MN Poker League awards seven Grand Prizes at Shooting Star

Clay Lipke

The Minnesota Poker League held its Fall Poker Spectacular Championship last Saturday at Shooting Star Casino, awarding seven “Grand Prizes” to Jerry Anderson, Julie Hovey, Josh Manley, Eddie Ozornia, Derek Potter, Nick Wahl, and Clay Lipke.

These seven State Champs earned a trip to Las Vegas to compete in a 25-person championship and a share of $12,000 in tournament buy-ins, including a main event seat in the Caeser’s Palace WSOP Circuit Event valued at $5,000.

Lipke, in particular, absolutely dominates bar poker. This is his third “Grand Prize” victory, and according to Free Poker Network, Lipke has won more than $16,000 playing bar poker.

Aside from bar poker, Lipke also plays cash games at Grand Casino Mille Lacs, as well as other casino tournaments on a regular basis. He also dabbles in Heartland Poker Tour and Minnesota State Poker Tour events. Lipke is a prime example of a guy who successfully crosses between bar poker and live cash poker.

“I guess the keys to my success are being able to adapt to the situation and trusting my reads,” Lipke told MNPokerMag. “I can be an extremely aggressive player when need be or wait for the perfect situation, depending on my competition. If my competitors are aggressive, I will trap all day and I will move chips around against a tight player. I am not afraid to change it up at anytime. I usually start slow to get a read on the table then adapt to what the situation is. Also, in tournaments, patience is always a key.”

Here is the State Championship recap, courtesy of FreePokerNetwork.com:

We’re not sure what the bigger headline is from the Shooting Star Casino this past weekend for the Minnesota poker league championship…Of the 243 players who qualified for the final, 3 out of the 7 big winners were players from Kandi Bowl in Willmar!! Also, Clay Lipke from Primetime Food & Spirits won AGAIN, the 3rd time he has won a grand prize in the Minnesota Poker League!

Photos from the event will be posted to the Free Poker Network facebook page shortly, as well as a more detailed recap of the event from Shooting Star Casino in Mahonmen. What a tournament! Here are the 7 winners: Jerry Anderson (Ultimate Sports Bar – Waite Park), Julie Hovey, Josh Manley, and Eddie Ozornia (Kandi Bowl-Willmar),Derek Potter (Brothers Bar & Grill – Rochester),Clay Lipke (Primetime – Breezy Point), Nick Wahl (Z103 – Fergus Falls).

At Shooting Star Casino on Saturday, February 27th, 221 poker players from every corner of the state with 10,000 lakes showed up with their poker faces on vying to become one of the seven lucky winners who will head to Las Vegas at the end of April to compete in the exclusive 25 person national championship.

A lot of players arrived a day early on Friday night to play in the $45 buy-in put on by Shooting Star Casino’s poker room.  The final four players all chopped and impressively all four were MN poker league players, including Alison Kelley, Tony Grimm, and Robb Pahl who all chopped for about $625 a piece.

On Saturday morning there were a lot of familiar faces in the crowd as 58 percent of the field had been at one or more previous Minnesota Poker League championships.  There were also 12 previous grand prize package winners looking for a repeat, including two two-time grand prize winnersSkip Wood and Clay Lipke.

In a tournament with half hour blinds starting out at 50-100, we were settling in for a long day of poker, but these players didn’t mess around as the action was furious right out of the gate.  Within the first 15 minutes of tournament action we had lost our first player Corey Giwaoyna and a second only five minutes later.

By the first break and two hours into the tournament, we had broken three tables and chips were starting to move.  A couple of our early chip leaders in the tournament were Clay Lipke from Primetime Food & Spirits in Breezy Point and Wynn Santo from Erick’s Bar in St. Paul.  Wynn was able to get off to a fast start by knocking out four players in back-to-back hands.

By dinner break we had made our way to nine tables with exactly 90 players remaining.  After losing more than half the field, five previous grand prize winners remained, including Gina Bushey, Skip Wood, Clay Lipke, Jeremy Porter, and Dave Halverson.

Shortly after the 90 players got their cards in the air, the side game tag team re-buy tournament started up.  There were a total of 53 teams (106 players) that competed for free merchandise and cash.  It was a fun event as teams had a blast with this fun format.

After eight hours into this mammoth state tournament, players began busting out left and right as all-in’s and calls were shout by dealers every few minutes.  Soon, only 11 players remained, and spectators and busted players alike were at the edge of their seats waiting to see who would be the next to go.  Ironically that time came soon enough and instead of just one player busting out it was two, leaving us with a final table of nine.

The chip counts then began and the remaining nine players re-drew for seats at the final table.  Unfortunately for the two short stacks, they drew the small blind and big blind, which meant that they would need a lot of help as the final table looked to get rid of them first.  Sadly, it wasn’t meant to be for short-stacked player Jay Brustuen from Morris.  He was the first to go, leaving eight players a chance at seven grand prize packages.

The other short-stacked player, Nikki Wensauer from Parkers Prairie, was able to make one full orbit before she decided to go all-in.  Nikki was then called by five other players who checked it down.  Not able to overcome the odds, Nikki ended up in the bubble, which mean that all it took was 15 minutes of final table play before our winners were crowned, making MN Poker League history as the quickest final table ever.

In the end, the large crowd that surrounded the final table rejoiced and celebrated with these seven winners:

Jerry Anderson, Ultimate Sports Bar, Waite Park
Julie Hovey, Kandi Bowl, Willmar
Josh Manley, Kandi Bowl, Willmar
Eddie Ozornia, Kandi Bowl, Willmar
Derek Potter, Brothers Bar & Grill, Rochester
Clay Lipke, Primetime Food & Spirits, Breezy Point
Nick Wahl, Z103 Bar & Grill, Fergus Falls

This event not only marked the quickest final table in MN Poker League history, but it also marked the first time that three players from the same location (Kandi Bowl in Willmar) went on to win one of the seven grand prize packages.  And that’s not all-there was yet another MN Poker League first with Breezy Point resident Clay Lipke winning his third state championship prize package.  To date, Lipke has won more than $16,500 playing free poker in the Minnesota Poker League.

Thanks to all of those that came out to play in this championship event and congratulations to all seven players! We look forward to seeing you in Las Vegas at the end of April!