Jacob Perry wins the Venice main event of the Mid-States Poker Tour

The main event of the final 2022 no-limit hold’em poker tournament ended late on December 30th. A heads-up deal saw Jacob Perry win the title and $99,084 in prize money as the 2022 winner Mid-States Poker Tour Venice.

The New Jersey resident survived a field of 643 total entries into the $1,100 buy-in tournament to secure the largest payday ever on his tournament resume. He now has more than $470,000 in his career to his name.

Perry was also awarded 840 Card player Player of the Year points for winning. This was his third POY extension-qualified score of the year. With 978 total points, he sits just outside the top 600 in the overall standings POY extension ranking presented by Global Poker.

This event took place over the course of three days. While the initial two flights attracted 643 collective entries, only 71 players made it to day 2. Among those who went deep were two-time bracelet winners Joao Simao (64th) and Barry Shulman (56th), the five time bracelet winner Jeremy Ausmus (51st), Shannon Shorr (44th), Kyna England (41st), bracelet winner Ryan Laplante (30th), 13 times WSOP Circuit ring winner Josh Reichard (24th), bracelet winner Mitch Halverson (22nd), bracelet winner Joseph Di Rosa Rojas (21st) and Roland Israelashvili (15th).

The final table of nine was set shortly after 18:00 local time, with 2021 Venetian Card Player Poker Tour main event winner Ezequiel Waigel in the lead.

Peter Mullin lost an all-in three-way with pocket sixes to Abhisek Panda’s AK and bracelet winner Tamas Lendvai’s AQ, with Lendvai winning aces and queens. Mullin earned $10,548 in ninth place. Lendvai (8th – $13,341) ended up being next to fall when his suited KQ collided with Panda’s AK.

Richard Alati moved all-in with A-3 facing Angela Jordison’s pocket kings and couldn’t make a comeback. He earned $17,064 for his strong performance. Kenny Huynh (6th – $23,269) quickly followed when his K-10 collided with the AQ of a soaring Panda. Huynh came up with kings, but Panda made way along the river to narrow it down to five.

Jordison’s run ended in a battle of the blinds, with A-10 facing Waigel’s AJ. Neither player improved and Jordison was eliminated in fifth place ($31,335). This was his eighth final table of the year, with one title win and more than $477,000 in POY extension-qualified earnings accrued through those scores. Jordison now sits 33rd in the standings POY extension ranks accordingly, with 3,610 total points accrued in 2022.

Waigel won a race against two-time bracelet winner Nipun Java (4th – $41,573), with AQ suited to beat the pocket sevens that gave him the three-handed lead. Panda was able to battle early in time for the next big hand, though. Waigel moved all-in with top pair queens and an ace kicker, only to find himself up against top set Panda. Waigel was draw dead with a hit card and was sent home with $58,016 for his third-place finish.

Panda entered heads-up with 11,000,000 to Perry’s 4,900,000. Perry flushed in a big pot to tie it up, and then moved slightly ahead. The bottom two then began to strike a deal that ultimately resulted in the event ending, with Perry securing the title and $99,084 while Panda locked up $97,612 as the runner-up.

Here’s a look at payments and POY extension points awarded at the final table:

Photos of the winner via MSPT extension Chirping account.