Ryan Stiner & Steven Jones Choose Teams for Major Battle at MSPT Talking Stick
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Next weekend, Season 17 of the Major Series of Poker: The Tour (MSPT) will host its first Major of the year. For the first time ever, the MSPT is headed to Arizona’s Talking Stick Resort from Jan. 24-Feb. 1 for six Gold Card events, including the $1,100 buy-in, $1,000,000 GTD Diamond Poker Championship.
Two players who’ll be there are two-time AZ State Champion Ryan Stiner and Squid Game: The Challenge Season 2 star and 2023 WSOP Main Event runner-up Steven Jones. Not only that, the longtime friends are hosting the MSPT Diamond Poker Championship Team Showdown, a special fantasy competition on StakeKings.
PokerNews recently spoke with both Stiner and Jones, which you can watch below:
It is a team competition between Jones, a recent guest on the PokerNews Podcast, and Stiner, who won the AZ State Championship in 2022 and 2023 before finishing 11th last year and is Talking Stick’s all-time leading money winner with $663,424 in tournament wins.
As a fan, you can stake whichever team you feel has the best shot to win. The team with the most total winnings for the MSPT Diamond Poker Championship will be determined as the winner.
| Team Jones | Team Stiner |
|---|---|
| Steven Jones | Ryan Stiner |
| Jonah LaBranche | Tyler Hancock |
| Kevin Kent | Brandon Mitchell |
| Colin Robinson | Ryan Hughes |
| John Ciccarelli | Lawrence Brandt |
| Colton Blomberg | Jeremy Brown |
MSPT Diamond Poker Championship Schedule
The Main Event will feature three starting flights. Day 1A will get underway at 10:15 a.m. local time (late reg open until 7:15 p.m.) on Thursday, January 29, and start players with 30,000 in chips while playing 40-minute levels.
Days 1B and 1C will take place at the same time on Friday, January 30, and Saturday, January 31, respectively, and then the surviving players from all three flights will return for Day 2 at 11 a.m. on Sunday, Feb. 1, to play down to a winner.
Other tournaments on the schedule include an $800 Tag Team NLH, $300 Pot-Limit Omaha, and $300 Monster Stack. There are also plenty of satellites to choose from.
Here’s a look at the full schedule:
Big Turnout Expected
The MSPT at Talking Stick is expected to attract players from around the country, including Chad Holloway and Kyna England, hosts of the MSPT Podcast Presented By PokerNews. Not only will both be playing, but they also plan to record an episode of the show on-site at an MSPT event for the first time.
If you’re not familiar with the show, a new episode comes out at 8 a.m. PT every other Wednesday on the PokerNews YouTube channel. An audio version is also available on all major podcasting platforms.
Here’s a look at the latest episode in which the hosts talk about the upcoming Major Diamond Poker Championship.
