Greg Himmelbrand has won the Maryland Live! Mid States Poker Tour’s Main Event, after beating Justin Liberto in heads-up action, to take the first prize of $72,910.
It was the first time the MSPT had visited Maryland Live! and it attracted 270 entrants. The former World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner Adam Friedman finished 24th, and the talented Christian Harder finished 12th.
But it was the top three players who made the biggest splash. That’s where all the money hides, and it attracted three of the better players in the event. MSPT pro Blake Bohn has over $1.9m in live tournament earnings, ranks 4th in all-time MSPT cashes ($166,511), and 3rd in MSPT final table appearances (5). Bohn running a stone cold bluff on the eventual champion to fall short of his second MSPT title finishing in third place.
That exit handed Himmelbrand a 4:1 chip lead over Justin Liberto. Both players were pretty even in lifetime earnings, with both in and around that million-dollar mark. Himmelbrand started the day as the chip leader, and was looking to improve upon his runner-up finish in a WSOPC side event in Baltimore earlier this year.
Liberto was one of the toughest customers he could run into. He finished 6th at the World Poker Tour (WPT) Borgata Winter Poker Open Main Event for $140,878, at the beginning of the year, and he was up for a fight. He doubled: KQ v A3, before check-jamming his second pair, at the same time Himmelbrand was holding pocket aces. That was the end of that.
Mark Hodge currently leads the MSPT Season 6 Player of the Year race with 2,140 points. Jason Mirza is second. Himmelbrand’s victory doesn’t even get him into the top 10.
Final Table Results
1st. Greg Himmelbrand – $72,910
2nd. Justin Liberto – $42,966
3rd. Blake Bohn – $24,738
4th. Billy Jacobini – $20,051
5th. Vinod Moorjani – $15,624
6th. Tim Bryan – $13,020
7th. Nick Bond – $10,416
8th. Trevor Savage – $7,812
9th. Daniel Fisher – $5,208
