Known as a commentator and on-air sideline reporter for PokerGO and the World Series of Poker, Jeff Platt has conducted many interviews but on Monday (September 5) he found himself on the other side of the mic. He scored a thumping victory in the 2022 Mid-States Poker Tour (MSPT) Venetian Fall $1,100 buy-in main event. He overcame a field of 470 entries in the event including his fellow countryman Russel McClean (2nd for $68,535), earning his first major live title for $100,804.
With the victory in the MSPT Venetian Main Event, Platt took his live tournaments earnings to more than $570,000, which include three six-figure scores. His largest cash yet was a $160,662 payday earned for a fourth-place finish in the 2021 WSOP $1,000 no-limit hold’em ‘Double Stack’ event.
“It’s awesome, I’m thrilled!. It’s hard to beat the feeling of winning a poker tournament. The money is fantastic but to win a poker tournament just means the absolute world to me.”- said Platt on his win.
The MSPT Venetian main event running from 3rd to 5th September saw a 470-entry field across two starting flights. Only 53 contenders entered Day 2 with Platt being among the chip leaders. It took six hours to reach the FT but then the pace of play slowed down with the pay jumps becoming more meaningful. Platt began the FT in the middle of the pack. A three-way all-in ended Carl Oman’s run, with his pocket sixes running into the pocket queens of David Yokoyama and the pocket kings of Michael Lydon. Yokoyama flopped a set and held from there to bust Oman in 9th place.
Trey Bartlett shoved the last of his chips with A-K and received a call from Platt in the big blind. Platt flopped a pair of eights to win the pot and send Bartlett packing in 9th place. Bartlett was followed by David Yokoyama in 7th place. Yokoyama’s A-2 was outrun by the K-J of Scott Sisler.
Despite scoring the elimination, Sisler was the next to go. He lost two key hands against Russel McClean. First, he gave a double up to McClean with his pocket queens not holding against the pocket kings of McClean. Then, he pitted his K-9 against the A-K of McClean who held to knockout Sisler in 6th place.
Michael Lydon’s run in this event ended when he raised with pocket fives and got three-bet by Sergei Kislinski. Lydon four-bet shoved, only to receive a snap-call from his opponent holding pocket kings. The bigger pair held up and Lydon was eliminated in 4th place. Following him was Kislinski, who shoved for 12 BBs with Q-10. McClean called with K-J and won with the board running dry.
Finally, it came down to the heads-up where McClean began as a chip leader. However, Platt won a huge hand to snatch the lead. Not too long after that, it all ended with Platt limping for 120,000 from the button with Ah 9h and McClean moved all-in for 1.6 million with Jd 7d. Platt called and the board ran out Qc 10d 7c 5c 9d, giving Platt the higher pair on the river to secure the pot as well as the title.
Final Table Results (USD)
- Jeff Platt – $100,804
- Russel McClean – $68,535
- Sergei Kislinski – $48,491
- Michael Lydon – $34,673
- Cody Wiegmann – $26,130
- Scott Sisler – $19,598
- David Yokoyama – $14,573
- Trey Bartlett – $11,055
- Carl Oman – $9,045