Gary McGlothlin Wins Mid-States Poker Tour Winter Poker Classic In Columbus

Gary McGlothlin is the winner of the Mid-States Poker Tour Winter Poker Classic hosted at the Hollywood Casino in Columbus, Ohio. The poker player from the nearby city of Delaware took home the largest score of his poker career, earning $117,814 along with his first MSPT title at the last stop of the tour’s 15th season.

“It feels great, it was a long weekend of ups and downs but it’s awesome to be able to close it out,” McGlothlin told reporters after the win. “The first text I sent people today was telling them there were 71 players between me and $100k. I continued that all the way down to the final table, and was told not to come home until I get first place so … I guess I get to go home now.”

The $1,110 buy-in no-limit hold’em event drew a field of 672 entries across three starting flights, ending in a total prize pool of $650,340 for the $500,000 guaranteed event. The top 72 players all took home at least $2,146, and that’s how many players returned for a long Day 2 that would see them play all the way down to a winner.

Players that made a deep run into the money included two-time MSPT champion Chris Meyers (23rd) and Umut Ozturk (21st), who claimed back-to-back MSPT Player of the Year honors thanks to his consistency on the tour over the past two years. Other familiar faces that ran deep included Andy Hammell (19th), Brian Hall (16th), MSPT champion Alex Cruz (14th), and the chip leader at the start of Day 2, Patrick Lacy (11th).

McGlothlin was one of six players to take more than 2 million in chips into the final table, but he stayed out of the way during the early going as Connor Burchwell fell in ninth place, and Kevin Stroud headed to the rail in eighth place. Lenny Pisano scored his second knockout in a row by sending Xayadeth Kayavong home in seventh place.

Louis Shade then took a turn in the driver’s seat by taking out Robert Councell in sixth place and Abdul Amer in fifth place. McGlothlin got in on the action next, busting Shade in fourth place for his first knockout at the final table. Pisano then eliminated Dalton Jones (3rd – $60,482_ and that gave him a 2:1 chip advantage going into heads-up play against McGlothlin.

It was already past midnight when the final match began, so after already playing 13 hours it was going to be an endurance test to determine the champion. McGolthlin doubled up twice, and Pisano doubled once to take play well past 1:00 am local time, and then they traded the chip lead before the final hand took place about an hour later.

That hand started with McGlothlin raising to 1.1 million, and Pisano bumping it up to 2.5 million before they saw a flop dealt KQ3. Pisano bet 1.5 million, and McGlothlin check-raised all in with K7 in the hole. That put him ahead of the A2 held by Pisano, and the turn and river sealed the fate for the tournament when they fell 710. McGlothlin claimed the top prize and trophy, and Pisano took home $96,814 for the runner-up finish to put his career earnings near $165,000.

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

This was the last MSPT stop of 2024, and the tour will kick off action in Las Vegas, Nevada for a main event running Jan. 2-5.

Photo Credit: Mid-States Poker Tour

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