Brett Blackwood Wins MSPT FireKeepers Battle Creek

On Thursday, October 13th, the Mid-States Poker Tour was held at the FireKeepers Casino in Battle Creek, Michigan, with 884 players showing up to create a prize pool worth $855,980. By Sunday night, Brett Blackwood eventually managed to triumph over the impressive sized field to scoop his first ever title, and collect a first place prize of $188,314.
The Michigan resident is a recreational player who enjoys the occasional game of pot-limit Omaha, but following his triumph at the no-limit Texas hold ’em tournament, Blackwood commented:
“It feels fake right now; right now it just feels like a dream. I was all in 14 or 15 times, often behind and just ran spectacular. The PLO bankroll was all right, but it just got a whole lot healthier.”
The $1,100 MSPT main event attracted a number of notable pros, and amongst those finishing in one of the 81 money spots was Michael Ferrarotti (80th), Ryan Dykhouse (78th), Adam Lamphere (44th), Mark Johnson Jr. (38th), Patrick Steele (34th) and Michael Hahn (17th)..
By the time the final table of ten had been reached, Brett Blackwood was the shortest stack remaining, but managed to double up several times against various players to keep his hopes alive. When just three players remained, Blackwood (7-7) then scored his first elimination by sending Griff Woodman (A-4) to the rail, after which it was left to Cy Church and Brett Blackwood to battle it out for the title.
At this stage, Church held an 11m to 7m chip advantage over his last opponent, and soon after almost took the title if not for his A-K being cracked by Blackwood’s A-J. Church was subsequently left with a mere 11bbs after his pocket sevens faltered against Blackwood’s A-9, and before long he was eliminated after shoving preflop with J-5, only to run  into Blackwood’s A-2.
Final Table Results:
1: Brett Blackwood $188,314
2: Cy Church $114,701
3: Griff Woodman $74,641
4: Vinh Ho $51,701
5: Jimmy Ray $37,663
6: Lars Cole $28,932
7: Aaron Massey $23,882
8: Satish Thakur $19,944
9: Josh Marvin $16,007
10: Nevada Saad $12,241