For the second time this season, the MSPT traveled to Bally’s Casino to host the Season 17 Colorado Poker State Championship, and the turnout did not disappoint.

A total of 757 entries were tallied after three starting flights, generating a $732,790 prize pool and on Sunday, 84 players returned for Day 2 action, and after roughly 12 hours of action, it was Andrew "Hunter" Willis, who battled his way through the challenging final-day field en route to a career-best $134,066 first-place prize and his first MSPT title and Gold Card!

“It’s incredible,” Willis said after his win, “I haven’t played live poker in over a year because I had my first child (a baby boy) last spring, so I’ve been pretty focused with family, but Thursday was my birthday and I kind of used that as an excuse to come and play, so I’m excited to add this trophy to his shelf.”

Not only was it the perfect excuse for a weekend getaway, but Willis was able to add the cherry on top by walking away with a career payday and the MSPT Season 17 Colorado Poker State Championship.

With the victory, Willis also earned himself a $3,500 seat into the MSPT Championship Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open (RRPO), which will be held at the Seminole Hard Rock in Hollywood, Florida, Nov. 18 – Dec. 2, a $2,000,000 GTD Main Event in which he is very excited to attend.

“It’s awesome,” Willis said after finding out he won the seat, “I used to live down in South Florida, and it’s actually where I cut my teeth in poker, at The Seminole Hard Rock, so I’m super excited, and it should be a very cool experience.”

MSPT Season 17 Colorado Poker State Championship Final Table Results

Day 2 Action

The final day came back with 84 players already in the money, and action kicked right into gear with Randy Nguyen finding a triple-up in the very first hand, while Dan Pope was the first person to walk to the payout desk, and MSPT Champ Steve Wilkie followed him to the line as part of the first batch of eliminations.

Players then started dropping like flies in the dense Mountain air as MSPT Hall of Famer Umut Ozturk (51^st Place - $2,464), 2023 Black Hawk Champ Alex Cruz (49^th Place – $2,464), January’s Main Event Champ Vincent Moscati (43^rd Place - $2,681), and defending champ Antonio Vargas (33^rd Place - $3,189) all fell in quick succession of each other.

After Vargas hit the deck, there were no former champs left in the field and the race to the title continued with Barb Visher (29^th Place - $3,189), the MSPT’s top casher DJ Buckley (20^th Place - $6,087), Sergio Martinez (14^th Place - $8,696), and Anthony Bublitz (10^th Place - $10,798) all falling before the final table.

Final Table Action

Once the player took their seats, action picked right up with Stefan Berkower’s set of eights being wheeled out the door by Keith Love’s ace-four offsuit, making him the first final table elimination, while Randy Nguyen got caught on Erik Macias’ fishing line to follow him to the payout desk.

A few hands later, Justin Dreiling rivered a full house for a triple-up, only to become the next final table fatality after he was straightened out by Diego Rodriguez on the river, while Rodriguez was next up on the chopping block after he lost back-to-back races to take a sixth-place exit for $28,262.

After Rodriguez’s departure, Luan “Soy” Do found a pair of sixes to get his remaining stack in the middle, only to have Eddie Apodaca roll over a pair of cowboys to end his run in fifth place for $36,958.

With four players remaining, Apodaca was starting to run away with the chip lead until Keith Love rivered Broadway to eliminate Erik Macias in fourth place for $48,915, evening out the top of the leaderboard.

The chips were then pretty evenly dispersed between Love and Apodaca, with Willis needing to make a move, and he did as he set up Apodaca to take the chip lead, sending him to the bottom of the totem pole.

After receiving a double, Apodaca found a strong ace-queen to try and find another, only to have Willis wake up with Big Slick in the big blind, ending his run in third place for $65,221.

After Apodaca hit the deck, it didn’t take long for the final two to agree upon an ICM deal and battle it out for the title, and the duel wouldn’t last long, as Willis picked-up back-to-back pocket pairs to send Love home a second-place finish for $100,000, while Willis secured the MSPT Season 17 Colorado Poker State Championship for his first career title and score of $134,066.

This wraps up our coverage of this year’s Colorado Poker State Championship, but Season 17 of the MSPT continues as we will be making our first-ever trip to Rivers Casino in Des Plaines, IL next (August 4^th - 9^th), and our reporting team will be on hand providing updates for the $750K GTD $1,110 Illinois Poker State Championship, so make sure to come back!