Peixin Liu Wins Mid-States Poker Tour Canterbury Park ($106,483)
Season 5 of the Mid-States Poker Tour began with a final table in Minnesota reached by Peixin Liu. There, he busted fourth in a tournament ultimately won by fellow Minnesotan Mark Sandness. The tour returned to its home state for the last stop of the season, and this time Liu finished on top. He claimed $106,483 for defeating a field of 432 at MSPT Canterbury Park, the biggest live score of Liu's poker career.
Ninety-three runners returned for Day 2 to compete for the final MSPT trophy of the year, and 45 would be paid for their efforts. Plenty of notables failed to reach the bubble, including Todd Breyfogle, Jon Hanner, Tony Hartmann, Matt Alexander, Adam Dahlin, Jeremy Dresch, and Kou Vang. By falling before the money, Vang fell just shy of the necessary points needed to overtake Mike Deis for MSPT Player of the Year.
The bubble burst in spectacular fashion when tournament veteran Everett Carlton bluffed off his stack to Day 1 chip leader Rodney Colson, jamming the river on an 
board with 
. Colson took tank-called with 
.
Once the payouts began, players quickly began falling by the wayside. Dennis Stevermer, Aaron Johnson, Jeff Bryan, Ken Pates, Jeff Fielder, Matt Kirby, and Nick Pupillo were among the players scoring cashes on their ways out the door. When Tom Stambaugh was eliminated just after the start of Level 26 (20,000/40,000/5,000), the final table was set with Yevgeniy Minakrin in the lead with more than 2.1 million.
Colson, who was at one point the overwhelming leader in the early stages of Day 2, found himself out in 10th when he lost a race with 
to Liu's 
. Zeph Baer, Rich Alsup, Mark Hodge, and John Pierce followed in short order in ninth through sixth respectively in a furious opening hour at the final table.
Liu had emerged as the leader at that point with 2.5 million at the start of Level 28 (30,000/60,000/10,000). Minakrin was the short stack, but he won a flip with 
against the 
of Leo Fussy, rendering Fussy short, and he busted a short time later in fifth.
Things finally slowed down four-handed, as it took an hour and a half of battling over mostly small pots before Minakrin fell in fourth. He called off his last 14 big blinds with 
against a small blind shove from James Wilson, who had 
and held. Wilson did the deed once more to send John Reading packing in third. After a 
flop, Wilson put Reading at risk for 1.7 million, more than the pot, during Level 30 (50,000/100,000/10,000). Reading called off with 
and couldn't hold against Wilson's 
as the latter hit a flush.
Liu and Wilson entered heads-up play very close to even, and they battled it out for an hour with Liu gaining the upper hand when he called Wilson's four-bet shove with 
and was against . An 
flop left Liu drawing thin to stay alive, but a turn was what he needed to grab the chip lead. Liu got two streets of value with 
a short time later to increase his lead, and a 
flop proved to be the final one of the year for the tour. Wilson shoved in with 
, and Liu called with , holding when running hit the board.
With that, the 2014 MSPT season came to a close, crowning Liu as the final champion. The MSPT is done for the year, but Season 6 is coming up quick. It will kick off at a brand new stop — BestBet Jacksonville — on January 15, 2015, with their $200,000 guarantee Main Event taking place from Jan. 23-25. For more information visit msptpoker.com.