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Tim Votava just busted 18th for $1,564
17 remain, here are their stacks
Lynette Kroll 23K
Everett Carlton 108K
Steve Bissett 86K
Todd Larson 37K
Bill Sather 124K
Mark Dunbar 88K
Bev Paulson 145K
Ron Imgrund 131K
Jeremy Dresch 364K
Phil Mackey 29K
Andy Sjolund 122K
Steve Buettner 133K
Lonnie Krych 88K
“Tony” Yong Choi 112K
Jason Banfi 45K
Adam Dahlin 75K
Jody Cluever 186K
Unfortunately I’m giving a rail-side update as I busted 35th. I won’t bore you with the details.
We started yesterday with 124 players and are down to the final 25. Things are tightening up a bit as 18 is the money.
The first place prize is over $36K
Several big names have busted here on day 2 including defending MSPT champ John Dragich and State Champ Alec Anderson. 3rd place MSPT finisher Todd Melander as well.
Several big names remain though including 3 Putts, back-to-back HPT champion Jeremy Dresch, Everett Carlton and more. Minnesota Poker Magazine’s Phil Mackey has been grinding a short stack for 2 days and is still standing as well.
Jeremy Dresch is your current chip leader with roughly $240K.
Currently hanging out next to the Grand Casino Mille Lacs poker room, eating a late night snack with Bryan Mileski, John Dragich (MSPT December champ), 3-Putts (arguably the top tournament player in the state), Todd Melander (3rd place in December MSPT event) and a handful of other players. It’s been an awesome week, and hanging out with players at 1:30 in the morning, breaking down hands, is awesome.
The MSPT Main Event began at 5:00 today with 124 players, and after 8 levels we are down to 51. Many of the top players in the state are still alive — Dragich, 3-Putts, Todd Breyfogle, Everett Carlton and more. The winner will take home $36,000 and a bracelet, courtesy of Continental Diamond.
I wish I could provide elaborate chip counts, but we won’t know anything exact until Sunday.
Bryan and I are still alive as well. We played for 7 hours tonight, and I literally spent 5 of those hours with fewer than 10 big blinds. I was between 5 and 8 big blinds for most of the final two hours. But thanks to a mini rush at the end of the night, I’ve climbed up to 20bb or so.
David Aydt stopped by to do some live blogging during the first few levels.
Once again, thanks to the Grand Casino Mille Lacs poker staff for running a top-notch operation all week long. The entire week has been smooth sailing. Bryan and I organize the MSPT details going into each event, but once we step foot in the casino for tournament week, the card room staff takes over. We created the tour because we are poker players, and we want to play in a good structure, just like the rest of you.
Day two of the Main Event will begin at 11:00 a.m. on Sunday, and action is expected to continue until late at night. Check back for results and photos.
We’re hanging out here in the event center at Grand Casino Mille Lacs as the first qualifier of the weekend grinds down to the bubble. I won a Main Event seat last Sunday, because I run better than God himself, but then I squandered a massive pile of chips with 37 left in this morning’s qualifier.
Oh well.
Dan Holthaus
Dan Holthaus, from Monticello, MN, won the fourth and final event of the Grand Casino Mille Lacs Grand Series, taking home $2,185. The 2nd, 3rd, and 4th-place finishers — Geoff Hayes II, Jeff Huehne, and Jason Vanfib — all traveled together from River Falls, WI.
Mary Kerr, who won event #3 on Wednesday night, clinched the overall Grand Series points championship with her final table appearance, which earns her a seat in the Minnesota State Poker Tour Main Event on Saturday.
| $100+$20, 65 entrants – winner also receives $250 MSPT qualifier | |||
| Place | Player | City | Cash |
| 1 | Dan Holthaus | Monticello | $2,185 |
| 2 | Geoff Hayes II | Superior, WI | $1,325 |
| 3 | Jeff Huehne | River Falls, WI | $805 |
| 4 | Jason Vanfib | River Falls, WI | $575 |
| 5 | Todd Sterling | Aitkin | $490 |
| 6 | Nick Wilkin | Milaca | $275 |
I’ve got a little time to spare, chillin in the Ball Room where the MSPT qualifiers and the Main Event will be held. Currently Event #4 of the Grand Series is taking place a couple tables away, 17 players remaining. There is also a $60 single table satellite to the MSPT $250 qualifier going on to my right.
I’ve struggled all week and have dished off $60 after $60 in satellites and am 0-2 in qualifiers. Fortunately, PMac has been running hot and has won a few $250 seats. He has a Main Event seat from last weekend as well. I’m still searching for mine. Since these $250 seats are transferable I’ll be playing on one or two of his tomorrow trying to get my seat.
That’s ok though, I ran terrible all week in the Canterbury Tour Launch as well. I was playing well and am now, just getting unlucky. I’m getting in with the best of it every time but its not holding up. I don’t plan on changing a thing. As I said, I ran cold all week at Canterbury and heated up big time in the Main Event. I hit set over set twice and worked my way to chip leader heading into Day 2. I’m hoping for the same result this week. Its more important to run hot on Sunday!
If things don’t go well tomorrow, I’ll just buy-in. There’s no way I won’t play in this event. The structure is too good to miss!
Its funny, I’ve played in almost everything this week while here. The people have been awesome and I’ve been making a ton of new friends at the tables. The one question I’ve gotten a few times is, “Oh, you play in your own event?”
Hell yeah! As a huge poker rube do you think I would build the best structure in the state and sit on the sidelines? No chance!
My work is done when the event begins, that’s when the tournament staff at Grand Casino Mille Lacs (or whatever location) takes over. And they are doing a fantastic job here this week.
So, I’m pumped for the Main Event to begin! See you on the felt!
Currently hanging out in the Grand Casino Mille Lacs event center, hammering out some last minute content for the March issue of Minnesota Poker Magazine, and watching the daily $50 noon tournament. In a few hours, this poker room will be full of players playing MSPT satellites, and Grand Series Event 4. Good times.
I came across Daniel Negreanu’s latest blog over at Full Contact Poker. I follow Negreanu on Twitter, and he always has entertaining things to say, both poker-related and non-poker-related.
His latest blog, however, was all about poker. Tournament poker, specifically, and how times have changed drastically over the last 5-10 years.
Ever wonder why you don’t see guys like T.J. Cloutier crushing tournaments anymore? Daniel explains why in a BRILLIANT blog post. Below is an excerpt. You can read the whole thing on his website.
I’ve been thinking a lot about poker recently. Watching it, learning, etc. Soooo much has changed it’s difficult to even know where to start.
When I started playing tournament poker, one of the absolute best in the game was T.J. Cloutier. I always did well against T.J. because I felt like I had a good understanding of what he was trying to do at the table. T.J. would play pretty solid, not get too crazy aggressive at all, and then sporadically he’d make a “play” by coming over the top before the flop with nothing. He’d use his tight image to build up what Phil Laak calls “Dormancy Vig,” meaning, that he’d get away with his random bluffs because his opponents would give him tons of credit.
So T.J., and to a lesser degree John Juanda, essentially looked for spots where they could push someone around. Often their reads were solely tell based. T.J. might wait for the young kid in the 5 seat to raise it with his left hand very quickly, and T.J. would know that meant the kid didn’t have it. When he had it, the kid would hum and haw, take his time, and then put in a soft raise with both hands.
When you spot stuff like that, and are good at it, this tournament strategy becomes very effective and that methodology was one of the key reasons T.J. put up such consistent results. He wasn’t playing the cards, he was always playing the man.
It was really just that simple in the old days. Most of the tournaments didn’t require you to play much deep stacked poker, so picking up pots before the flop became “enough” to be successful. You didn’t really need to understand how to break down a hand. You didn’t have to be all that good at post flop play. You could use this strategy, fire a strong continuation bet, and then kind of just give up from there.
He goes on to explain why Phil Hellmuth’s ego might prevent him from ever being one of the top players in the world ever again, and why online players tend to have a broader knowledge of tournament poker than old school players. It’s a very solid read.
Mary Kerr
Minnesota State Poker Tour week continued on Wednesday night at Grand Casino Mille Lacs with Grand Series event #3 — an $85 buy-in tournament that drew 66 players. Mary Kerr from Shoreview, MN, outlasted Joe Ketchmark heads-up to win $1,862 and a qualifier seat into the Minnesota State Poker Tour.
On the final hand of heads-up play, Ketchmark — who made a tremendous comeback from an extremely short stack while three-handed – raised from the button with 99 and Kerr re-raised all-in with AA. Ketchmark was pot obligated to call, and the board ran out clean, giving Kerr the title.
| $70+$15, 66 entrants – winner also receives $250 MSPT qualifier | |||
| Place | Player | City | Cash |
| 1 | Mary Kerr | Shoreview | $1,862 |
| 2 | Joe Ketchmark | Aikin | $1,125 |
| 3 | Kevin Stumpf | Brainerd | $685 |
| 4 | Jason Mcgough | Valley City | $490 |
| 5 | Jon Olson | Aikin | $415 |
| 6 | Ken Keeney | Emily | $315 |
Ron Landin
Congratulations to Ron Landin of Brainerd, MN for winning Grand Series Event 2 tonight. Landin takes home $1,645 and a Minnesota State Poker Tour qualifier seat.
Grand Casino Mille Lacs will hold two more Grand Series events this week before MSPT $250 qualifiers fire back up on Friday. The overall points leader for the Grand Series will earn a seat into the MSPT Main Event on Saturday.
| Grand Series Event 2: $60+$10, 74 entrants | |||
| Place | Player | City | Cash |
| 1 | Ron Landin | Brainerd | $1,645 |
| 2 | Ken Keeney | Emily | $985 |
| 3 | Steve Bissett | Brainerd | $615 |
| 4 | Rob Gustafson | Buhl | $435 |
| 5 | Jim Sager | Crosby | $325 |
| 6 | Dan Schlien | St. Cloud | $260 |
| 7 | Bob Knutson | Sauk Rapids | $210 |
Lance “kingpin023″ Harris, from Burnsville, MN, won the $1k Full Tilt Online Poker Series event last night for $331,000. This enormous victory pushed Harris over the $1 million career online earnings mark.
In 2010, Minnesotans have now shipped the PokerStars Sunday Million (“acequad,” $179k), and an FTOPS event.
Look for a feature Q&A with “acequad” in the March issue of Minnesota Poker Magazine. We will attempt to track down “kingpin023″ as well.
Until then, here is a Bluff Magazine recap of the FTOPS final table. As you will read, Harris definitely got lucky during heads-up play, but that’s fine. Ship one to Minnesota.
FINAL RESULTS: FTOPS XV event 12:
1st: Lance “kingpin023” Harris ($331,315)
2nd: grindtherail ($209,576)
3rd: Steve “gboro780” Gross ($155,641)
4th: bmwmcoupe ($123,280)
5th: RLD1989 ($92,460)
6th: Kevin “KevboyStar” Stani ($66,263)
7th: yahoo33 ($43,148)
8th: RandomFish666 ($30,820)
9th: Anthony “raver44” Lorieu ($21,574)
