Season IV of the Mid-States Poker Tour kicked off at Running Aces Harness Park in Columbus, Minn., Feb. 9-17, and David Gonia of White Bear Lake, Minn., took down the $93,940 first-place prize and the diamond championship bracelet.
Though Gonia is a regular at the local tournaments around the Twin Cities, this is by far his biggest cash. In addition to playing tournaments on a regular basis, he plans to use his winnings to buy a house.
The event drew 367 entrants, which is 56 more than last year, and generated a prize pool of $354,491. Peixin Liu, also a regular at Running Aces, took home $51,401 for second. Matt Alexander, another tournament regular, won $34,031 for third.
Running Aces now prepares for the Ante Up Poker Tour’s Midwest Poker Championship, which runs April 11-21. The winner of the $1,100 main event, which begins April 18 (there will be three Day 1s), will be featured on the June cover of Ante Up.
Other highlights from this series include a couple of Omaha events and a slew of NLHE, including a $250 event that has five Day 1s (April 12-17) and a chip buy-back program for players who advance to Day 2 from more than one flight.
Throughout the event, satellites will be available for $65 through $250, paying out cash, $250 vouchers or main-event seats. Single-table tournaments will run as well. For more information about this series, please go to anteupmagazine.com/runningaces .
— John Somsky is the Ante Up Ambassador for Minnesota. You can email him at john.somsky@gmail.com.
