Frank Cerminara raised from early position only to have Eric Eelkema three-bet to 1,000 directly to his left.
Eelkema found two callers which included Cerminara and the flop was checked around to the turn.
Cerminara led out for 2,000 and only Eelkema called to see the complete the board on the river. Cerminara fired out another bet of 3,000 and Eelkema looked him up.
Cerminara rolled over for nines and threes but it was no good as Eelkema showed to win the pot with jacks and nines.
A series of preflop raises saw Andy Tran get his 18,300 stack in the middle from early position and Chou Yang called from sitting directly to his left.
Andy Tran:
Chou Yang:
It was a classic race with Tran looking to connect with either of his two overs and luckily for him, the sweat didn't last long as an ace appeared in the window on the flop.
The turn didn't change a thing nor did the river and Tran collected his double-up.
Since its inception in 2009, the MSPT has done a great job keeping track of player stats. As a result, 11 years on they have one of the best player databases in the industry.
On their "Leaderboards" page, the MSPT tracks such things as Career Earnings, Main Event Cashes, Main Event Final Tables, Main Event Titles, Total Cashes, Most Cashes/Final Tables in a Season, Most Final Tables All-Time, and much more.
While PokerNews is here offering live updates from the $1,100 Main Event, we’d be remiss if we didn’t tell you about some of the side events that have taken place out over the past week at the Winter Poker Classic.
In Event #1: $360 NLH Mystery Bounty, 1,181 runners created a $234,700 prize pool + $118,100 in bounties that was paid out to the top 128 players. Among those to cash but fall short of the final table were MSPT Hall of Famer Rob Wazwaz (122nd - $421), Alex Winter (86th - $538), DJ Buckley (32nd - $1,007), MSPT Hall of Famer Jason Seitz (22nd - $1,570), and Jonathan Kim (10th - $26,312).
In the end, it was Minnesota native Patrik Hoffman who collected every chip in play to capture the WPC trophy, along with the first-place $41,694 payday.
After Tyler Kolness limped-in from under the gun, Cory Nordstrand raised to 300 from the next seat over and Phil Mader three-bet to 900 from the hijack.
Action folded to Alex Winter who four-bet to 2,600 from the big blind and only Mader called.
The board was checked to the river where Winter check-called Mader's 2,000 bet.
Mader rolled over for Broadway and Winter shook his head as he mucked face up.
At the beginning of 2021 at the MSPT Venetian opener, a new inductee won their way into the exclusive MSPT Hall of Fame.
Minnesota's Jason Seitz, 45, made the money on Day 2 of the MSPT Venetian $1,100 Main Event finishing in 32nd place for $5,677. It marked his 25th-career MSPT Main Event cash, which meant in coordination with his Season 2 win at the MSPT Running Aces, Seitz became just the seventh player to win their way into the MSPT Hall of Fame.
Seitz joined the likes of Blake Bohn, Patrick Steele, Mark Hodge, Aaron Johnson, Richard Alsup, and Kou Vang as the only players to achieve the remarkable feat.
While at the MSPT Canterbury Park, Seitz was celebrated and awarded his Hall of Fame trophy.
The MSPT Hall of Fame, established in 2017, is proud to recognize those individuals who have shown superior skill and achieved specific long-term accomplishments.
The criteria to earn a spot on the MSPT Hall of Fame is as follows:
Achieve a minimum of 25 MSPT Main Event Cashes and 1 MSPT Win OR 1 MSPT Player of the Year; or
Achieve a minimum of 10 MSPT Main Event Final Tables and 1 MSPT Win OR 1 MSPT Player of the Year
A former poker dealer at Minnesota’s Canterbury Park and tournament director at Running Aces, Seitz has $171,277 in career MSPT earnings. The family man – he and his wife, April, are expecting their fourth child in April – actually learned the game while serving as a dealer back in 2000.
“I played a lot of limit poker my first seven years,” Seitz said. “That made an easy transition to no-limit poker. Nowadays, I play a lot of mixed cash games either $10-$20 or $40-$80 mix. Luckily, I’m able to travel for the MSPT. I played my first MSPT in 2011 and won the event and ever since I was hooked. I play it every year.”
While winning his way into the MSPT Hall of Fame is an honor he cherishes, it’s actually his second most-proud poker accomplishment.
“My proudest poker accomplishment was winning the Poker Night in America at Canterbury Park for $101,755. It is my only six-figure score.”
As for the MSPT, making the Hall of Fame was on Seitz’s radar.
“I was aware and it was my 2020 poker goal to get into the MSPT Hall of Fame,” Seitz told PokerNews. “With the pandemic, there were only a few chances. Luckily, I cashed my last three MSPTs to become eligible. So now for 2021, I plan on staying home more with a new baby on the way. I’ll still play MSPT in the Midwest and probably play a few WSOP events this summer if it happens.”
flop was checked around to the 
turn.
complete the board on the river. Cerminara fired out another bet of 3,000 and Eelkema looked him up. 
for nines and threes but it was no good as Eelkema showed 
to win the pot with jacks and nines.
turn didn't change a thing nor did the 
river and Tran collected his double-up.
board was checked to the 
for Broadway and Winter shook his head as he mucked 
face up.
