The Mid-States Poker Tour visited Canterbury Park in Shakopee, Minn., from Dec. 12-14 and drew 432 entrants. Peixin Liu of Blaine, Minn., took home $106,483 of the $416,784 prize pool after beating James Wilson heads-up. This was Liu’s third MSPT final table and his largest career cash. It was Wilson’s first MSPT final table and second MSPT cash. Liu and Wilson started heads-up play with similar stacks and battled for more than an hour before Liu emerged victorious. This was also the third MSPT final table for Leo Fussy and the second for John Reading.
MSPT POY: Kou Vang of Maplewood, Minn., did not cash at MSPT Canterbury and finished in second place in the player-of-the-year race with 3,150 points. He was 200 points shy of winner Michael Deis of Ann Arbor, Mich. Vang recently finished second at the Heartland Poker Tour event at Prairie Meadows in Iowa, losing to frield and fellow Minnesotan Matthew Alexander of Robbinsdale. Check out the Iowa column on Page 30 for a recap.
AWARDS: Jay Phillips has taken over organizing the Minnesota Poker Awards. The 2014 winners were Vang (Best Male Player and Most Intimidating Player), Heidi Roggenkamp (Best Female Player), Chris “Fox” Wallace (Best Achievement), Mike Lovelace (Poker Champion), Brian Soja (Nice Guy Award), Jay Phillips (Nice Gal Award and Most Entertaining Opponent), Marc Powers (Best Twitter @the_poker_joker), Tristan Wilberg (Best Cardroom Employee), Issac Tucker (Rising Star), Todd Breyfogle (Best Cash Game Player) and John Morgan (Fan Favorite).
— Email John at john.somsky@gmail.com
