Meskwaki Casino

This past weekend, the MSPT hosted its historic 100^th Main Event. The $1,100 buy-in tournament took place at Meskwaki Casino in Tama, Iowa, a venue the tour had visited 15 times prior. The largest tournament in past stops was 451 entrants, but that was surpassed by #MSPT100, which drew 466 entries!

After two days of intense play, 35-year-old Jason Ramos, who last year took a leave of absence to spend more time with his three little girls and to pursue poker on the side, emerged victorious to win the prestigious title and a $108,120 first-place prize.

Prior to the win, Ramos had $161,490 in lifetime earnings, including a previous career-best $97,016 for winning the Opening Event of last October’s World Series of Poker Circuit Horseshoe Hammond stop. Ramos topped a massive field of 2,121 in that $365 buy-in no-limit hold’em event.

“I took a leave of absence in January to purse the poker a little bit, it’s paying off,” Ramos said. “I got engaged in December, so the money is going to go towards a house and probably some more poker tournaments. I’ll take the family on vacation this summer for sure.”

Ramos, who said he’ll be traveling to Vegas this summer, put his hand on the MSPT trophy and added, “I’ve always wanted one of these.”

Final Table Results

1 Jason Ramos (Carol Stream, IL) $108,120
2 Matt Roling (Irvingdale, IA) $65,325
3 Joel Klipping (Red Lake Falls, MN) $42,574
4 Jon McKamie (Walls, MO) $29,509
5 Keith Heine (Hillsboro, MO) $22,526
6 David Hengen (Omaha, NE) $17,345
7 Nathan Crookshank (Grinnell, IA) $14,417
8 Eric Eelkema (Brooklyn Park, MN) $11,939
9 Vlad Revniaga (Burnsville, MN) $10,092
10 Richard Thousand (Ames, IA) $7,659

On Day 2, 88 players returned to action, each looking to make the money at the top 45. Among those to fall short were poker reporter Mo Nuwwarah, reigning champ Ken Komberec, MSPT Pro Matt Alexander, former champs Joe Matheson and Josh Reichard, and one-time NFL running back Fred Jackson.

Once Nick Marsh fell as the bubble boy in 46^th place – the result of his ace-ten failing to hold against deuce-three – the in-the-money finishes began to mount. Among those to earn a payday but fall short of the final table were Everett Carlton (41^st - $2,253), Johnny “Quads” Wenzel (33^rd - $2,703), Nikki Nelson (27^th - $3,379), 2016 Iowa State Poker Champ John Sun (13^th - $5,857), and 2016 MSPT Wisconsin State Poker Championship (12^th - $7,659).

The final table kicked off with a bang when the short-stacked Richard Thousand got his chips in preflop on just the third hand. Unfortunately for him, his was way behind the of Jon McKamie, who held after the board ran out .

It took a while for the next elimination to occur, but it finally came on Hand #29 when Vlad Revniaga got his stack all in preflop holding the against the of Ramos. Unfortunately for the Minnesota pro, the runout gave Ramos a full house.

“The turning point was the nines when he shipped with kings,” Ramos said of the hand. “I thought I had the best hand, but I didn’t. I got lucky and it was just steam-rolling from then on.”

Seven hands later, Eric Eelkema exited in eighth place when he ran pocket sevens into Ramos’ kings, and a short time later Nathan Crookshank fell after jamming with pocket eights on a flop only to see Ramos call with the . No eight came and Crookshank had to settle for seventh place.

On Hand #66, David Hengen shoved his last 485,000 all in from the small blind holding the and Keith Heine, who had won the tournament one year prior, called from the big with the . The board ran out and that was all she wrote for Hengen.

In one of the biggest hands of the tournament, which took place with the blinds at 40,000/80,000/10,000, Joel Klipping, who was in the small blind, three-bet all in for 1.3 million preflop holding the after Heine had opened for 165,000 from under the gun. Heine snap-called off for nearly the same amount with the , and a bad beat was in store as the board ran out to give Klipping the win. Heine had to settle for fifth place, an impressive finish after winning the tournament one year ago.

McKamie bowed out in fourth place after his failed to get there against Ramos’ on a runout, and that set up a lengthy three-handed battle. Eventually Klipping fell after running ace-nine into Ramos’ pocket queens, and that allowed Ramos to take 8.2 million into heads-up play against Matt Roling’s 1.2 milion. It would last just one hand.

In the final hand of #MSPT100, Roling moved all in with the and Ramos snap-called with the . The board ran out and Roling had to settle for runner-up and a $65,325 consolation prize.

“It was a great experience,” Ramos concluded. “I love the MSPT structure. I love how it ends on Sunday and doesn’t carry over. It was good, you’ll see me a lot more this season.”

The MSPT now heads to Golden Gates Casino in Black Hawk, Colorado for an $1,100 buy-in, $200,000 guaranteed Main Event next weekend. Then, a week after that, we head to Potawatomi Casino in downtown Milwaukee for another $1,100 buy-in, $200,000 guaranteed Main Event.

The final 10 players in the MSPT’s 100^th Main Event are now combining down to the feature table. They will then be sent on a 45-minute dinner break with action resuming at 6:30 p.m. local time. The live stream is on a 15-minute delay, so be sure to tune in at 6:45 p.m.

We won’t be reporting anymore of the action here in live blog (other than an end-of-day recap), so if you want more in-depth coverage we encourage you to tune into the live stream to watch the action with hole cards on a 15-minute delay.

#MSPT100 Live Stream on msptpoker.com -> CLICK HERE

#MSPT100 Live Stream on Twitch -> CLICK HERE

Final Table

1 - Jon McKamie (Walls, MO) ... 943,000
2 - Joel Klipping (Red Lake Falls, MN) ... 1.211 million
3 - Richard Thousand (Ames, IA) ... 253,000
4 - Jason Ramos (Carol Stream, IL) ... 1.628 million
5 - Vlad Revniaga (Burnsville, MN) ... 761,000
6 - David Hengen (Omaha, NE) ... 1.329 million
7 - Keith Heine (Hillsboro, MO) ... 509,000
8 - Eric Eelkema (Brooklyn Park, MN) 551,000
9 - Matt Roling (Irvingdale, IA) ... 1.658 million
10 - Nathan Crookshank (Grinell, IA) ... 471,000

The final table is comprised of some stiff competition. The first is Keith Heine, who you may remember watching on the final table live stream one year ago. That is when he topped a field of 409 entrants to win this very tournament for $100,981. Could he possibly go back-to-back in the MSPT Meskwaki spring event?

Another MSPT champ at the table is Joel Klipping, who back in Season 6 own the MSPT Mahnomen Regional for $29,136. He also has five MSPT Main Event cashes on his poker résumé, but this is his first final table.

The other accomplished player is Vlad Revniaga, a well-known player from Minnesota. Prior to today, Revniaga had six MSPT cashes totaling $31,173 and one final table appearance, which came back in Season 6 at Canterbury Park. He finished eighth in that event for $13,178.

Joining them at the final table are some players looking for their big MSPT breakthrough. For example, there is Nathan Crookshank, who has earned his third cash here at Meskwaki Casino. Hit prior best finish was 16^th in the Season 5 spring stop for $3,757.

Eric Eelkema has earned just his second MSPT cash after finishing 26^th in the Season 5 Running Aces stop, good for $2,744. Needless to say he’s already improved upon that considerably here in Iowa.

As for Jason Ramos, he made two deep runs last season. The first came when he final tabled the Wisconsin State Poker Championship at Ho-Chunk Gaming Wisconsin Dells, ultimately finishing in seventh place for $17,968. The other came six months later when he finished 17^th in the MSPT Tropicana Evansville for $3,298.

Meanwhile, Matt Roling, David Hengen, Richard Thousand, and Day 1B chip leader Jon McKamie are all seeking their first MSPT cashes.

Vincent Wolrab moved all in for 211,000 from the hijack and Jason Ramos snap-called after action folded to him in the big blind.

Ramos:
Wolrab:

Wolrab needed some help, but he didn’t get even much of a sweat as the board ran out .

Vincent Wolrab – Eliminated in 11th place for $7,659

On the second hand after coming back from the break, Andy Rubinberg moved all in for 207,000 from the button and Vlad Revniaga isolated by three-betting all in over the top from the small blind.

Revniaga:
Rubinberg:

Rubinberg was looking for a queen, but he was left wanting as the board ran out a dry .

Vladimir Revniaga - 800,000
Andy Rubinberg – Eliminated in 12th place for $7,659

The final 12 players are now on a 10-minute break.

With around 170,000 in the pot and a flop of , David Hengen checked from the small blind and John Sun did the same from the big. Matt Roling then bet 75,000 from middle position, Hengen check-raised to 190,000, and Sun check-raised all in over the top for 404,000.

Roling thought long and hard before making the call and Hengen released what he later claimed were pocket tens.

Sun:
Roling:

Sun had flopped to pair, but he was left drawing dead after the dealer burned and turned the . The meaningless was run out on the river and Sun headed for the exit.

Matthew Roling - 1.7 million
John Sun – Eliminated in 13th place for $5,857

It’s been a good hour for Joel Klipping, who earlier got lucky to survive by spiking an ace on the river. He’s now among the chip leaders.

In a recent hand, Todd Breyfogle got his stack all in preflop and found himself in a bad spot against Klipping.

Klipping:
Breyfogle:

Breyfogle had a kicker problem and it didn’t get resolved as the board ran out .

Joel Klipping -1.2 million
Todd Breyfogle - Eliminated in 14th place for $5,857

Joel Klipping raised to 55,000 from the hijack and David Sutton called from the big blind. Both players checked the and then Sutton bet 120,000 on the turn.

Klipping responded by moving all in and Sutton called off the 250,000 or so he had left.

Sutton:
Klipping:

Klipping was ahead and actually improved to the better full house on the river.

Joel Klipping - 800,000
David Sutton – Eliminated in 15th place for $5,857

With approximately 240,000 in the pot and a flop of , action exploded between Jason Ramos and Darren Ficek that resulted in the latter getting all in for around 370,000.

Ficek:
Ramos:

Ficek had flopped top pair but was way behind the bottom set of Ramos.The turn left Ficek drawing dead, and he headed for the payout desk after the was put out on the river.

Jason Ramos - 1.5 million
Darren Ficek – Eliminated in 16th place for $4,370

David Hengen raised to 55,000 under the gun and Wisconsin’s Rick Syverud moved all in for 387,000. Action folded back to Hengen and he made the call.

Syverud:
Hengen:

Syverud’s best chance of surviving was to catch an ace, but that didn’t happen as the board ran out .

David Hengen - 1.68 million
Rick Syverud – Eliminated in 17th place for $4,370