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Sergei Kislinskii Wins MSPT Venetian $1,600 Buy-In

Russian Player Bests Field of 238 Entries To Earn $73,019

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Sergei KislinskiiThe second of two Mid-States Poker Tour main events wrapped up this week at The Venetian Las Vegas. The 2023 MSPT Venetian $1,600 buy-in tournament drew 238 players, surpassing the $300,000 guarantee to build a final prize pool of $339,150. After two starting flights and a final day of combined-field action, Sergei Kislinskii emerged victorious with the title and the top prize of $73,019.

“It feels good to win something,” Kislinski told MSPT reporters after coming out on top. “I’m a cash player, I’ve been playing poker since 2007, and I’d play tournaments here and there but never won any, so this is nice.”

Prior to this win, Kislinskii’s top tournament score had been a fourth-place finish in a $5,300 buy-in six-max event during this year’s WSOP Online festival for $32,918. He now has more than $138,000 in lifetime earnings to his name despite not being focused on the tournament grind.

Kislinskii had plenty of tough competition to contend with down the stretch, including bracelet winner Giuseppe Pantaleo (8th), 2019 WPT Venetian main event champion Ben Palmer (5th), 2022 WSOP Monster Stack third-place finisher Francis Anderson (4th), bracelet winner Nicholas Pupillo (3rd), and 2023 WSOP main event third-place finisher Adam Walton (2nd).

This was the 18th final-table finish of the year for Pupillo, with two titles won along the way. The 256 Card Player Player of the Year points he earned for his latest deep run increased his total to 5,842, which is good for 11th place in the 2023 POY standings presented by Global Poker.

Walton moved to 45th place in the rankings thanks to his runner-up finish. He has now made six final tables in total, with nearly $4.2 million in total POY earnings across those scores, with the majority coming from his podium finish in this year’s World Championship.

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

Place Player Earnings POY Points
1 Sergei Kislinskii $73,019 384
2 Adam Walton $52,010 320
3 Nicholas Pupillo $37,695 256
4 Francis Anderson $27,807 192
5 Benjamin Palmer $20,884 160
6 Jose Demeyere $15,975 128
7 Sergio Fernandez $12,450 96
8 Giuseppe Pantaleo $9,888 64
9 Chad Lipton $8,008 32

Photo credit: MSPT.