Craig Trost Wins 2022 MSPT Iowa State Poker Championship For $180,145

Craig Trost is the champion of the 2022 Mid-States Poker Tour Iowa State Poker Championship $1,100 buy-in no-limit hold’em main event. The tournament drew 979 entries to the Riverside Casino & Golf Resort in Riverside, Iowa. Trost, a resident of Madison, Wisconsin, took home the trophy and the top prize of $180,145 as the last player standing.

“It just feels fantastic. I’ve run deep in a lot of these. I just want to thank my supportive and loving wife who is pregnant with twins, my family, my poker friends, and my dog Rita,” Trost told reporters after closing out the victory.

This was Trost’s first-ever six-figure score. His next three top payouts have all come in MSPT events, including a win in a $350 buy-in MSPT Regional event in his home state for $63,252. Trost now has more than $635,000 in recorded tournament earnings.

In addition to the title and the money, Trost was also awarded 912 Card Player Player of the Year points as the champion of this event. This was his first POY-qualified score of the Year.

Runner-up CJ Peake was at his second MSPT final table in 2022. In fact, he had finished second from a massive field of 2,330 entries in the MSPT FireKeepers to earn $241,290 and 900 POY points back in May. Peake now sits in 31st place in the 2022 POY race sponsored by Global Poker, with five total final-table finishes so far this year and 2,740 total points earned. He has also accrued more than $442,000 in POY earnings up to this point.

This event featured three starting flights, held from July 21-23. The 122 survivors from those starting days combined into one field on Sunday, July 24 to play down to a winner. Current MSPT all-time title leader Dan Bekavac came into the day as the chip leader, but was unable to extend his record with a fifth win. He ultimately finished 14th for $11,378. Other notables who made deep runs in this event included 12-time World Series of Poker Circuit ring winner Joshua Reichard (36th – $4,172) and recent WSOP main event 175th-place finisher Angela Jordison (5th – $46,458).

Jordison’s run in this event came to an end when her K2 was outrun by the KJ of Trost with the chips going in after the Q52 flop. The Q turn gave Trost outs to counterfeit. The K on the river was one of those outs, and Trost’s kings and queens with a jack kicker earned him the pot while Jordison was sent home in fifth place. She now has more than $620,000 in recorded tournament scores to her name.

Trost had entered the final table with the chip lead. After knocking out Jordison, he had pulled even further away from the rest of the pack. Peake closed the gap a bit when his K-Q suited won a preflop showdown against the A-9 of Austin Pasker (4th – $61,628). But Trost soon eliminated John Dennehey (3rd – $81,444), rivering a straight to enter heads-up play with 15,475,000 to Peake’s 9,000,000.

Trost made a big hero call with 82 on a Q32K3 board, picking off a bluff from Peake to take more than a 4:1 lead. Peake found a double-up soon after that to make it a match again. The two battled it out for more than an hour after that.

Trost had pulled away again by the time the final hand was dealt. With a board of 7436, Peake checked and Trost bet 500,000. Peake called and the 8 completed the board. Peake checked again and Trost moved all-in. Peake made the call after a minute of consideration, and Trost showed 52 for the straight. Peake had 43 for two pair. He earned $110,924 for his latest deep run.

Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded at the final table:

Winner photo credit: MSPT Twitter account.

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