After a little more than a month off, the Major Series of Poker: The Tour picked things back up at Riverside Casino in Iowa. Mike Estes was ultimately crowned the winner, earning $153,551 and the MSPT trophy. It was his seventh final-table appearance on the tour, and it took his total career MSPT earnings above $430,000.
“Phenomenal, best I’ve felt in eight years”, said Estes to MSPT reporters on the scene after the win. “The best part about this win was seeing Jess [Anderson] cry. I started playing poker back in 2012 in Tama, Iowa, and she’s been here with me at every one of them. I literally played for eight years (until 2020) without ever cashing a single tournament, and she was at every one of them. So during COVID, I really started diving into what I was doing wrong and how I could improve.”
The $1,110 buy-in no-limit hold’em tournament attracted a field of 815 entries to place the prize pool at $789,494, which was well ahead of the $500,000 guarantee. The top 91 players all took home at least a min-cash worth $2,047 with the prize money quickly escalating from there.
The final day of play saw everyone that made the money return for the march down to a champion and some notables lost along the way included MSPT champion Dan Sun (54th), MSPT Hall of Fame member Rich Alsup (53rd), T.J Murphy (47th), MSPT champion Anthony Scarborough (35th), and the defending champion for this tournament Jake Wilding (27th). The fall of MSPT champions continued after that with Tim Thorp (22nd) and Taylor Howard (19th), along with D.J Buckley just missing the final, but taking his MSPT earnings above $550,000 in the process (10th).
Nine To One
Chad Holloway. Credit MSPT
The start of the final table saw Estes sitting second in chips. Nick Barksdale was the first player to fall in ninth place, and then Estes got on the board by knocking out Rob WazWaz in eighth. A bit of time transpired before Justin Coliny busted in seventh place at the hands of bracelet winner and longtime poker media member Chad Holloway.
Jeff Kenny was out next in sixth place, and Holloway scored another knockout by sending Steve Dill home in fifth place. Michael Kreutzer was out next in fourth as the hour tolled past midnight, and the final match was set after Holloway hit the rail in third place. He earned $69,610 for his podium finish after his A-J suited lost to the A-3 suited of Jacob Long.
The chip stacks were almost even between Estes and Long when the last battle began, as they were separated by just a little more than a big blind. The penultimate hand that all but decided the winner took place a short time later, at around 1:00 AM.
Estes moved all in preflop for 11.3 million, and Long called to just cover him with 11.7 million. Estes held A♠5♥, and Long started ahead with pocket nines. The board changed the standings when it hit the table Q♦J♠4♠9♠3♠ to give Estes the flush on the river that he was still excited about in the exit interview.
Long held just over a big blind after paying out the double, and he fell in the very next hand to bust out in second place. That crowned Estes as the champion, and Long took home just shy of $100,000 to grow his career haul to about $450,000.
| Place | Player | Payout | POY Points |
| 1 | Michael Estes | $153,551 | 912 |
| 2 | Jake Long | $94,499 | 760 |
| 3 | Chad Holloway | $69,610 | 608 |
| 4 | Michael Kreutzer | $51,971 | 456 |
| 5 | Steve Dill | $39,372 | 380 |
| 6 | Jeff Kenny | $29,923 | 304 |
| 7 | Justin Coliny | $22,836 | 228 |
| 8 | Rob Wazwaz | $18,111 | 152 |
| 9 | Nicholas Barksdale | $14,174 | 76 |
Photo credit: MSPT.
