSPT Hall of Famer Kou Vang for the 2025 MSPT Winter Poker Classic Main Event Title!
“It feels amazing,” Ansha said after his big win, “I played this event last year, and it didn’t go so well, but this is my home casino, so I made sure to play it again, and I’m extremely happy I did.”
The ecstatic Ansha was at a loss for words after his win. Still, it was a significant win for the hometown hero, who took home a career payday of $138,953, along with the rights of being called the MSPT Season 16 Winter Poker Classic Champion.
Day 2 Action
The final day came back with 94 players already in the money, and action kicked right into gear with Natan Lidukhover becoming the first elimination of the day, while WSOP bracelet winner Chad Holloway followed to the payout desk after his flopped set was second-best to a flopped flush.
After Holloway’s elimination, a spark was lit in the field as players started to follow him to the payout desk, as MSPT Hall of Famer Aaron Johnson, MSPT champ Curtis Vierstraete, and fellow champ Derek McMaster, all fell in the first batches of knockouts.
With former champs and Hall of Famers making their way to the payout desk, back-to-back Player of the Year Umut Ozturk was looking to make a deep run to close the gap between him and Jacob Long in the POY race, only to run his pocket jacks into the pocket aces of Chris Jones, ending his run in 78th place for $2,168, and 75 points.
After Ozturk’s elimination, the march to the final table was on as MSPT Hall of Famer Rob WazWaz (34th Place - $3,533), MSPT champ Jeff Copeland (24th Place - $5,701), fellow champ Jason Sell (20th Place - $6,745), Brett “Pops” Reichard (14th Place - $9,636), and MSPT Hall of Famer Josh Reichard (11th Place - $7,040) all fell short of making final table of nine.
Final Table Action
The final table started with Leo Pinamonti sitting at the bottom of the chip counts, and it was only fitting for him to depart as the first final table elimination after he lost a race to MSPT Hall of Famer Vang.
After the first knockout, Vang’s climb to the top of the chip counts began, only to take a tumble after he found himself in a three-way all-in against soon-to-be champ Ansha and fellow Hall of Famer Blake Bohn.
The massive cooler hand saw Ansha river a full house with pocket nines to double through Vang, while also cracking Bohn’s pocket aces to end his run in eighth place.
Final table bodies would continue to drop after Chris Potenza was out-kicked by Ansha in seventh place, while both Dan Kennedy and start-of-day chip leader Shane Stegora fell quickly after in sixth and fifth place to Cam Leibfried, respectively.
The back-to-back eliminations for Leibfried sent him to the middle of the chip counts, only to lose a few more swings before ultimately being ousted by Ansha in fourth place for $52,999 holding live cards.
Three-handed action started with Wes Cannon needing to make some moves sitting at the bottom of the chip counts, and he was able to find a double through Vang before ultimately losing a race to him the very next hand, ending his tournament in third place for $70,986.
The heads-up match began with the two players agreeing to an ICM deal, with Ansha holding a slight chip advantage over Vang.
Vang would then assume the chip lead until Ansha turned a lucky three to take a commanding chip lead, which ultimately led to Vang taking a runner-up finish for $114,000, making him the second player in tour history to eclipse the $1,000,000 mark in lifetime earnings, while Ansha secured the $138,953, along with the 2025 Winter Poker Classic Main Event Trophy!
MSPT Season 16 ICON & Player of the Year Race
Back-to-back Player of the Year Umut Ozturk came into Day 2 of the Main Event 440 points behind Jake Long in this season’s Player of the Year race, and was looking to close that gap, but wasn’t able to put much of a dent into that number as he’s still 425 points behind Long.
So far, both have been on another incredible tear this year, as Ozturk has racked up 18 Main Event cashes this season, putting him just one behind his record 19 times from last season, and has also made five final table appearances.
The impressive feats put Ozturk in contention for the POY race once again this year, and also atop the 2025 ICON standings once again, as he holds a sizeable lead over fellow Hall of Famer Josh Reichard, as he looks to win that title in back-to-back seasons as well.
While Long, on the other hand, has put some damage in himself, racking up 15 Main Event cashes with two final table appearances, but where he’s strived the most is in the side events.
Just a few short months ago, Long had obtained only two Gold Cards, but fast-forward to now, and he has amassed a record eight Gold Cards, totalling 2,806 POY points from just side events alone.
Make sure you stay locked into MSPTpoker.com to find out who will come out on top, and don’t forget to join us for the January 1st - 4th, as we will be making our way to the beautiful Venetian Las Vegas, the Season 17 $1,600 New Year's Poker Open, being reported by our MSPT live reporting team!