Bob Whalen Wins MSPT Venetian Poker Bowl IV for $140,152
The fourth edition of the Mid-States Poker Bowl (MSPT) $1,100 buy-in Poker Bowl at The Venetian in Las Vegas featured a $1 million guarantee, and a massive turnout of 1,093 entries over three starting flights resulted in a $1,060,210 prize pool.
On Saturday night, the day before the NFL Super Bowl LIV between the San Francisco 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs, a winner was crowned in the MSPT Poker Bowl IV after Bob Whalen began as the Day 2 chip leader and rode it to victory after a five-way deal was struck.
Whalen took $140,152 as a part of that deal, which was a new career-high surpassing the $129,967 he previously won back in 2009 after taking down a Heartland Poker Tour (HPT) Main Event. In 2008, he also finished 79th in the World Series of Poker Main Event for $77,200.
Whalen, formerly from Wisconsin, has lived in Vegas for the past three and a half years playing about town nearly every day of the week. However, it wasn��t his first taste of victory at Venetian as ten years ago he won three DeepStack tournaments within a two-week span.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bob Whalen | $140,152* |
| 2 | Grachia Minasian | $100,682* |
| 3 | George Brady | $96,839* |
| 4 | Thomas Lust | $94,376* |
| 5 | Oluwashola Akindele | $85,004* |
| 6 | John Dennehey | $38,168 |
| 7 | Justin Young | $29,686 |
| 8 | Vadim Shlez | $23,325 |
| 9 | Eyal Al Revah | $19,084 |
| 10 | Kou Yang | $14,843 |
*Denotes five-way deal.
Among those to make the money at the top 150 were Terry Fleischer (14th - $11,662), Marko Pantelic (20th - $8,588), Poker Bowl II champ Kfir Nahum (22nd - $7,209), Kathy Liebert (23rd - $7,209), Sorel Mizzi (31st - $4,559), Brett Halan (41st - $3,499), Ashley Sleeth (47th - $3,181), Kenna James (60th - $2,863), Chipp Jett (66th - $2,757), Eric Wasylenko (70th - $2,757), and MSPT Season 1 Running Aces champ Joe Matheson (77th - $2,651).
Final Table Action
MSPT regular Kou Yang was the first final table casualty after running pocket fours into Justin Young��s sixes, and Eyal Al Revah followed him out the door after committing his short stack with king-ten suited only to see Grachia Minasian roll over pocket aces. Revah flopped a flush draw but bricked the turn and river to fall in ninth place.
The short-stacked Vadim Shlez was next to go after losing king-ten to Young��s ace-queen all in preflop, while Young himself bowed out in seventh running pocket tens into George Brady��s two black jacks.
Next on the chopping block was John Dennehey, who lost holding jacks to Minasian��s ace-nine after the latter made a straight on the river. At that point, the final five players paused the clock to discuss a deal. They came to terms, and as the chip leader, Whalen was crowned the Poker Bowl IV MVP taking down his first MSPT title.
| Dates | Edition | Entries | Prize Pool | Winner | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| February 2-4, 2017 | Poker Bowl I | 695 | $681,100 | Jordan Young | $117,381 |
| February 1-3, 2018 | Poker Bowl II | 827 | $806,325 | Kfir Nahum | $108,410 |
| January 31-February 2, 2019 | Poker Bowl III | 1,022 | $996,450 | Brian Wilson | $143,929 |
| January 29-February 1, 2019 | Poker Bowl IV | 1,093 | $1,060,210 | Bob Whalen | $140,152 |
Season 11 of the MSPT continues February 21-23 with a $1,100 buy-in, $300K GTD Main Event at Minnesota��s Canterbury Park. Once again PokerNews will be on hand to capture all the action. For more information visit msptpoker.com.