Leslie Messmer of Horseshoe Casino Cleveland has won the inaugural Ante Up MPD (Most Popular Dealer) Contest.
Messmer garnered 42 percent of the final vote, which was open to the public. Barbara Jones of ARIA Las Vegas finished second with 33 percent of the vote. Emily Clemens of Hollywood Casino at Penn National Race Course, traveling dealer Miranda Miller and Brittany Thomas of bestbet Jacksonville were the other finalists.
Messmer will be featured in an article in the October issue of Ante Up Magazine and wins an Ante Up Poker Cruise package for two for the Nov. 7 sailing out of Tampa, Fla.
Ante Up’s MPD Contest began with dealers all over North America applying to be considered. Ante Up’s staff used a blind vote based only on the response to the question "Why should you be Ante Up’s MPD?" to decide which 10 dealers in each of five regions – West, South, Midwest, Northeast and traveling dealers – should appear on the first ballot. A public vote whittled those 50 dealers down to the final five, who won prize packages from sponsors including Blue Shark Optics, and a final online vote decided the winner.
