Matthew Davis became the MSPT Champion
The main event of the Mid-States Poker Tour, which took place at the FireKeepers Hotel in Battle Creek, Michigan, attracted a record number of participants — 2,409. Such a turnout led to the fact that the initial guarantee of 1 million USD was beaten more than twice. The organizers of the tournament with a buy-in of 1,100 USD managed to collect 2,336,730 USD, which went to the best 252 players. Matthew Davis became the MSPT champion and won the largest share of the fund in the amount of 344,446 USD. This is the first series title in the career of a Michigan poker player.
These are the biggest prizes won by Davis. Earlier, his best result was the amount of 98,120 USD, which he received for the 76th place in the WSOP 2019 main event. In total, the American won 545,000 USD during his career. Davis had serious support in the person of the WSOP main event champion Joe Cada. The 4-time WSOP champion supported his countryman and congratulated him on social media after the tournament.
- Matthew Davis — 344,446 USD
- Rinaldo Teodoro — 212,511 USD
- Jason Zarlenga — 158,796 USD
- Adam Williams — 123,767 USD
- Justin Pimpedly — 94,810 USD
- Christopher Moon — 74,727 USD
- Alex Farcas — 58,381 USD
- Ronald Puleo — 45,537 USD
- Alec Magdan — 36,196 USD
In addition to the trophy and money, Davis earned rating points. 1,080 points for the victory was enough for the player to enter the top 400 of the CardPlayer rating. Before that, in 2022, the player did not receive points.
In the heads-up Matthew Davis played with Rinaldo Teodoro
After three starting flights, there were still 303 players left in the game, while the champion had to be determined on the same day. Davis had the 243rd largest stack, and the chip leader was MSPT champion Dan Bekavac, who eventually settled on 44th place. Other famous poker players who won prizes included Jean Gaspard, Aaron Massey, Keven Stammen, Jake Bazeley, Brek Schutten, Craig Trost, Joe Cada and Soheb Porbandarwala.
When the action at the final table started, Davis was ranked 7th in the chip count table. He managed to outplay Alec Magdan (9th place — 36,196 USD), Ronald Puleo (8th place — 45,537 USD) and Alex Farkas (7th place — 58,381 USD), and he was still at the bottom of the table. After that, Davis managed to double the stack due to a victory over Chris Moon and rise in the chip count. Then Moon failed to cope with the chip leader of the final table, Jason Zarlenga, and finished 6th (74,727 USD).
Davis beat Justin Pimpedly with pocket tens (5th place — 94,810 USD). Then he beat Adam Williams with pocket sevens (4th place — 123,767 USD) and became a chip leader. By this time, Zarlenga had lost almost all of his stack, remaining with five BB. He went all-in with K-Q, and Davis opposed him with A-9. Davis got an ace on the flop, Zarlenga collected a couple of queens on the turn. None of the players improved on the river, and Zarlenga went home.
In the heads-up Matthew Davis played with Rinaldo Teodoro. In the final hand, Davis had pocket sevens, Teodoro had A-6. In the end, Teodoro put together a pair, Davis — set. Teodoro became a runner-up and earned 212,511 USD.