Ari Engel Triumphs at MSPT Potawatomi for $114,876

Poker pro Ari Engel is one of the most consistent grinders in the game, and true to form has claimed his second tournament title of 2017, this time at the Mid-States Poker Tour (MSPT) Potawatomi for $114,876. Last month, Engel also took down the $1,100 PSC Panama 6 Handed Event for $26,270, and following his latest victory now pushes his 2017 earnings to $320,477, and his overall career winnings to $4,580,792.
Commenting on his impressive win, Ari Engel, whose father is a rabbi and mother a Jewish studies teacher, stated: “There’s a Jewish holiday that starts tomorrow night, so I didn’t want to play any tournament that went into Monday. That excluded some tournaments. I was looking around and this looked like a good one. I was in Florida last week, went to the WSOP Circuit in Council Bluffs for one day, and then came here.”
The MSPT Potawatomi $1,100 Main Event was held at the Potawatomi Hotel & Casino in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and attracted 495 players to create a prize pool of $478,650. Amongst the notable pros then seeing a return on their investment was Nadya Magnus (42nd), Aaron Johnson (41st), Kenny Nguyen (39th), Carter Myers (26th) and Jeremy Dresch (16th).
Ari Engel subsequently entered the final table in pole position, and soon added further too his stack after going all-in preflop with pocket sevens and getting lucky by spiking a set against Patrick McCullough (8-8), who then exited in 9th place. Engel (A-K) followed up by doing likewise to Jim Juvancic (K-Q) in 5th, and after Carlos Monteiro (A-8) dispatched Keith Heine (K-4) to the rail in 3rd, the heads-up match was set.
The deciding hand eventually came down to an A-J (Engel) versus 8-8 (Monteiro) showdown, and after the board ran out A-A-2-7-5, Monteiro was consigned to a runner-up finish worth $69,405, while Engel was crowned the MSPT Potawatomi champion.
Engel spends his time traveling the world and taking part in various live tournaments that take his fancy. As to his next port of call, Engel said:
“I’m going back to Florida for the holiday with the parents, and then I’m in the tank between going to England for the partypoker Nottingham series of the WSOP Circuit in Cherokee.”
Final Table Results:
1: Ari Engel $114,876
2: Carlos Monteiro $69,405
3: Keith Heine $45,232
4: George Dietz $31,352
5: Jim Juvancic $23,933
6: Alex Ziskin $18,428
7: Brad Jansen $15,317
8: Dan Crawford $12,684
9: Patrick McCullough $10,722
10: Rich Alsup $8,137