Matt Porter Claims Top Prize At Major Series Of Poker Stop In Iowa

Matt Porter took down the win at the Major Series of Poker – The Tour stop at Riverside Casino in Iowa on March 30. He booked the largest win of his career worth $106,078 along with his first MSPT title. Porter is above $250,000 in career earnings now, and this was his fourth tournament victory overall, including two World Series of Poker Circuit gold rings.

“Oh my god, it feels so great, I’ve worked so hard for this and have come close with some deep runs, but my hands just never held, they just couldn’t hold … but they did in this tournament. I started playing tournament poker back in 2018. I’ve won a couple of WSOP Circuit rings with the biggest being about $30k, so this was by far my biggest score, but the win is more important,” Porter told MSPT reporters after the victory.

“Don’t get me wrong, the cash means a lot, $100k means a lot to a guy like me but a win is so hard to get, especially in such a tough field like this. There were so many good players in this field, every table I looked at had markings on the seat chart of people in the Hall of Fame and players with wins so to be able to get through this field, I couldn’t be more proud. Highlight of my year.”

The $1,110 buy-in no-limit hold’em poker tournament amassed a turnout of 618 entries, more than doubling the $300,000 guarantee to create a final prize pool of $608,630. The top 67 finishers all cashed for at least $1,800, with all of those players in the money advancing to the final day for another long march down to a champion on this tour.

Notables that exited on the path to the final table included MSPT Hall of Famer Aaron Johnson (67th) and Angela Jordison (59th), who recently earned her second title on this tour. The top 50 included other stalwarts of this tour with Umut Ozturk (50th), Rob Wazwaz (40th), Gerald Cunniff (31st), Kou Vang (25th), Rich Alsup (23rd), Mo Nuwwarah (17th), Ken Baime (16th), and Keith Haine (10th) all making deep runs.

The final table began around 9:00 p.m. local time with Porter second in chips. Action got off to a quick start with Jake Wilding falling in ninth and Dustin Hoffman out in eighth. Porter scored his first knockout by busting Varun Uppal in seventh.

Dave Grandin hit the rail next in sixth place, and then Porter scored a triple-up into the chip lead thanks to a pocket aces holding up. Jeff Petronack met the end of his tournament run next in fifth place. It was a fourth-place finish dealt to Mark Lafata after that, and Porter settled the matter of third place by ending Carl Carodenuto’s tournament in third place.

The start of heads-up play saw a nearly 2:1 chip advantage for Porter over Ramon Ziadeh. With the hour close to midnight, the final two players then decided to chop up the remaining prize pool to bring the tournament to a close. Ziadeh grabbed an even $100,000 for the largest cash of his career by far, while Porter grabbed $106,078 and the title as the larger stack at the time.

Final Table Results

The MSPT tour will continue with another main event in Minnesota at the Running Aces Casino that will run from April 10-13.

Photo Credit: Major Series of Poker.

Related Articles

Estonian PLO Series Sports Multiple Seven-Figure Events

Hero Fold Propels Shannon Shorr To Victory At USPO

Bee Yang Wins MSPT Minnesota State Championship

Most Viewed Articles