Buzhyew “BK” Ansha Denies Hall of Famer Heads-Up in MSPT Winter Poker Classic
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The 29th and final stop of Major Series of Poker: The Tour (MSPT) Season 16 is currently taking place at Minnesota’s Running Aces Casino, which sits just outside the Twin Cities.
The $1,110 buy-in, $500K GTD Main Event, which took place over the weekend from December 4-7, attracted a field of 838 entries and awarded a $811,360 prize pool. The final table housed two MSPT Hall of Famers in Blake Bohn and Kou Vang.
The former bowed out in eighth place, while the latter made it all the way to heads-up play, where he worked a deal with Buzhyew “BK” Ansha. Unfortunately for Vang, his quest for a fourth MSPT title came up one spot short as Ansha claimed victory and $138,953 in prize money.
“It feels amazing,” local hero Ansha told MSPT reporter Anthony Thompson after his big win, “I played this event last year, and it didn’t go so well, but this is my home casino, so I made sure to play it again, and I’m extremely happy I did.”
MSPT Running Aces Main Event Final Table
| Place | Player | Prize | POY Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Buzhyew “BK” Ansha | $138,953* | 1,800 |
| 2 | Kou Vang | $114,000* | 1,600 |
| 3 | Wes Cannon | $70,986 | 1,500 |
| 4 | Cam Leibfried | $52,999 | 1,400 |
| 5 | Shane Stegora | $40,150 | 1,300 |
| 6 | Dan Kennedy | $30,514 | 1,200 |
| 7 | Chris Potenza | $23,287 | 1,100 |
| 8 | Blake Bohn | $18,469 | 1,000 |
| 9 | Leo Pinamonti | $14,454 | 900 |
*Denotes heads-up deal.
Among the 94 players to return in the money on Sunday were Josh Reichard (11th - $11,242), Brett “Pops” Reichard (14th - $9,636), Gennady Shimelfarb (21st - $6,745), Jeff Copeland (24th - $5,701), Jay Philips (29th - $3,533), and Rob Wazwaz (34th - $3,533).
MSPT Winter Poker Classic Side Event Winners Thus Far...
The Winter Poker Classic features 18 Gold Card events from December 2-14 and marks the last opportunity for players to earn coveted Player of the Year Points.
Right now, reigning back-to-back MSPT POY Umut Ozturk sits second on the leaderboard and is going for the hat-trick with an unprecedented three POY wins in a row.
He currently has 9,947 points behind Jake Long, who sits with 10,372 points. Ozturk cashed the Main Event in 78th place for $2,168 and 75 POY points, while Long failed to make Day 2.
However, Long has continued to crush side events taking down two at the stop – Event #2: $250 Monster Stack and Event #6: $250 Monster Stack – while finishing runner-up in another. Both Long and Ozturk have committed to playing the remaining side event schedule in their quest for POY, which could very well come down to this weekend’s $400 buy-in, $100K GTD Mini Main.
| Tournament | Entries | Winner | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| Event #1: $400 Tag Team Kickoff | 366 | Jerome Kangas & James Kangas | $9,220 |
| Event #2: $250 Monster Stack NLH | 182 | Jacob Long | $9,463 |
| Event #3: $300 Epic Stack | 207 | Haroldo Perez | $13,184 |
| Event #4: $300 PLO | 125 | Steve Veres | $8,573 |
| Event #5: $1,110 Main Event | 838 | Buzhyew "BK" Ansha | $138,953 |
| Event #6: $250 Monster Stack NLH | 124 | Jacob Long | $6,944 |
| Event #7: $300 Black Chip Bounty | 212 | Andrew Pickett | $7,688 |
| Event #8: $200 Ladies Monster Stack NLH | - | Heidi Roggenkamp | $2,080 |
| Event #9: $250 Monster Stack | 87 | Patrick Herman | $5,568 |
Remaining Schedule
Here’s a look at the full MSPT Winter Poker Classic schedule:
For more on the MSPT, check out the latest episode of the MSPT Podcast Presented By PokerNews:
*Images courtesy of MSPT photographer Tyler Abrams.
