Rich Alsup Became Tred tiger slotshe First Poker Millionaire On The MSPT

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Table Of Contents

• The Million Dollar Man
• Largest Event in Minnesota History
• Event #1 Final Table Results
• Minnesota Poker State Championship Crowns Winner
• Minnesota Poker State Championship Final Table Results
• What’s Coming Up?

The MSPT has been a busy tour. What was formerly known as the Mid-States Poker Tour but was recently rebranded to the Major Series of Poker: The Tour, is in its 15th season and has awarded nearly $209 million in prize money.

Here are some MSPT highlights from the past month that you may have missed.

The Million Dollar Man

At the end of March, MSPT Hall of Famer Rich Alsup finished 23rd in the MSPT Riverside Main Event for $4,329. It may have been a small cash, but it was also historic as it pushed him into seven-figure territory to become the first player in history to cross the $1M earnings mark on the MSPT.

Alsup went on to finish 61st in last weekend’s MSPT Running Aces for $2,700, so he now has 56 MSPT Main Event cashes – including 16 Main Event Top 10 finishes – totaling $1,005,321 in MSPT earnings. That includes winning the MSPT Meskwaki in 2015 for $101,229, claiming 2016 MSPT Player of the Year honors, and in 2022, taking down the MSPT Sycuan Regional Event for $20,070.

However, Alsup’s largest cash came in 2018 when he finished third in the MSPT Venetian for a career-high $273,430. All told, Alsup has $2,601,905 in career tournament earnings according to The Hendon Mob, which includes winning a gold bracelet in the 2022 WSOP Event #82: $800 NLH Deep Stack for $272,065.

Largest Event in Minnesota History

The series kicked off with Event #1: $400 Monster Stack Kickoff NLH, which attracted 1,315 entries to make it the largest poker tournament in Minnesota history!

Among those to make deep runs but fall short of the final table were MSPT Hall of Famer Aaron Johnson (38th - $1,422), David Gonia (24th - $2,844), and Chad Burton (12th - $6,033). Ultimately, it was local grinder Paul Cross claiming the title and $64,941 in prize money.

The win marked the second time Cross won the largest tournament in Minnesota history. Back in 2017, he topped a then-record field of 1,169 entries to win the MSPT Regional Event for $61,911.

Event #1 Final Table Results

Place	Player	Hometown	Prize
1	Paul Cross	Minneapolis, MN	$64,941
2	Long Lee	St. Paul, MN	$55,446
3	Nathan Rieck	St. Paul, MN	$37,984
4	Jack Daoheuang	Brooklyn Park, MN	$26,332
5	Anthony Scarborough	Mansfield, SD	$19,824
6	Colin Warner	Hermantown, MN	$15,084
7	Cash Garber	Minneapolis, MN	$11,636
8	Fabian Mayorga	Minneapolis, MN	$9,050
9	Randy Oyarzabal	Rochester, MN	$7,326

Minnesota Poker State Championship Crowns Winner

The latest festival at Running Aces Casino & Racetrack wrapped with the $1,110 buy-in Minnesota Poker State Championship, a tournament that drew 1,004 entrants (the second-largest Main Event ever held at the venue) and awarded a $972,380 prize pool.

Among those to make deep runs were Gennady Shimelfarb (11th - $13,500), Joe Barnard (19th - $7,907), Nik Stone (24th - $6,557), Aaron Johnson (28th - $4,243), and Loki Abboud (46th - $2,989).

While the tournament drew players from all around the country, it was local player Bee Yang claiming the title and $140,288 in prize money after a three-way deal.

“I think it’s something special,” Yang said after his victory. “I always believed I would be an MSPT Champion.”

On a side note, three-time MSPT champ Carl Carodenuto finished in third place in back-to-back tournaments. He won $110,000 at Running Aces and, two weeks earlier, placed third in the MSPT Riverside in Iowa for $57,097.

Minnesota Poker State Championship Final Table Results

Place	Player	Hometown	Prize
1	Bee Yang	St. Paul, MN	$140,288*
2	Jay Chaudhary	Plymouth, MN	$120,000*
3	Carl Carodenuto	Bloomington, MN	$110,000*
4	Michael Crawford	Bemidji, MN	$60,750
5	John Raiche	Hugo, MN	$46,285
6	Rory Linton	Apple Valley, MN	$35,678
7	Ben Marsh	Duluth, MN	$27,964
8	Garrett Dwire	Savage, MN	$21,214
9	Paul Carney	Bloomington, MN	$17,357

_{*Denotes three-handed deal.}

What’s Coming Up?

The MSPT will now head west of the 100 Grand Stack Series at San Diego’s Sycuan Casino Resort from April 24 through May 4.

They will then head to FireKeepers Casino for the $1,000,000 GTD Michigan Poker State Championship, one of the largest tournaments in the Midwest, from May 15-18 before heading straight to Ameristar East Chicago from May 20-26.

Click here for a look at the full MSPT schedule.