HomeNewsMid-States Poker Tour

• Luke Arora is the newest winner at the MSPT, claiming $83,773 at Running Aces last weekend.

• Matt Alexander, an MSPT Team Pro, was denied his first title at the tour, losing to Luke Arora.

Mid-States Poker Tour Team Pro Matt Alexander reached his fourth final table at the tour, but he couldn't overcome local cash-game grinder Luke Arora heads up at Running Aces as Arora claimed $83,773 and his first MSPT title while denying Alexander his first.

Arora, who doesn't often venture into the tournament scene, told event reporters that he is an ordinary in an area $40/$80 mixed game. He overcame a last table that included past MSPT final table regulars like Jeff Fielder, Mark Sandness, Jeremy Dresch, and Tyler Caspers.

Final Table Results

Place Player Hometown Prize

1	Luke Arora	Arden Hills, MN	$83,773
2	Matt Alexander	Minneapolis, MN	$50,264
3	Nathan Baum	Lincoln, NE	$32,604
4	Mark Sandness	Wayzata, MN	$22,786
5	Jeff Fielder	Des Moines, IA	$17,090
6	Jeremy Dresch	Fridley, MN	$13,403
7	Tyler Caspers	Echo, MN	$11,393
8	Andy Beberg	Stillwater, MN	$9,383
9	Dave Soderstrom	St. Paul, MN	$8,042
10	Steve Vang	Brooklyn Park, MN	$6,367

The tournament 347 players total, and tour regulars Jason Seitz (35th), Kou Vang (32nd), Ben Marsh (24th), Muneer Ahmed (17th), Joe Barnard (14th), and Adam Dahlin (11th) were some of the players making runs into the 36 paid positions.

According to the live updates, Sandness ran up a large stack with a hot run on the final two tables, busting Dahlin to get to the official final table with over 70 big blinds, well away from nearest competitor Dresch who had about 40.

After the primary few eliminations, with the blinds at 20,000/40,000/5,000, Arora shipped 496,000 from the massive blind over a raise from small blind Dresch, who called holding pocket fours. Arora held eights though, and the board ran out , keeping the eights best and moving Arora to about 1 million while Dresch was left crippled and busted in sixth.

Arora continued to run hot and scored another double after a board. He jammed with the and located himself the , good for 2 pair, held by Nathan Baum. Unfortunately for Baum, a king peeled off at the turn and the board didn't pair the river.

Next to head was Fielder in fifth, courtesy of a three-outer from Baum, followed by Sandness in fourth after he lost a race to Baum.

Baum's hot streak didn't continue, however, as he called off his stack on a board holding the . He was happy to look Alexander had jammed with the and he needed only to vanish the river card, but one among Alexander's many outs was the and it arrived to send Baum packing.

Both players had over 50 big blinds when heads-up play began, but Arora pulled ahead early. He eliminated Alexander after opening the button with the and having Alexander defend with the . The dominated became dominant after a flop gave Arora two pair, and the 2 got in a raising war that ended with Alexander all in. Two blanks hit the board, and Arora had the most important tournament cash of his life while Alexander was left padding a résumé that boasts greater than $700,000 in cashes but no victories on his home tour.

"He's a very good player, I just ran hot against him," Arora said after his win. "I just ran hot from the overall table on."

*Image courtesy of MSPT.

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