Meskwaki Casino

Keith Heine Wins MSPT Meskwaki Main Event for $100,981

With 20 minutes remaining on Day 1a of the Mid-States Poker Tour Meskwaki Main Event – a tournament that attracted 409 entries and created a $409,000 prize pool – 34-year-old Keith Heine had a tough decision to make – to gamble or limp into Day 2 with a short stack. He made his decision, and ultimately it lead to him capturing the title and a $100,981 first-place prize.

You might be thinking Heine opted to limp into Day 2, but that wasn't the case. He decided to gamble and picked a spot with king-nine, which he promptly ran into ace-queen to bust. While he had satellited into Day 1a, Heine opted to buy in direct on Day 1b, which led to him bagging 253,000 and advancing to Day 2 sixth in chips out of 71 returning players.

With 45 players slated to get paid, 26 players would leave empty handed. They included Jeff Bryan, Jason Bender, Tom Frith, Todd "Odds" Haugen, Tom Hammers, and Steve Houle, who finished as the bubble boy.

From there, the in-the-money finishes began to mount and included Rodger Johnson (45^th - $1,976), Rick Syverud (41^st - $1,976), Scotter Clark (34^th - $2,174), Josh Reichard (25^th - $2,450), Jack Parisi (21^st - $2,450), Day 1b chip leader Brian Berthiaume (18^th - $3,122), Allen Kessler (15^th - $3,952), and defending champ Rich Alsup (13^th - $3,952).

The play down from 12 to the final 10 took longer than expect, which meant by the time the final table rolled around players were on the shorter side of things. That meant for a lot of fireworks during which time a lot of players were burned including Chris Scionti (9^th - $7,910), two-time MSPT champ Dan Sun (8^th - $11,462), and Day 1a chip leader and former MSPT champ Muneer "Moon" Ahmed (5^th - $22,528).

With four players left action was fast and furious. First Heine dispatched MSPT champ TJ Ryan in fourth – the result of Ryan running pocket fours into Heine's jacks – and then turned right around and finished off a short-stacked Jason Crews in third.

That allowed Heine to take a commanding lead into heads-up play against Omaha cash game player Ryan Phan. Heine crippled Phan in back-to-back hands and then finished him off with jack-ten, which flopped two pair against Phan's five-three after they got it all in preflop.

Final Table Results

Prior to the win, Heine had just $12,850 in live tournament cashes, most of which came when he finished runner-up in the 2015 World Poker Tour Choctaw Event #14: $350 No-Limit Hold'em for $9,150. Now, Heine has nearly ten times that amount, which he intends to spend on his wife and four sons (ages nine, seven, five and three) by putting it towards a new house.

Congratulations to Keith Heine, the latest MSPT Meskwaki champ!

Season 7 of the MSPT will continue March 25 through April 3 at Running Aces Casino in Columbus, Minnesota, with that $200,000 guaranteed Main Event taking place the first week in April.

Ryan Phan Eliminated in 2nd Place ($58,296)

After winning the first two hands of heads-up play, Keith Heine had Ryan Phan on the ropes with just 430,000 in chips.

In what would be the final hand of the tournament, Heine moved all in from the button and Phan called off.

Phan:

Heine:

Phan was drawing to two live cards, but he was nearly flopped dead when the flop gave Heine two pair. The turn left Phan drawing dead, and he had to settle for runner-up and a $58,296 consolation prize after the was run out on the river.

Jason Crews Eliminated in 3rd Place ($35,571)

Jason Crews moved all in for his last 800,000 from the button and Keith Heine called from the small blind.

Crews:

Heine:

Crews had a major kicker issue, and it did not get resolved as the board ran out a clean .

Crews - Eliminated in 3rd Place

Heine - 6.18 million

Phan - 2 million

TJ Ryan Eliminated in 4th Place ($28,654)

TJ Ryan moved all in under the gun for 1.2 million and action folded to chip leader Keith Heine, who called from the big blind.

Ryan:

Heine:

Heine woke up with a big pocket pair at just the right time, and that meant Ryan needed a four or some other form of help to stay alive. Unfortunately for him, it wasn’t in the cards as the board ran out .

Ryan - Eliminated in 4th Place

Heine Takes From Crews

Jason Crews raised to 310,000 under the gun and Keith Heine called from the button. Ryan Phan came along from the big blind and three players took a flop of . Phan checked dark, Crews continued for 310,000, and Heine snap-raised to 750,000.

Phan folded, Crews opted to just call, and then both players checked both the turn and river. Crews showed the for ace high, but it was no good as Heine held two pair with the .

Heine - 4 million

Crews - 1 million

Crews Flops the World

Ryan Phan looked down at the under the gun and raised to 260,000. Jason Crews then called from the button with the , TJ Ryan jammed from the big blind with the , and Phan thought long and hard before releasing.

Crews didn’t seem thrilled, but called off his remaining 500,000 or so nonethless. Crews was a big underdog, but the gave him a big sweat with a pair of eights and a flush draw. The turn actually gave him trips, and that’s what earned him the double after the bricked on the river.

Crews - 2 million

Ryan - 1.2 million

Muneer "Moon" Ahmed Eliminated in 5th Place ($22,528)

A short-stacked Muneer "Moon" Ahmed moved all in under the gun for his last 260,000 and TJ Ryan called from the button. Jason Crews, who barely had more chips than Ahmed, decided it was a good opportunity to gamble, got it in and it was a three-way pot with two players at risk.

Ryan:

Ahmed:

Crews:

The flop was kind to Crews, who paired his queen, and he maintained the lead as the appeared on the turn followed by the on the river. With that, Ahmed was eliminated in fifth place for $22,528.

Kevin Berthelsen Eliminated in 6th Place ($18,773)

In the next hand after doubling Ryan Phan, Kevin Berthelsen shoved all in for 630,000 from the cutoff only to have TJ Ryan three-bet all in over the top from the small blind.

Berthelsen:

Ryan:

The flop paired Ryan, but it also gave Berthelsen an open-ended straight draw. The turn put out some chop opportunities, but the ended up blanking on the river.

Berthelsen - Eliminated in 6th Place

Phan Gets Tricky with Pocket Rockets

Ryan Phan looked down at the under the gun and opted to just limped, which prompted Kevin Berthelsen to raise to 350,000 with the on the button. The blinds both folded and Phan played it coy by just calling and then checking the flop.

Berthelsen moved all in and Phan snap-called off his remaining 460,000. Neither the turn nor helped Berthelsen, and he sent over more than half his stack to Phan.

Berthelsen - 640,000

Phan - 1.8 million

Action Flop Between Ahmed and Berthelsen

Action folded to Muneer Ahmed in the small blind and he min-raised to 200,000 with the , which Kevin Berthelsen popped to 400,000 from the big with the . Ahmed called and then shoved when the flop gave him both top pair and a flush draw.

Berthelsen called off his remmaining 330,000 and managed to survive as the blanked on the turn followed by the on the river.

Ahmed - 515,000

Berthelsen - 1.5 million