After a one-year hiatus, the MSPT returned home to host the Season 16 Minnesota Poker State Championship at Running Aces Casino & Racetrack, and it was surly one to remember.
Players from across the country traveled to the tundra for the 15-trophy event series which was headlined by the $1,110 buy-in, $500K GTD Main Event which saw total of 1,004 entries (219 from Day 1a; 327 from 1b; 458 from 1c) tallied, making it the second-largest Main Event held at Running Aces which generated a $972,380 prize pool..
On Sunday, 112 players returned for Day 2 action, and after it was said and done, the last player standing was Minnesota native Bee Yang who came out the victor for a career best $140,288 top prize and his first MSPT title!
“I think it’s something special,” Yang said after his victory, “I always believed I would be an MSPT Champion.”
Yang has been a regular at the Running Aces stop each year since the tour’s return in 2022, racking up four Main Event cashes at the venue to go along with his runner-up in last year’s regional event, and now has a MSPT career total of $198,474 while claiming the title of the reigning Minnesota Poker State Champion!
Day 2 Action
The final day came back with 112 players already in the money, and action kicked right into gear with the MSPT’s top casher DJ Buckley being the first to exit while MSPT champ Jon Kim, Wes Cannon, Season 15 Minnesota Poker State Champ Sean Hinton, and MSPT Hall of Farmer Josh Reichard followed in first batch of payouts.
The fast-paced action hit a new gear with players dropping like flies while other making moves to gain chips as back-to-back Player of the Year Umut Ozturk (79th Place - $2,321), five-time MSPT champ Blake Bohn (71st Place - $2,507) MSPT Hall of Famer & bracelet winner’s Richard Alsup (61st Place - $2,700), Rob WazWaz (55th Place - $2,700), and fellow Hall of Famer Aaron Massey (50th Place - $2,989) all fell in quick succession.
After Massey’s departure, players continued to drop like wildfire, among those to fall along the way, albeit with a payday included Varun Uppal (32nd Place - $4,243), MSPT Hall of Famer Aaron Johnson (28th Place - $4,243), Kitkat Klassen (18th Place - $9,450), last year’s second-place finisher Miguel Martinez (17th Place - $9,540), and Gennady Shimelfarb (11th Place - $13,500), setting the stage for the final table.
Final Table action
Once players took their seats at the final table, it didn't take long for action to kick right into gear with Paul Carney catching an early double after flopping a lucky set of sevens, only to fall to the same hand after Jay Chaudhary set-up his pair of jacks to become the first final table elimination.
Shortly after Carney's exit Garrett Dwire got his stack in the middle holding a suited king-nine only to come up short against three-time MSPT champ Carl Carodenuto’s made hand of tens.
After coming into the final table at the bottom the chip counts, two-time MSPT champ Ben Marsh who was able to find a few pay jumps before his suited connectors failed to prevail against Carodenuto’s king-jack, marking his 11th Main Event cash and 5th final table appearance.
Following Marsh to the payout desk was Season 14 Minnesota Poker State Championship runner-up Rory Linton, who lost a few big hands to take a sixth place finish ($35,678) while fellow Minnesotan John Raiche fell shortly after in fifth place to take home a career score of $46,285.
Four-handed saw Carodenuto applying maximum pressure to each one of his opponents, as his stack first ballooned up to nearly half the chips in play, only to dwindle back down to the bottom of the four remaining players.
Being the short stack wouldn’t fluster Carodenuto though, as he raised every single hand until eventually catching a double against Mike Crawford in a massive cooler, which ultimately led to him taking a fourth place for $60,750.
With three players remaining, Yang held a commanding chip lead, and agreed upon a deal which saw Carodenuto take a third place finish for $110,000, Chaudhary finish runner-up for career score of $120,000, while Yang took home the top prize along with the title of Minnesota Poker State Champion!
This wraps up or coverage of this year’s Minnesota Poker State Champion ship but Season 16 of the MSPT continues as we head San Diego's Sycuan Casino next for their second 100 GRAND STACK Series of the season which is headlined by the $1,110 buy-in, 300K GTD Main Event and as always, that will be reported by our live reporting team starting Thursday, May 1st so make sure to tune in!