Ken Pates Wins MSPT Running Aces Harness Park For $88k

Last weekend, the Mid-States Poker Tour rolled into Columbus, Minnesota, and after two days of action Ken Pates emerged atop the 338 player field to capture the title, and collect the $87,698 first-place prize.
The $1,000 buy-in MSPT tournament created a prize pool worth $324,808, with a whole host of pros also turning out for the popular event. Amongst those notables falling short of a money prize was Matt Kirby, Jonathan Olson, Marc Powers, and Jeff Bryan. Faring slightly better, but falling short of a final table appearance, was Mike Wilmes in 30th ($2,014), Tony Hartmann in 28th ($2,014), defending champion Mark Sandness in 22nd ($2,274), and John “JohnnyGstaks” Hayes in 18th ($2,777).
By the time the final table had been reached, it contained three previous MSPT champions in the guise of Jason Seitz, Jeremy Dresch, and Ben Marsh, all of whom were eliminated in 9th, 8th, and 6th place, respectively.
Dennis Stevermer (A-J) then dispatched Dan Shogren (A-K) to the rail in 5th for $19,164, and after Ken Pates (Q-Q) severely short-stacked Ervin Bjerga (7-7), he too was soon gone in 3rd ($30,305), leaving Pates and Stevermer to battle it out for the title.
A brief, aggressive affair then ensued culminating in Pates (Kd-Qs) and Stevermer (5h-3h) going all-in on a Ks-Jh-6s-2h board. The river, however, produced a harmless 6d, and so Stevermer had to content himself with a runner-up finish worth $48,721, while Ken Pates was crowned the champion.
Final Table Results:
1  Ken Pates    $87,698
2  D. Stevermer    $48,721
3  Ervin Bjerga    $30,305
4  Steve Vang    $24,361
5  Dan Shogren    $19,164
6  Ben Marsh    $15,753
7  W. Vincent   $12,660
8  Jason Seitz    $9,582
9  Jeremy Dresch $6,496
10 Bill Perpich     $4,223