MSPT Teams Pros Dominate at Canterbury Park's 2014 Fall Poker Classic
Back when it was known as the Minnesota Poker Tour, the Mid-States Poker Tour (MSPT) hosted its first-ever event at Canterbury Park in Shakopee, Minnesota. That property will be the last stop on the MSPT Season 5 schedule come December, and it seems only fitting that a couple of Team MSPT Pros dominated Canterbury Park’s recent Fall Poker Classic Series, which featured more than 30 different tournaments over a 17-day period.
It began when two-time MSPT champ Matt Kirby, who was previously the focus of a PokerNews feature piece, topped a field of 417 entries to win Event #1 $340 No-Limit Hold’em for $28,516, which included defeating fellow team pros Blake Bohn (8th - $3,640) and Kou Vang (6th - $6,371) at the final table. Over the next two weeks, Kirby would finish sixth in both the $550 No-Limit Hold’em event and the $550 Six-Max No-Limit Hold’em event for $5,354 and $4,540, respectively.
Another team member that did well for himself was Matt Alexander, who outlasted 265 entrants to win the $230 No-Limit Hold’em event for $12,801. Five days later, Alexander almost took down another title when he finished runner-up in another $550 No-Limit Hold’em event for $12,494, and then four days after that he finished third in the $550 Six-Max No-Limit Hold’em for $8,701.
As for the $1,000 Fall Poker Classic Championship Main Event, which attracted 363 entries and created a prize pool of $352,110, Kirby emerged victorious yet again to capture the title and $84,502 in prize money. Likewise, fellow team pros Alexander (27th - $2,289), Vang (24th - $2,641), and Bohn (20th - $3,169) all cashed in the event.
Kirby redeemed himself from the 2013 Fall Poker Classic Main Event where he finished fourth for $28,736. That tournament attracted 395 entries and was won by Maple Grove’s Adam Dahlin for $90,035.
"We’re very proud of the MSPT Team Pros representing at the Fall Poker Classic, and I’m sure they’ll do the same when the MSPT returns to Canterbury Park from December 6-14," said MSPT owner and operator Bryan Mileski. "In the meantime, look for the Team Pros to represent at upcoming MSPT stops started at Meskwaki Casino in Tama, Iowa."
The stop Mileski refers to is the $300,000 guarantee $1,100 MSPT Meskwaki Main Event from November 1-9 at Meskwaki Casino in Tama, Iowa. The stop is traditionally one of the tour’s most successful due to the fact that players only need to be 18 years old to play.
In July of this year, Jonathan Olson topped a field of 368 entries to win a $95,741 first-place prize and joined a laundry list of former MSPT Meskwaki winners that include Muneer Ahmed ($89,184), Dan Sun ($77,103), Michael Reynolds ($81,060), Terry Ring ($87,694), Andy Van Blair ($88,958), Jesse Spooner ($81,060), and Matthew Anderson ($100,075).
The main event will be held over three days beginning with Day 1a on Friday, November 7 at 4 p.m.
For more information on the MSPT, visit MSPTPoker.com.
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