Greg Himmelbrand Wins MSPT Potawatomi for $126k

Latest stop on the Mid-States Poker Tour (MSPT) was the Potawatomi Hotel & Casino in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, which kicked off on March 31st with a number of satellites and qualifying tournaments offering places through to its $1,100 Main Event on April 6th.
Greg Himmelbrand was one of the notable pros entering the $1,100 buy-in Main Event, and two days later he would eventually overcome a field of 635 players to claim a $125,958 top prize, as well as a second career MSPT title.
Himmelbrand’s latest victory represents his third largest to date, with his two biggest scores both coming in 2013 after finishing runner-up at the $1,080 Caesars Palace Mega Stack Series Championship Event for $241,060, and taking down the $560 Borgata Fall Deep Stack Re-Entry for $243,630. Following his success at the Potawatomi Casino, the 35 year-old pro with $1,610,803 in career earnings, said:
“Feeling good. This is the third one of these I’ve played and I’ve won two. It’s pretty sick. I heard Milwaukee was a cool city so I wanted to check it out. The tour is run really well. I like how interactive everyone is, so I love to come out and play when I can. With the big prize pools, I’m always down.”
$1,100 Main Event
The $1,100 Main Event featured a prize pool of $614,450, and amongst the recognizable pros cashing in at one of the tournament’s 72 money spots was Rich Alsup in 53rd ($2,273), Keven Stammen in 44th ($2,396), Mike Younan in 41st ($2,396), Kou Vang in 28th ($2,704), and Alan Cutler in 20th ($5,284). Ravi Raghavan then fell short of a final table appearance after his Q-10 was bested by Kevin Saul’s K-J, leading to his departure in 12th place for a $9,217 payday.
Final Table
Having held the chip lead with just a few tables remaining, Himmelbrand subsequently entered the final table as its shortest stack on a mere 11 bbs, while Craig Trost was riding high with 2.8 million in chips, followed by Kevin Saul with 2.1 million. Nevertheless, working his stack up a bit, Himmelbrand (A-Q) sent Cole Tautges (A-J) to the rail in 10th to pad his stack further, before doing likewise to Steve Alonzo in 9th.
His next victim was James Karaminis, who shoved his short stack preflop holding K-J, inducing a call from Himmelbrand with K-10. Unfortunately for Karaminis, though, the board ran out Q-K-2-K-10 to end his tournament hopes in 4th place, and soon after Matthew Buhler took care of Craig Trost in 3rd to usher in heads-up play for the MSPT title.
Heads-Up
Himmelbrand took a roughly 2-1 chip lead over Buhler into the final battle, with the deciding hand played after the latter check-raised all-in holding Jc-10d on a Qc-7c-5c-Qh board. Himmelbrand thought long and hard before making the call with Qd-2d, but his decision was ultimately rewarded after a harmless 9h fell on the river.
Matthew Buhler collected $76,806 for his runner-up finish, accounting for all but $6,428 of his career earnings, while Himmelbrand was crowned the champion. Commenting upon the last hand of the competition, Himmelbrand said:
“The only hands I’m beating are naked club bluffs. I would have called earlier, I even said I might be nit rolling, but the problem was he double checked his cards deliberately, so it made me hesitate a bit, thinking he might’ve flopped a flush. I just thought he has one club enough of the times for me to call.”
Final Table Results
1: Greg Himmelbrand (Bayside, NY) $125,958
2: Matthew Buhler (Madison, WI) $76,806
3: Craig Trost (Madison, WI) $57,144
4: James Karaminis (Barrington, IL) $42,397
5: Kevin Saul (Aurora, IL) $31,951
6: Josh Hergott (Highland Park, IL) $23,964
7: Umut Ozturk (St. Paul, MN) $18,434
8: Ken Baime (Glenview, IL) $14,747
9: Steve Alonzo (Beloit, WI) $11,060
10: Cole Tautges (Madison, WI) $9,217
Next Stop
Next stop on the Mid-States Poker Tour is the Golden Gates Casino and Poker Parlour in Black Hawk, Colorado from April 5-8, with its Main Event offering an attractive $200,000 prize pool guarantee. From April 12-15, the venue will then feature another $200,000-guaranteed MSPT Main Event, after which the MSPT will move onto Silverado Franklin in Deadwood, South Dakota from April 14-22.