Summer’s end always leads to the fall poker season in Minnesota. Running Aces Harness Park in Columbus once again hosted its Midwest Poker Classic (Sept. 19-30), featuring 11 events and several qualifiers. The structure-obsessed Allen Kessler even gave some input on the revamped blind structure shared by all of the events. The only thing that differed from event to event was the length of time for blind increases and the starting chips.
Matthew Alexander won the $1,100 main event for $47,428, his third largest career cash. When the final table was set, the average stack was more than 40 big blinds. And when heads-up play began with Alexander and Mark Sandness, they each had more than 70 big blinds. This highlights the amazing structure for the event. It took 18 hours on Day 2 to crown the winner. Next year Running Aces is considering having a Day 3 for the final table to cut down on the long days.
Main event runner-up Sandness also won the $500 NLHE deepstack event, giving him a truly outstanding series. Other highlights include Jason Seitz, who had a first- and second-place finish and two other cashes. Lee Surma had a first and sixth. The MPC events had a combined prize pool of $266,814 across the 11 events.
— John Somsky is the Ante Up Ambassador for Minnesota. You can email him at john.somsky@gmail.com.
Midwest Poker Classic, Running Aces
Event 1 • $500 NLHE
Entries 105 • Pool $46,342
Mark Sandness, $15,756
Event 2 • $150 Bounty
Entries 99 • Pool $7,425
Ryan Hayes, $2,524
Event 3 • $150 NLHE
Entries 117 • Pool $14,625
Ralph Bridge, $4,470
Event 4 • $70 NLHE
Entries 58 • Pool $3,190
Lee Surma, $1,168
Event 5 • Freeroll
Entries 260 • Pool $3,857
Anthony Oddo, $1K, ME seat
Event 6 • $70 NLHE
Entries 68 • Pool $3,740
James McMurray, $1,332
Event 7 • $230 Bounty
Entries 97 • Pool $9,700
Troy Devens, $3,295
Event 8 • $70 NLHE
Entries 81 • Pool $4,455
Jeremy Booth, $1,512
Event 9 • $150 O/8
Entries 62 • Pool $7,750
Jason Seitz, $2,924
Event 10 • $150 NLHE
Entries 92 • Pool $11,500
Kathy Windingstad, $3,821
$1,100 Main Event
Entries 159 • Pool $154,230
Matthew Alexander, $47,428
