Tournament Poker is Booming: MSPT Has Major Events on the Horizon Starting in Iowa
Tournament poker grinders have some big events coming up with the Major Series of Poker: The Tour (MSPT) hosting multiple events this month.
The action started on Friday at Grand Falls Casino & Golf Resort in the quaint small town of Larchwood, located in the northwest corner of the great and gorgeous state of Iowa, 30 minutes from Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Day 1a of the $1,110 buy-in MSPT Festival Main Event kicked off at 2 p.m. CT in the Hawkeye State.
A second starting flight will take place at the same time on Saturday. Day 2, the finale, begins at 11 a.m.on Sunday in the $300,000 guaranteed no-limit hold'em tournament. The festival featured five gold card events, and will conclude Aug. 10 with the Main Event final day and a $300 Monster Stack No-Limit Hold'em event.
Chicago, St. Louis, and Cleveland are Up Next
The MSPT will head east immediately after the series in Iowa wraps to the Chicagoland for the Indiana Poker State Championship at Ameristar in East Chicago. Action begins Aug. 14 at noon for Day 1a of the $1,110 Main Event. A similar structure as the Iowa tournament applies here, with $300,000 guaranteed, but with three Day 1 starting flights.
One other difference in Chicago is there are more tournaments scheduled between Aug 12-17, with 13 gold card events planned, starting with a $300 Epic Stack Kickoff No-Limit Hold'em at noon on Aug. 12. Two other events will run on opening day.
The MSPT will then head down I-55 to the Hollywood Casino in St. Louis for another $300,000 guaranteed Main Event from Aug. 21-24. Next up will be JACK Cleveland Casino in Ohio for a $750,000 guaranteed Main Event from Aug. 28-31.
The Season 16 MSPT Player of the Year race will start to shape up following the four remaining events in August. Jacob Long currently leads the way with 5,091 points. But Anthony Scarborough isn't far off with 4,684 points. The top two players on the leadboard have some breathing room ahead of everyone else.
That could all change, however, as there are some capable contenders in the top 15, including MSPT crushers Josh Reichard and Rob WazWaz. Jessica Vierling, who finished second for $159,480 at the MSPT Venetian in Las Vegas in June, is a couple of deep runs away from reaching the top of the leaderboard.
Vierling lost a heads-up match to Reichard, an MSPT Hall of Famer and former Player of the Year.
PokerNews recently launched the first episode of the new MSPT Podcast. hosted by MSPT Player of the Year Kyna England and Chad Holloway, a Wisconsin native who found his greatest success across the border in Iowa with a third place finish in the MSPT Iowa State Poker Championship last month for $69,610. Catch the debut episode below.
