Keith Heine Wins MSPT Meskwaki for $100,981

Mo Nuwwarah

Mar 21, 2016 3 min read

The Mid-States Poker Tour (MSPT) stop at Meskwaki Casino in Tama, Iowa, might not be something you'd expect to draw big numbers, but six-figure prizes are the norm there. The 409 runners for the most recent MSPT $1,100 Main Event there were par for the course at Meskwaki, and it was Keith Heine emerging as the winner Sunday night for a score of $100,981.

Heine had only about $12,000 in cashes coming into the tournament, and he had to top a tough final table that included former MSPT champs Muneer Ahmed and Dan Sun, and three-time Heartland Poker Tour champ Shawn Roberts.

Final Table Results

Place	Player	Hometown	Prize
1	Keith Heine	Hillsboro, MO	$100,981
2	Ryan Phan	Omaha, NE	$58,296
3	Jason Crews	Clive, IA	$35,571
4	TJ Ryan	Oak Forest, IL	$28,654
5	Muneer Ahmed	Dassel, MN	$22,528
6	Kevin Berthelsen	Omaha, NE	$18,773
7	Chunlei Yuan	Ames, IA	$15,019
8	Dan Sun	Cedar Rapids, IA	$11,462
9	Chris Scionti	Montgomery, IL	$7,910
10	Shawn Roberts	Ozark, MO	$5,138

Rodger Johnson (45th), Phil Mader (44th), Steve Jewell (37th), Josh Reichard (25th), Allen "Chainsaw" Kessler (15th), and Rich Alsup (13th) were some of the notable players falling among the 45 paid positions as the tournament wound down on Day 2.

According to the live updates, Heine entered the 10-handed final table as the chip leader after scoring a number of eliminations along the way, including busting Kessler with the K♦Q♦ against the 9♠9♣ in a preflop all-in pot for Kessler's final eight big blinds.

Roberts entered the final table with just a handful of big blinds and found himself out in 10th. Chris Scionti followed him out the door when he shoved it in with two sixes, only to have Heine wake up with the A♠A♦ behind him and hold as the community cards helped neither player.

Heine got the next knockout as well, sending two-time MSPT winner Sun to the rail in Level 29 (40,000/80,000/10,000). The two saw an A♠3♥9♣ flop for a raise from Heine, but both checked. After the 9♦ turn, Heine bet 165,000 and Sun shipped it for 605,000. Heine called with the A♦8♦ and was ahead of Sun's A♥7♠. Sun's best chance was a high card for a chop, but the river delivered the lowest card in the deck, the 2♣.

Then, Chunlei Yuan bluffed it off blind-versus-blind on a board of 7♦10♦9♥4♠A♠, betting every street until check-shoving the river with the 9x5x against the Jx8x of Heine.

Kevin Berthelsen (sixth) and Ahmed (fifth) were next to go, but nobody was building a stack that could rival that of Heine, who was around 40 big blinds. He added to that by busting TJ Ryan fourth and Jason Crews third with dominating hands, setting up a heads-up match with Omaha's Ryan Phan, who had maneuvered his way there with some small-pot poker and timely big hands — he won big pockets with aces on at least two occasions.

Phan was pretty short and quickly got hammered down to his last few big blinds. He opted to call them off with the 5♥3♥ and was live against Heine's J♦10♥. A K♦J♠10♣ flop later and Phan needed serious help, and he was left drawing dead after the 7♦ turn.