The Venetian Resort hosted its second Mid-States Poker Tour (MSPT) main event this week. The tournament was launched in Portland and it had a $171,167 top prize which James Romero won after beating all his opponents.
It was the poker pro's second MSPT title after winning another one on February 11. Romero won a World Poker Tour (WPT) title in the past and has over six tournament titles in his career. The Hendon Mob indicates that he has $5,834,079 in poker career earnings.
The recent event attracted 721 entrants who created an over $1.1 million prize pool. It had two starting flights and its top 80 players won at least $2,877 each.
They resumed playing on the tournament's second day. Some of the entrants who won money but missed the title included Camille Brown, Tracey Hill, Gerald Cunnif, Bryan Piccioli, Brian Hastings, Ankush Mandavia, Alex Foxen, Danny Gonzales, Doug Lee, Dave Ouellette, Richard Alsup, Shannon Shorr, Patrick Eskandar, Andrew Ostapchenko, Ryan Riess, Daniel Sepiol, Erick Lindgren, Dylan Linde, Amir Lehavot, Anthony Spinnela, Ryan Laplante and Joseph Cheong.
What Did the Top 9 Finalists Win?
- James Romero-$171,167 and 912 POY points
- Zach Donovan-$150,000 and 760 POY points
- Mark Fink-$95,537 and 608 POY points
- Ha Duong-$68,110 and 456 POY points
- Rob Waz Waz-$51,777 and 380 POY points
- Matthew McEwen-$38,347 and 304 POY points
- Reg Powell-$27,787 and 152 POY points
- Spiro Lempesis-$21,787 and 152 POY points
- Matthew Stone-$17,261 and 76 POY points
The Last Day's Action
The 80 players who advanced to Day 2 were reduced to nine by 6 p.m. action lasted for less than five hours before Romero won the title. He reached the final table with a medium-sized stack but gradually collected more chips and got the lead when four players remained at the table.
Romero chipped up without a double or busting an opponent at that level. He got his maiden big double when the table had three finalists. Still, the poker pro ended Mark Fink's run in the third position.
He had a 16.5 million stack in his last battle against Zach Donovan who held 4.1 million. The latter doubled up on heads-up action's first hand. The remaining players opted to chop.
Donovan finished second with $150,000. He is a two-time World Series of Poker Circuit (WSPC) and has $2,228,049 in career poker earnings.
Romero informed MSPT journalists after the tournament that he finally achieved his long-term goal of winning that competitive trophy. He was thrilled and thanked his fans for cheering for him. Besides, he has played poker professionally for 15 years and has ventured into live poker for five years.
The champion has won a trophy in each popular Las Vegas hotel. Cleveland's Jack Cleveland Casino will host the next MSPT stop between February 15 and February 20.
It will be a $1,110 buy-in main tournament. The Ohio State Poker Championship will kick off on February 16.
