WSOP Bracelet Winner Captures RPT Montana State Poker Championship
Table Of Contents
The Roughrider Poker Tour held its' eighth edition of The Montana State Poker Championship at The Billings Hotel and Convention Center. A raised buy-in of $675 saw a total of 348 entrants create a prize pool of $182,700, the biggest tournament ever run in Montana. A total of 57 players returned for Day 2, 42 of whom were guaranteed a piece of the overall purse.
When the dust settled, it was none other than Midwestern Crusher Chad Himmelspach taking home the trophy, the knife, and $40,000 for his efforts to add to his already illustrious resume. “I came back in from Las Vegas because I like supporting RPT,” the newly crowned champion said. My friend Jerry and his team, it’s so awesome that they are running this.”
Himmelspach’s history with this tour runs deep. He, his heads-up opponent , Weston Wells, and tour owner Jerry Sorrell all played tournaments together in their early 20s. “To get three-handed and heads-up with Weston is really awesome.”
The history continued as just last year, Himmelspach won the biggest buy ever run by RPT when he won $40,000 in the $1,000 dream chaser. Himmelspach also holds a WSOP bracelet, which was covered by PokerNews’ own Connor Richards.
“I think it’s the competition aspect,” Himmelspach replied when asked about what keeps him motivated for tournaments. I like just being in tournaments, peeling cards, and playing with good players. I come in even-keeled, more reacting to what other players do.
Himmelspach will be back for more tournaments with RPT in the future. Jerry and his team really run great tournaments in the Midwest.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Hometown | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chad Himmelspach* | Henderson, NV | $40,000 |
| 2 | Weston Wells | Bismarck, ND | $25,000 |
| 3 | John Schroer | Casper, WY | $18,100 |
| 4 | Michael Baker (MT) | Malta, MT | $13,340 |
| 5 | Kevin Chartier | Boseman, MT | $10,050 |
| 6 | Ryan Roeder | Missoula, MT | $7,700 |
| 7 | Rick Lehman | Billings, MT | $6,035 |
| 8 | Chance Howell | Great Falls, MT | $4,750 |
| 9 | Arlie Brandvold* | Carrington, ND | $3,500 |
*Denotes a double bagging bonus of $1,000.
Action of The Day
It was not a fast and furious start to the day, as the field came back 17 players away from the money. It took a little while for players to start to bust. Some of them found themselves on the wrong end of the money bubble, like Miles Barnum and 2022 Montana State Poker Champion Frank Lucero, whose elimination brought the hand for hand portion of the tournament. It turned out to be Brad Magnus who became the unfortunate bubble boy when his king-queen could not improve against Bryce Thompson’s ace-nine, ensuring the final 42 players all a minimum cash.
After that, the pace of eliminations sped up throughout the day, culminating in a quarter of the field being eliminated within one level. Many local heroes fell like David Mize (27th-$1,280)*, Teran Hama (22nd-$1,480), Alex Smith (19th-$1,720), and start of day chip leader Dave Ouellette (14th-$2,375). In the end, it was Donovan Thomas’ short stack who moved all in for 5 big blinds with ten-nine suited which saw Chad Himmelspach look him up from the big blind with queen-jack. The board provided no help to Thomas, and he ended his run in tenth place for $2,950, one shy of the final table.
Final Table Action
The final table possessed quite a lot of RPT royalty, and the first one to go may have been the most decorated. After losing a few pots, form RPT player of the year Arlie Brandvold raised over Michael Baker’s early position limp with pocket queens. Brandvold called when Baker jammed and was sick to see a pair of aces in his opponent’s hand. An ace on the turn locked up the pot for Baker to take the chip lead, and Brandvold ended his run in ninth place for $3,500 plus the additional $1,000 bonus he received for bagging twice.
From most decorated to biggest buy-in ever played, Chance Howell was the next to finish in eighth place. Howell won a seat to this tournament after winning a local tournament a few days prior that gifted an additional seat to the RPT main. He ended up bagging on Day 1b and taking his chips all the way to the final table. He ended up jamming his last nine big blinds in with ace-six suited, only to be looked up by John Schroer’s ace-king suited and failing to improve against it. This pot put Schroer into the chip lead, while Howell collected $4,750 for a new career-high score.
Another RPT regular hit the rail as Rick Lehman ended up getting very short. He found very little traction at the final table but managed to score one double-up through Baker. The following hand saw him getting in his final chips with king-jack from the cutoff while Baker called him with king-queen. No help was brought to Lehman, who added a seventh place finish in this event for $6,035 to his already stacked RPT resume this year as just one month ago he finished in 6th place for $5,400, and at the beginning of the year, he won an event for $20,000. He sits second on the RPT 2024 Player of the Year leaderboard.
Ryan Roeder came into the final table with a commanding lead but, after doubling up Schroer when his queens didn’t hold against ace-queen and a few other pots not going his way, he found himself towards the bottom of the pack after about an hour of play. It would be Weston Wells who would move all in with king-ten offsuit with his short stack in, that would prompt Roeder to move all in for more with ace-ten offsuit and also see Baker call on the button with nines to put both of them at risk. A king-high board would prove fortuitous for Wells as he found a significant triple up, while the nines held up for Baker to exit the tournament in sixth place for $7,700.
That news would prove good for Kevin Chartier, who spent much of his time at the final table as the shortest stack. Chartier found a key double up against Wells where his ace-queen held up against Wells’ ace-ten to survive. After that, Chartier put up a fight to remain in the tournament, but his last hand would see himself get all in for his last five big blinds with pocket fives, only to lose to the ace-ten suited to Schroer. The Boseman resident shook hands with all of his tablemates and took his leave in fifth place for a career-best score of $10,050.
Four-handed play saw Himmelspach as the shortest stack at the beginning, but a double up through Schroer where ace-jack held up against ace-ten would put all four of the players in a dead heat. Eventually, Schroer and Himmelspach rose to the top, while Wells and Baker became the shorter two. A clash between Wells and Baker would leave the players three-handed as Baker jammed with king-queen against Wells’ open, who held pocket jacks and called with the covering stack. A king appeared in the door, but a jack followed it on the flop. The straight draw did not come home for Baker, and he collected $13,340 for fourth place after being down to just three big blinds with twenty players left.
Wells topped the three-handed chip counts, with Schroer and Himmelspach jockeying for second. The pots were small, calculated, and quick, with many hands seen by all three players. That all changed when they went on a short break to come back to the level increase. Schroer jammed from the button with sevens, and Himmelspach snapped with kings in the big blind with the covering stack. Beyond the two sevens, no sweat appeared for the Midwestern poker legend, and he ended his run in third place for $18,100.
Heads up began as nearly dead even between Himmelspach and Wells, a battle of two old friends. There were jokes and laughter between the two as they traded pots and blows, with each taking the lead at some point. Himmelspach began to separate from his friend. In the end, Himmelspach would open with ace-jack suited, and Wells would move all in with ace-five suited, getting quickly called. The flop gave Himmelspach a straight draw, with the turn opening some chop-outs for the two of them. The river completed Himmelspach’s straight, and he shook hands with Wells, who took second place and added another $25,000 to his already decorated midwestern resume.
