Jeffrey Copeland Wins Mid-States Poker Tour Stop In St. LouisLocal Player From Missouri Added To His Long List Of Tournament Wins With First MSPT Title |
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Jeffrey Copeland won the Mid-States Poker Tour stop at the Hollywood Casino in St. Louis, Missouri on Dec. 8 for a payday worth $85,871, taking his career earnings close to $800,000. The local player now holds 15 tournament victories, with this being his first MSPT title. It was the largest score on his poker resume, and it came at his hometown casino.
“I can’t even describe it right now. It’s something we all dream about as poker players,” said Copeland after the win to reporters. He continued, “Not only to win but one of these, an MSPT, it’s the epitome of what we seek out to achieve, and to do it in my home casino is just indescribable.”
The $1,110 buy-in no-limit hold’em tournament attracted 402 entries over three starting flights to put the total prize pool at $388,480 to top the guarantee. The top 43 players took home at least $2,245 in prize money.
All of those players returned for Day 2 with the march down to a champion set to finish the last day of the tournament. Notables that made a deep run in the tournament included MSPT champion Keith Heine (20th), Josh Wisdom (17th), Mark Lafata, MSPT champion Tim Thorp, and MSPT Hall of Famer Aaron Johnson (10th).
Copeland was in the middle of the pack when cards got into the air among the final nine players, but he quickly increased his stack by taking out Brad Heitmeyer in ninth place. Bill Romer (eighth) and MSPT Player of the Year points leader Umut Ozturk (seventh) were the next two to fall in the same hand, which was won by John Ro.
The next bustout was scored by Copeland, who eliminated Benjamin Teston in sixth place to climb toward the chip lead. Brett Reichard then fell in fifth place, and Copeland scored another knockout when he disposed of Casey Blakeley in fourth place. Three-handed play saw a couple of double ups transpire before Copeland took out Cody Bartlett in third place to continue his heater at the final table.
Copeland took a 7:5 advantage into the start of the heads-up final against Ro. The first major clash between the final two players bumped that advantage up to a 3:1 ratio for Copeland, and the next big hand settled the tournament result.
In that final hand the chips got all in with the flop reading 8
65
, and Ro had his tournament hopes pinned on A
9 in the hole. Copeland hit the flop well holding 8
6 for top two pair, and he faded the straight draw of Ro as the turn and river fell 2 and K. Ro took home $53,132 for the runner-up finish, and that was the largest score of his tournament career by far.
Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded at the final table:
| Place | Player | Earnings | POY Points |
| 1 | Jeffrey Copeland | $85,871 | 720 |
| 2 | John Ro | $53,132 | 600 |
| 3 | Cody Bartlett | $38,704 | 480 |
| 4 | Casey Blakeley | $28,566 | 360 |
| 5 | Brett Reichard | $21,547 | 300 |
| 6 | Benjamin Teston | $16,477 | 240 |
| 7 | Umut Ozturk | $12,968 | 180 |
| 8 | Bill Romer | $10,238 | 120 |
| 9 | Brad Heitmeyer | $7,509 | 60 |
The next MSPT main event will be hosted at the Hollywood Casino in Columbus, Ohio, and it is taking place from Dec. 12-15.
Photo Credit: Mid-States Poker Tour
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