The latest Major Series of Poker: The Tour JACK Cleveland Casino main event was won by a player with plenty of prior success on the tournament trail, including a World Series of Poker gold bracelet. James Anderson was awarded the top prize worth $165,303, and the trophy, which was his first win on this particular tour. The Ohio native has been on the circuit for years, and this recent victory at the conclusion of Labor Day Weekend took his career earnings up near $4.5 million.
“It feels good, the final table was crazy … The structure was really good and deep, so I just grinded it out as long as possible. This is originally my hometown. So, it’s nice to be able to come back here and get a win,” said Anderson to reporters on the scene.
The $1,110 buy-in no-limit hold’em event featured three starting flights that welcomed 892 entries. The total prize pool topped out at $863,740, eclipsing the $750,000 guarantee. The top 99 players all cashed for at least $1,800, and the final day saw all of them return for a long path to a champion.
From 99 To One
Anderson was one of the larger stacks when that marathon began, and he had climbed to the top when the final table got underway. That top stack afforded Anderson the ability to avoid the all-in pots until he took out Adam Durbin in fourth place.
Anderson took out Umut Ozturk in third place ($74,922). This was the third MSPT main event final-table finish of the month for the back-to-back MSPT Player of the Year. He is currently sitting atop the POY standings once again after his impressive run in August.
Anderson held the lead at the start of the final match against Haroldo Perez, but there was still work to be done. Perez took the lead back over, but the final hand saw Perez get all in holding K♦5♦ against the 8♣7♣ of Anderson. The board came down Q♦6♠5♥3♥7♠ and Anderson made a pair of sevens on the river to end the event. Perez took home $101,784 as the runner-up.
| Place | Player | Payout | POY Points |
| 1 | James Anderson | $165,303 | 912 |
| 2 | Haroldo Perez | $101,704 | 760 |
| 3 | Umut Ozturk | $74,922 | 608 |
| 4 | Adam Durbin | $55,937 | 456 |
| 5 | Daniel Wolf | $42,377 | 380 |
| 6 | Cassidy Clark | $32,206 | 304 |
| 7 | Matthew Hamilton | $24,578 | 228 |
| 8 | Rodney Colson | $19,493 | 152 |
| 9 | Shiva Dudani | $15,255 | 76 |
Photo Credit: MSPT.
