For the first time this season, the MSPT traveled to Iowa's Grand Falls Casino to play host to a four-event Gold Card series, headlined by the $1,110 Main Event.
A total of 327 entries were recorded over two days, and on Sunday, just 37 players returned for Day 2 with their eyes set on the title.
The final day saw eight former champs return to the felt, including Aaron Johnson, who, after nine hours of play, navigated his way to an incredible third career title, along with a payday good for $72,104.
“It’s incredible,” Johnson stated after his victory, “The last few months have been amazing, as you know I won my second MSPT in November and then went on to win the biggest tournament of my career the very next month, so it’s been a pretty insane run.”
For the past decade, Johnson has put in his dues on the tour and has racked up some incredible accolades. The win not only made him the sixth person in tour history to earn a third title, but it also marked his 67th Main Event cash, which is the fourth most ever, and brought his career MSPT earnings to $872,248.
Johnson now sits not only fourth in the MSPT GOAT rankings, but also the WORLD rankings, and has earned himself a seat into 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 37 players already in the money, so action kicked right into gear with Jon Maras being set up by Terence Reid’s pocket fives, making him the first body to drop, while the MSPT’s top casher, DJ Buckley, followed him to the payout desk as part of the first batch of eliminations.
A spree of eliminations then occurred, which saw Joe Matheson (26th Place - $2,414) become the first MSPT Champ in the field to fall, followed by 2018 Grand Falls Champ Ryan Skluzak (22nd Place - $2,696), Season 16 Poker Bowl Champ Anthony Scarborough (20th Place - $2,976), three-time MSPT Champ Carl Carodenuto (19th Place - $2,976), Michael Estes (16th Place - $3,605) and MSPT Hall of Famer Gerald Cunniff (14th Place - $4,232), as they all fell by the wayside, setting up the stacked final table.
Final Table Action
Once the final table was set, it didn’t take long for short-stack Fuh Nguyen to hit the deck after his pair of ladies was set up by Jon Hanner’s pair of snowmen, making him the first final table elimination.
Play then hit a stalemate for a few levels until the players came back from their dinner break, as Artie Arndt returned with a sour taste in his mouth and jammed his top stack in the middle with a nine-eight offsuit, only to be dismantled by Josh Matti’s Big Slick, ending his run in eighth place.
A few hands later saw Minnesota’s Clint Wolcyn get his short stack in the middle from the big blind, holding an ace-eight, only to run into fellow Minnesotan Mark Bloomberg’s dominating ace-ten to take a seventh-place departure.
It was back-to-back final table appearances here at Grand Falls for Bloomberg, who was hoping to top his fourth-place finish from back in August, but he lost a big flip with pocket sevens only to take a sixth-place exit for $13,794.
Five-handed action then saw two former champs still in contention, with Mo Nuwwarah sitting atop the counts, while Johnson sat towards the bottom, until he caught some steam to leapfrog Roger VanRiper.
Once VanRiper fell to the bottom of the counts, he needed to make a move and found an ace-five to roll with, only to run into Nuwwarah’s pocket nines to take a fifth-place finish for $17,869.
Shortly after VanRiper’s departure, Nuwwarah would find another pair of nines to drop last August’s sixth-place finisher, Hanner, in fourth place for $23,862.
The cash marked Hanner’s 22nd on the tour, including his 10th final table appearance, which brought his MSPT career earnings to $347,967.
Three-handed action saw Nuwwarah holding the majority of the chips in play, leaving Johnson and Matti needing to make a move, and as fate would have it, the two would tussle with premium hands in a battle of the blinds.
Matti rolled over a pair of jacks, while Johnson held a superior pair of queens, and he flopped a top set of ladies to end Matti’s run in third-place for $32,290.
The heads-up battle then left the two remaining champs to tussle it out and started with Nuwwarah holding a 3:1 chip advantage, but tides would quickly turn within a few hands, a slight lead before ultimately cooling off Nuwwarah in second-place for $44,520, while Johnson secured his third MSPT title!
This wraps up our coverage of yet another amazing tournament, so make sure you join us next when we make our first stop to Riverside, Iowa, for their $1,110 Main Event at the Riverside Casino March 17th - 22nd!