$200 NLHE - $50K GTD Prelim

bestbet - Jacksonville, FL

January 22-25, 2017

$200 Prelim Event: 399 Entrants

Todd Staples Wins $200 MSPT Prelim Event at bestbet Jacksonville, $9,826!

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The Mid-States Poker Tour (MSPT) bestbet Jacksonville Event #4 $200 No-Limit Hold’em attracted 399 entrants, and on Wednesday, January 25, Todd Staples of Alphretta, Georgia walked away with the title and a $9,826 top prize.

On Day 2 of the event, just 54 players returned to action. With 40 slated to get paid, 14 left empty handed before the in-the-money finishes began to amount. Among those to earn a payday were Caleb Larsen (40^th - $374), Kyle Cotton (25^th - $499), Clement Nieto (19^th - $686), Robert Blanks (15^th - $873), and Mick Robilotto (11^th - $1,060), who was just a couple days removed from winning the MSPT bestbet Jacksonville $360 Regional Event for $26,814.

After Savannah, Georgia’s William Navon bowed out in 10^th place, the final nine players opted to work a deal. Each would lock up $4,000 in prize money, which was better than fourth-place money, and play it out for a $11,826 top prize and the trophy.

One by one the remaining players hit the rail until just 20-year-old Alex Smith of Casper, Wyoming and Staples remained. They were nearly even in chips, so they decided to make another deal which saw $2,000 more from first to second place. That meant the runner-up was guaranteed $6,000, while the winner would take home $9,826.

The chip lead changed hands a few times, but eventually Staples caught cards, including pocket aces on more than one occasion. In fact, that’s the very hand he’d use to finish off Smith, who notched the largest MSPT cash of his career. Smith had previously finished 39^th and 40^th in Season 7 stops at Meskwaki Casino, good for $2,180 and $1,957 respectively.

As for Staples, the win came just a few days after he finished 60^th in the aforementioned Regional Event for $661. The only other cash on Staples record is a fourth-place finish in the 2016 Venetian Deep Stack Extravagana III Event #8: $600 Superstack for $21,630.

Congratulations to Todd Staples on taking down the MSPT bestbet Event #4: No-Limit Hold’em!