It’s that time of the year when birds fly south for the winter, bears go into hibernation and poker players in Colorado hunker down for some early winter tournaments and cash games.
Surely the most prominent tournament arriving with the cold season is the Mid-States Poker Tour at the Golden Gates Casino in Black Hawk, Colo.
The acclaimed tournament, in its fifth season, ran Nov. 7-16 and featured a $200K guarantee for its $1,100 main event, which began Nov. 13.
Reza Yazdi of Denver bested Wistar Holt of St. Louis to capture the main-event title and $120,765. The tournament attracted 500 players as Holt earned $67,900 for second, followed by Max Chrisp of Arvada, Colo. ($43,650), Kevin Boudreau of Colorado Springs ($34,678) and John Beauprez of Denver ($27,160).
The MSPT has made a previous successful appearance at the Golden Gates in March, with 453 entrants exceeding the guarantee and creating a prize pool of $453,000, leaving the victory to Dan Colpoys, who bagged a nice $114,156 return.
Up next at the Gates is the Colorado Championship, which runs until Dec. 15, and the $100K guarantee Players Championship on Dec. 28-29.
— Email Hans at anteuphans@gmail.com.
