Marc Harrell Wins Mid-States Poker Tour Minnesota State Poker Championship

A total of 885 entries turned out to Running Aces Casino for the 2023 Mid-States Poker Tour Minnesota Poker State Championship. The impressive turnout for the $1,100 buy-in no-limit hold’em event resulted in a prize pool of $856,950. After three starting flights and a final day of tournament action, it was Minneapolis resident Marc Harrell that walked away with the title and the top prize of $167,105.

“It’s a beautiful thing to accomplish,” Harrell told MSPT reporters after coming out on top. “I’ve put 25-30 years in this game so it’s been a long time coming.”

Harrell was also awarded 912 Card Player Player of the Year points for the win. This was his first POY-qualified score of 2023, but it alone was enough to put him within reach of the top 150 in the year-long POY race standings sponsored by Global Poker.

The final day of this event began with 103 players remaining and 90 set to make the money. Plenty of notables made deep runs, including Josh Reicgard (64th), Blake Bohn (29th), Rob WazWaz (19th), and Matt Kirby (11th).

Harrell was second in chips when the official final table was set, trailing only Matt Alexander. The two big stacks survived to three-handed action with Rory Linton, who ended up busting Alexander in third place ($75,754) with pocket kings holding up against pocket sevens in a preflop showdown.

Linton took a sizable chip lead into heads-up play with Harrell, but the two went on to trade the lead a couple times before the final hand of the event was dealt. Harrell had moved ahead thanks to a preflop cooler of pocket queens against pocket tens. He then pocked up AQ when facing a shove from Linton, who held Q8. The board came down AK35A to lock up the win for Harrell. Linton earned $102,837 as the runner-up finisher.

Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded at the final table:

Winner photo via MSPT Twitter account.