Matt Kirby Wins MSPT Northern Lights, $47,070
Matt Kirby had the home crowd behind him as he soared to a quick victory at Northern Lights Casino in Walker, MN. Kirby hails from Bemidji, just 40 minutes from Walker. His friends and family packed the rail to cheer him on.
Kirby held the chip lead after Day 1A and never looked back. He eliminated countless players throughout Day 2, often two at a time. He arrived at the final table with 1.65 Million chips which was half the chips in play. At no point during the final table did he relinquish his chip lead or even allow anyone within 700K of him. He finished off the entire field in record time.
Kirby and Mark Sandness of Minneapolis exchanged several small pots heads up for about 45 minutes. Then Kirby delivered the final blow. With blinds at 10K/20K on a K-J-9 flop, Kirby opened for 60K. Sandness raised to 155K. Kirby then shoved all-in. Sandness tanked for a brief time and called with K-10. Kirby unveiled 10-8 of clubs. There was no waiting as Kirby turned the straight with a 7. Sandness’ runner-up finish earned him $23,535.
Kirby has been a loyal MSPT player for a couple years and is well-known for never missing a qualifier and racking up multiple seats at each stop. He final tabled the MSPT Northern Lights event in 2010. This win earned Kirby $47,070.
The next MSPT event is at Meskwaki Casino in Tama, Iowa, July 21-29, 2012. That event is a $300,000 Guaranteed prize pool tournament.
| Place | Name | City, State | Cash |
| 1 | Matt Kirby | Bemidji, MN | $47,070 |
| 2 | Mark Sandness | Wayzata, MN | $23,535 |
| 3 | Gerrit Wierbos | Dent, MN | $15,690 |
| 4 | Brian Friesen | Winnipeg, Canada | $11,768 |
| 5 | Keelan Deuth | Prior Lake,MN | $9,414 |
| 6 | Curtis Larson | Keewatin, MN | $7,061 |
| 7 | Lee Surma | Maple Grove, MN | $6,276 |
| 8 | Mario Filippi | Little Falls, MN | $5,335 |
| 9 | Ned Weizenegger | Aitkin, MN | $4,393 |
| 10 | Jeremy Ensrud | Pekin, ND | $3,609 |
| 11 | Erick Wright | Shoreview, MN | $3,609 |
| 12 | Sue Roberts | Sartell, MN | $3,609 |
| 13 | James Gibson | Manitoba, Canada | $2,824 |
| 14 | Tom Hammers | Eden Prairie, MN | $2,824 |
| 15 | Daniel Holthaus | Monticello, MN | $2,824 |
| 16 | Blake Bohn | Burnsville, MN | $2,354 |
| 17 | George Amon | Remer, MN | $2,354 |
| 18 | Darren Ficek | Inver Grove Hights, MN | $2,354 |
May 20th, 2012 at 9:35 pm
Congrats Matt!
May 20th, 2012 at 9:52 pm
Was a poker “machine”
May 21st, 2012 at 1:29 am
Congrats Kirby! Nice payday!
May 21st, 2012 at 3:09 pm
Job well done, hope to give you a run for it at the next one. Enjoy your day.