The MAJOR Series of Poker: The Tour returned to FireKeepers Casino in Michigan in early October, drawing a field of 2,773 entries over three starting flights in the inaugural MSPT Spade Poker Championship. The total prize pool of $2,688,310 for the $1,100 buy-in no-limit hold’em tournament surpassed the $1.5 million guarantee by seven figures.
In the end, it was St. Louis’ Merritt Kuhn who emerged victorious with $339,115 in prize money and the championship trophy.
“Feels really nice to win one of these finally. I’ve been trying for a while now but haven’t had too much luck with no deep runs, so to be able to take this one down that had such a large starting field, feels amazing,” Kuhn told MSPT reporters on the scene after closing out the win.
This was Kuhn’s largest score yet, topping the $84,264 he secured for a third-place finish in the World Series of Poker Circuit Horseshoe Hammond main event just a few weeks before winning this title.
Long Final Day Begins
The top 307 players made the money. They all returned for day 2 with the goal of playing down to a champion.
Notables that made a deep run included MSPT champions Nick Barksdale (48th) and Chris Meyers (46th). MSPT Hall of Fame members Josh Reichard (39th) and Gerald Cunniff (16th) also fell short of the final table that wasn’t set until a little before midnight.
Kuhn was top three in chips when cards got into the air at the nine-handed final table. The first three eliminations came quickly as Anthony Babic (9th), an anonymous player (8th), and Ben Luber (7th) all fell in the first hour of play. Kuhn then got into the elimination gold rush by taking out Robert Mitchell (6th), Roger Khoury (5th), and Michael McFadden (4th) to narrow the field to three.
Brian Jones exited the tournament next in third place, and once again, Kuhn was the player on the winning end of the crucial hand. That gave him a slight advantage over Raymond Mancini at the start of the heads-up showdown.
Heads-Up For The Trophy
Considering that the final two players had been playing poker for more than 14 hours in one day at that point, they soon agreed on an ICM deal. It gave Kuhn $279,115 while Mancini booked a score of $268,049. The pair left $60,000 in prize money, the trophy, and the title to play for.
The final hand arrived a little before 3:00 AM local time. Mancini got all in with J♣3♣ and a flop of J♦9♥8♠. Kuhn had him covered holding 9♥8♣. The flopped nines and eights held for Kuhn, with the turn 6♥ and river A♦ improving neither player. Mancini left with the six-figure sum he’d negotiated. This was the largest score yet for the mid-stakes tournament regular. After adding in his haul from this event, he now has more than $800,000 in career cashes under his belt.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Payout | POY Points |
| 1 | Merritt Kuhn | $339,115 | 1200 |
| 2 | Raymond Mancini | $268,049 | 1000 |
| 3 | Brian Jones | $172,720 | 800 |
| 4 | Michael McFadden | $134,711 | 600 |
| 5 | Roger Khoury | $102,343 | 500 |
| 6 | Robert Mitchell | $80,853 | 400 |
| 7 | Ben Luber | $61,782 | 300 |
| 9 | Anthony Babic | $39,218 | 100 |
Photo Credit: MSPT.
