PokerGO Commentator Jeff Platt Wins Mid-States Poker Tour Venetian Fall Main Event

Jeff Platt has conducted many winner interviews in his years as a commentator and on-air sideline reporter for PokerGO and the World Series of Poker. On Monday, Sept. 5 he found himself on the other side of the mic thanks to his win in the 2022 Mid-States Poker Tour Venetian Fall $1,100 buy-in main event. Platt outlasted a field of 470 total entries in the tournament, earning his first major live tournament title and the top prize of $100,804.

“It’s awesome, I’m thrilled!” Platt told PokerNews live reporters after coming out on top. “It’s hard to beat the feeling of winning a poker tournament. The money is fantastic but to win a poker tournament just means the absolute world to me.”

We found the W. Love y’all so much. pic.twitter.com/vlnlZSRM9E

— Jeff Platt (@jeffplatt) September 6, 2022

While Platt is a broadcaster by trade, he found his way to poker thanks to a love for playing the game. The former San Antonio Spurs reporter, originally from Dallas, made back-to-back deep runs in the World Series of Poker main event, finishing 203rd in 2014 and 60th the following year. During those runs he met some of the production staff and kept in touch, a connection that eventually led to him auditioning for a job with PokerGO a couple of years later.

Platt now has more than $570,000 in recorded tournament earnings after securing this victory at Venetian, with three six-figure scores to his name so far. His largest cash yet was a $160,662 payday earned for a fourth-place showing in the 2021 WSOP $1,000 no-limit hold’em ‘Double Stack’ event.

In addition to securing the trophy and the money, Platt also locked up 720 Card Player Player of the Year points for the win. This was his first POY-qualified score of the year.

The MSPT Venetian Fall main event ran from Sept. 3-5. The field of 470 entries built during the two starting flights was narrowed to just 53 contenders heading into day 2. Platt was among the chip leaders to start the day. Plenty of big names hit the rail as play continued, including bracelet winner and World Poker Tour champion Jared Jaffee (42nd), WPT Venetian winner Qing Liu (45th), three-time bracelet winner David Pham (14th), bracelet winner and WPT champion Tyler Patterson (13th), and two-time bracelet winner Bryan Piccioli (12th).

Platt entered the official final table in the middle of the pack. A three-way all-in spelled the end of Carl Oman, with his pocket sixes running into the pocket queens of David Yokoyama and the pocket kings of Michael Lydon. Yokoyama hit a set on the flop and held from there to send Oman home in ninth place ($9,045).

Trey Bartlett shoved the last of his very short stack with A-K and received a call from Platt in the big blind, who only had to put in a few more big blinds with his 8-5. Platt flopped a pair of eights and avoided his opponent’s overcards to win the pot and send Bartlett packing in eighth place ($11,055).

Despite winning the big hand earlier with pocket queens, Yokoyama was the next to go. A battle of the blinds ended with his A-2 being outrun by the K-J of Scott Sisler. Yokoyama earned $14,573 for his seventh-place showing.

Russel McClean won two key hands against Sisler in quick succession, dramatically shifting the balance of power at the final table in the process. First, he doubled up with pocket kings against Sisler’s pocket queens. Then, he picked up A-K suited against Sisler’s K-9 suited and held to send Sisler to the rail with $19,598.

Platt earned his second knockout of the final table when his 88 won a race against the KQ of Cody Wiegmann (5th – $26,130).

Michael Lydon’s run in this event came to an end when he raised on the button with pocket fives and got three-bet by Sergei Kislinski out of the big blind. Lydon four-bet shoved, only to receive a snap-call from his opponent, who had been dealt pocket kings. The bigger pair held up and Lydon was eliminated in fourth place ($34,673).

Kislinski slid to the bottom of the chip counts as three-handed play progressed. In his final hand he shoved for around 12 big blinds with Q-10 from the small blind. McClean called with K-J out of the big blind and won when neither player found any help from the board. Kislinski was awarded $48,491 as the third-place finisher, while McClean entered heads-up play with 5,290,000 to Platt’s 6,460,000.

McClean overtook the lead for a time during the final battle for the title, but Platt won a huge hand with two pair to take a healthy lead. Not too long after that, the final hand of the tournament was dealt. Platt limped in for 120,000 on the button with A9 and McClean moved all-in for around 1.6 million with J7. Platt made the call and the board ran out Q10759, giving Platt the higher pair on the river to secure the pot and the title. McClean earned $68,535 as the runner-up, the largest score of his career.

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

Winner photo via @msptpoker Twitter account.

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