For the first time this year, the MSPT returned home to host the Season 17 Minnesota Poker State Championship at Running Aces Casino & Racetrack, and it was surely one to remember.
Players from across the country traveled to Minnesota for the 19-Gold Card event series, which was headlined by the $1,110 buy-in, $500K GTD Main Event.
A total of 882 entries were recorded, generating a $854,040 prize pool, and on Sunday, 96 players returned for Day 2 action with hopes of claiming the MSPT title, and when the dust settled, it was tour newcomer, Carson Chen, who maneuvered his way through the tough field to claim the Season 17 Minnesota Poker State Championship title.
“I feel a little guilty”, Chen said after his win, “I came here with my friend Jonathan, who I met last year at the WSOP, but this is his home state, and I ended up leaving with the trophy, so I do feel guilty, but also very happy”.
It was a very modest and humble response from the newly crowned champ and tour newcomer, who’s excited to start playing more events in the future.
“Definitely”, Chen said when asked about playing more upcoming events, “I really like the trophies and want to start collecting more Gold Cards, I really like them both”.
Along with the win, Chen has earned himself a seat in the $3,500 MSPT Championship Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open (RRPO), which will be held at the Seminole Hard Rock in Hollywood, Florida, Nov. 18 – Dec. 2, boasting a $2,000,000 GTD Main Event!
Day 2 Action
The final day came back with 96 players already in the money, and action kicked right into gear with Jarrod Blackwell being the first to exit, while Adithya Pailla and MSPT Hall of Famer Rich Alsup followed him to the payout desk as part of the 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 two-time MSPT Champ’s Mark Sandness (72nd Place - $2,349) & Jeremy Dresch (71st Place - $2,349), Season 15 Minnesota Poker State Champ Sean Hinton (65th Place - $2,349), MSPT Hall of Famer Kou Vang (54th Place - $2,684), and two-time MSPT Champ Mike Estes (49th Place - $2,684) all fell in quick succession.
After Estes’ departure, players continued to drop like wildfire, among those to fall along the way, albeit with a payday included MSPT Hall of Famer Gerald Cunniff (42nd Place - $3,020), fellow Hall of Famer Umut Ozturk (29th Place - $3,691), five-time MSPT Champ Blake Bohn (28th Place - $3,691), WSOP bracelet winner TJ Murphy (18th Place - $9,540), and Season 16 Player of the Year Jake Long (11th Place - $10,065), 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 Michael Williams getting out-kicked by MSPT Champ to Wes Cannon, becoming the first final table elimination. For Williams, this was his 8th MSPT Main Event Cash and 3rd Top 10 Finish.
Unfortunately for Cannon, he would follow Williams to the payout desk in a similar fashion, as he was out-kicked by Gene Boyer to take an eighth-place finish. This was back-to-back final tables for Cannon, who recently won at MSPT Riverside. This was his 22nd MSPT Main Event cash and 6th Top 10 Finish – totaling $364,481 MSPT Earnings! Not long after, Nick Kromschroeder had an ill-faded departure as his ace-queen of diamonds was flushed out by Chris Jones’ ace-queen of hearts in seventh-place. This was Kromschroeder’s 1st Top 10 Finish on 4 MSPT Main Event cashes.
Paul Carney came into the final table hoping to improve off his ninth-place finish from last year, and he did just that after he took a sixth-place exit after his ace-jack offsuit ran into soon-to-be champ Chen’s grumpy pair of ladies, marking his 12th Main Event cash and 2nd final table appearance.
Decorated MSPT Hall of Famer Aaron Johnson sat down at the final table third in chips with his eyes set on becoming the third player in tour history to win at least four MSPT titles, but ended up falling just shy in fifth-place to Tanner Pray’s Big Slick, taking home $49,939 in his efforts.
The departure marked Johnson’s fourth final table appearance in just six short months, bringing his tour total to 15, and he has moved up in every single leaderboard category, cementing himself as one of the greatest ever on the tour.
Four-handed saw Pray applying maximum pressure to each one of his opponents, as his stack first ballooned up to nearly a third of the chips in play, only to run into two cooler hands against Boyer, which ultimately led to him taking a fourth-place exit for $55,359. For Pray, this was his 1st Top 10 Finish despite 13 Main Event cashes.
With three players remaining, Boyer held a commanding chip lead over his two opponents, but both competitors wouldn’t go down without a fight, as chips would shuffle around and a couple of double-ups would occur before they agreed upon a deal, and duke it out for the trophy.
After the deal was agreed upon, Chen took charge with ruthless aggression, which ultimately saw Jones take a third-place finish for $99,276, Boyer finish runner-up for a career score of $107,435, while Chen took home the top prize along with the title of Minnesota Poker State Champion!
This wraps up coverage of this year’s Minnesota Poker State Championship, but Season 17 of the MSPT continues as we head to the Ameristar in East Chicago next from November 21st - 26th, and our reporting team will be on hand to provide updates for the $300K GTD $1,110 Main Event. So, make sure to come back!