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NATION'S #1 POKER TOUR JANUARY 2019 DO 4 CONSECUTIVE $1 MILLION PRIZE POOLS CHANGE YOUR TOURNAMENT PLANS? FireKeepers’ MSPT events are exploding! October 2018 saw 1,271 players and the prize pool cracked $1 million! 4th consecutive MSPT pool over $1 million. You read right. One. Million. Dollars. Enter the Super Satellites, Main Event Qualifiers or fly in for the Main Event. It’s time to Get Your Poker Face On at FireKeepers. MSPT RETURNS SPRING 2019! MAIN EVENT MAY 16 – 19 $1,000,000 GUARANTEED MAIN EVENT PRIZE POOL Visit FireKeepersCasino.com or call the Poker Room directly at 269.660.5631 for more details. FireKeepersCasino.com I-94 to Exit 104 | 11177 Michigan Avenue Must be 21 or older. Schedule subject to change. Management reserves all rights. FK-33103_1.1_MSPT_Mag_8.375x10.75.indd 1 12/12/18 11:16 AM DO 4 CONSECUTIVE $1 MILLION PRIZE JANUARY 2019 Mid-States Poker Tour PAGE 3 POOLS CHANGE YOUR Letter from the Editor TOURNAMENT PLANS? FireKeepers’ MSPT events are exploding! BRANDON WELTER FLIPS WAY TO A October 2018 saw 1,271 players and the prize pool PLATINUM PASS cracked $1 million! 4th consecutive MSPT here was another big winner at the pool over $1 million. You read right. MSPT Canterbury Park, which awarded Vol. 4/No. 1 One. Million. Dollars. Enter the Super Satellites, Tone of the last available $30,000 Platinum Passes to January’s PokerStars President and Publisher Main Event Qualifiers or fly in for the Main Event. Players NL Hold’Em Championship (PSPC) in Bryan Mileski It’s time to Get Your Poker Face On at FireKeepers. the Bahamas. [email protected] A drawing was conducted in which eight Editor-in-Chief players were chosen at random to participate Chad Holloway in an eight-player heads-up Flipout Tourna- [email protected] ment. Those selected included two women in MSPT RETURNS Joan Sandoval and Jodene Jensen, two former Art Director SPRING 2019! MSPT champs in Dan “DQ” Hendrickson and Carolyn Borgen Mark Sandness, poker pros Kevin "1sickdis- [email protected] MAIN EVENT MAY 16 – 19 ease" Eyster and Eric Wasylenko, and two local Advertising Information players in Royce Cannon and Brandon Welter. [email protected] Ultimately Welter, a 24-year-old actuary for an insurance company, defeated Hendrickson, Story Ideas [email protected] $1,000,000 GUARANTEED Sandness, and Sandoval in three flips to win Brandon Welter MAIN EVENT PRIZE POOL the coveted Platinum Pass. In the first round, Our Mission he picked up pocket threes and held, and then in the second round rivered a queen MSPT Magazine is a monthly to advance. Finally, he flopped a pair of sixes on a 7x 6x 5x and held against Sando- magazine dedicated to serving val, who missed an open-ended straight draw. poker players and gaming facilities Visit FireKeepersCasino.com or call the Poker Room “A couple come-from-behind wins,” said Welter, whose biggest score in a poker through MSPT news, results, tour- directly at 269.660.5631 for more details. tournament has been $3,500. “I was feeling pretty nervous. I just tried to stay cool. nament schedules, player profiles and professional tips. Coupled with I’m super excited to go to the Bahamas. I’m sure I’ll get more and more nervous as our website, msptpoker.com, we it gets closer.” are the Nation's #1 Poker Tour. Mid-States Poker Tour Lakeville, MN 612-743-9847 Mid-States Poker Tour is published on or near the first of each month. All claims or guarantees are the sole responsibility of the advertiser. All comments and views of contributing writers are their own and do not reflect official policy of Mid-States Pok- er Tour which assumes no liability for any advertisement not supplied camera ready by FireKeepersCasino.com the advertiser. Reproduction or use in whole I-94 to Exit 104 | 11177 Michigan Avenue or in part without written consent from the publisher and Copyright owners is prohibited. Platinum Pass Finalists Must be 21 or older. Schedule subject to change. Management reserves all rights. FK-33103_1.1_MSPT_Mag_8.375x10.75.indd 1 12/12/18 11:16 AM Mid-States Poker Tour MSPTPOKER.COM JANUARY 2019 Mid-States Poker Tour PAGE 5 Player of the Year AARON JOHNSON NAMED SEASON 9 POY; EARNS WAY INTO MSPT HALL OF FAME BY CHAD HOLLOWAY ith the eliminations of MSPT Hall of Famer Kou Vang Wand three-time champ Blake Bohn early on Day 2 of Season 9 POY Final Standings the MSPT Canterbury Park, Aaron Johnson officially locked up the MSPT Season 9 Player of the Year title. Place Name Points Few players have had as much success in 2018 as Minne- 1 Aaron Johnson 5,967 sota’s Aaron Johnson, who has thus far won a career-high $343,587. On Sunday at the MSPT finale at Canterbury Park, 2 Blake Bohn 4,600 Johnson was named the MSPT Season 9 Player of the Year 3 Kou Vang 4,300 after leading the race for the majority of the season. 4 Alex Winter 3,850 “It feels amazing. It’s surreal to have a year like this where 5 Richard Alsup 3,700 you ship two Player of the Years on two different tours,” 6 Ian Matakis 3,375 Johnson said. “Coming into 2018 I wanted to have a good year, 7 Osama Aweida 3,150 but I would never have imagined I’d be in this situation right 8 Rob WazWaz 3,050 now. It really feels surreal and I hope it’s not a dream.” 9 Ronnie Lamb 2,900 To date, Johnson has $857,187 in lifetime earnings, which puts him 22nd on the state's all-time money list. Two years 10 Greg Himmelbrand 2,750 ago, Johnson notched a career-high score of $96,787 when he finished 72nd out of a field of 6,737 in the 2016 World Series of Poker Main Event. the HPT Belterra Main Event in southern Indiana for $86,189, As far as the MSPT is concerned, Johnson has 28 Main Event and also finished eighth out of 624 entries in the HPT Chicago cashes and 6 Regional cashes for $250,981. Six of those cashes for $22,377 before finishing sixth in the season-ending cham- were Main Event final table appearances with his best finish pionship. to date being both second to Rick Burleson in April’s 2018 That means Johnson has accomplished the remarkable MSPT South Dakota State Poker Championship for $39,181, feat of winning two mid-major tour POY races in the same and second to Ryan Skluzak in August’s MSPT Grand Falls year! Truly unprecedented! for $33,834. He also took fourth place in February’s MSPT To top it all off, by winning POY Johnson has also become Canterbury Park for $34,183. the third player to win his way into the MSPT Hall of Fame Not content to stop there, Johnson took down May’s MSPT alongside Kou Vang and Rich Alsup. Johnson did so by Grand Falls Regional Event outside Sioux Falls, South Da- amassing 25 Main Event cashes with either a Main Event win kota, good for $21,268 before placing 15th in the MSPT Fire- or POY title. Keepers for $13,715. “I’m very proud of that accomplishment,” Johnson said. “I Over the summer, he placed 226th in an MSPT Venetian wanted to get in the Hall of Fame. I had a couple shots this event for $3,936, and then finished 29th in the 2018 MSPT Iowa year but I couldn’t win a Main Event which would have put State Poker Championship at Meskwaki Casino for $2,375. He me in. So to get it through POY is just awesome. I hope it’s the also took 32nd in the 2018 MSPT Michigan State Poker Cham- start of more things to come.” pionship for $5,172. For good measure, Johnson ended up finishing the season Not only that, Johnson recently won the HPT 2018 POY finale in 32nd place for an additional 350 POY points to bring race. Earlier this year he topped a field of 394 entries to win his yearly total up to 5,967. MSPTPOKER.COM Find your WIN. Our comfortable 20-table poker room features tableside service and caters to real players with daily promotions and big-time tournaments like WSOP Circuit Events and the Mid-States Poker Tour: Wisconsin State Poker Championship (November 10—18) and other national/regional events. Choose from Texas Hold ’Em Limit, No-Limit Texas Hold ’Em, Pot-Limit Omaha, Omaha Hi and Hi/Lo, and Seven-Card Stud, plus a Bad Beat Jackpot with consistently large pots. 1721 WEST CANAL STREET | MILWAUKEE, WI 53233 | 1-800-PAYSBIG | MUST BE AT LEAST 21 YEARS OLD WINNERS RESPONSIBLE FOR ALL TAXES | MANAGEMENT RESERVES ALL RIGHTS | GAMBLING PROBLEM? CALL 1-800-426-2535 ©2018 FOREST COUNTY POTAWATOMI COMMUNITY, WISCONSIN JANUARY 2019 Mid-States Poker Tour PAGE 9 Event Preview MSPT POKER BOWL III TO TAKE PLACE AT LAS VEGAS VENETIAN JAN. 31-FEB. 2 BY CHAD HOLLOWAY or the third year in a row, the MSPT and the Venetian $107,381. Frist place was scheduled to pay $139,624. Last in Las Vegas are joining forces to offer a great year’s event, which attracted 827 runners, ended in a four-way Ftournament over the NFL’s Super Bowl Weekend. deal with Kfir Nahum ultimately taking the title and $108,410 The $1,100 buy-in Poker Bowl III will feature a $650,000 in prize money.