Anthony Dunne Wins the MSPT Season 10 Finale at Canterbury Park for $155,288
Season 10 of the Mid-States Poker Tour (MSPT) ended Sunday night at Minnesota’s Canterbury Park. The $1,100 buy-in Main Event cruised by its $500K guarantee by attracting 802 entries over three starting flights, and after a long Day 2, it was Anthony Dunne coming out on top to capture a $155,288 first-place prize.
Dunne, who doesn’t have any other documented tournament cashes on HendonMob, defeated a tough final table that included three former MSPT champs, two of which were also former Players of the Year. Still, Dunne outlasted them all to claim the title and six-figure score.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Hometown | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Anthony Dunne | Minneapolis, Minnesota | $155,288 |
| 2 | Rich Alsup | St. Louis Park, Minnesota | $95,502 |
| 3 | Aaron Johnson | Red Wing, Minnesota | $69,880 |
| 4 | Steve Wilkie | Arvada, Colorado | $51,944 |
| 5 | Josh Damm | Faribault, Minnesota | $39,598 |
| 6 | Andrew Johnson | Oakdale, Minnesota | $30,281 |
| 7 | Yevgeniy Minakrin | St. Paul, Minnesota | $23,293 |
| 8 | Ian Matakis | Faribault, Minnesota | $17,858 |
| 9 | Chan Pelton | College Station, Texas | $13,976 |
| 10 | Peter Kuretsky | Plymouth, Minnesota | $11,569 |
Day 2 Action
On Sunday, 105 players returned to action, but with only 81 slated to get paid two dozen of them were destined to leave empty-handed. Among those to fall short of the money were Minnesota Poker Hall of Famer Kou Vang, former MSPT Grand Falls champ Ahmed Taleb, and bubble boy Brian Zupancich, who lost a flip with Big Slick to Steve Webb’s pocket jacks.
Among those to finish in the money but fall short of the final table were Day 1b chip leader Phil Mader (15th - $9,318), former MSPT Canterbury Park champs Jonathan Kim (16th - $7,764) and Rob Wazwaz (20th - $6,52@), Luke Vrabel (26th - $4,503), poker reporter Brandon Temple (27th - $4,503), WSOP bracelet winner Derek McMaster (32nd - $3,416), MSPT Season 10 POY Mike Shin (35th - $3,416), Day 1a chip leader Bill Kachel (40th - $2,873), Day 1c chip leader John Reading (65th - $2,329), and Craig Trost (78th - $2,174).
Final Table Action
Peter Kuretsky was the first to fall at the final table when his pocket queens were beaten when Aaron Johnson’s jacks made a spade flush, and then Chan Pelton followed him out the door after losing with queen-ten suited all in preflop against Andrew Johnson’s ace-four.
After Dunne limped the small blind with ace-ten suited,Ian Matakis raised all in from the big with ten-four of clubs. Dunne called and his hand held to send Matakis to the rail in eighth place.
From there, short-stacked Yevgeniy Minakrin called off with nine-three from the big blind after Josh Damm, who had jacks, had shoved the small. The fishhooks held and Minakrin had to settle for seventh place.
Andrew Johnson then lost with ace-six to Dunne’s queens to bust in sixth, and Damm bowed out in fifth after flopping top pair of queens and getting it in against Rich Alsup’s bottom two pair. Four-handed play then lasted for a while before Steve Wilkie, who had won the prior MSPT stop at Colorado’s Golden Gates, missed a flush draw against Alsup’s top pair. Wilkie saw his hopes of becoming just the second player to win back-to-back MSPT Main Events go up in smoke, but he had $51,944 in prize money to help ease the pain.
Likewise, Aaron Johnson came close to winning his second title of the season but got unlucky to fall in third after his ace-queen fell to Dunne’s queen-jack after a brutal jack on the river. Johnson, who won $69,880 for his deep run, wound up finishing second on the MSPT Season 10 Player of the Year leaderboard behind Mike Shin, an impressive feat considering he won it last year.
Dunne entered heads-up play against Alsup, a former MSPT Meskwaki champ, with a big chip lead and closed it out holding king-jack against ace-five all in preflop. A jack on the turn was the final nail in the coffin for the MSPT Season 6 POY, who extended his lead atop the MSPT’s all-time money list with a $95,502 score for finishing as runner-up.
The MSPT will kick off its 11th season with a $360 Regional Event at Colorado’s Golden Gates Casino from January 15-19. That same weekend, the first $1,100 Main Event of 2020 will take place at JACK Cleveland Casino.