June Kim Gets Home Court Victory in MSPT Diamond Poker Championship for $397,950

Season 17 of the Major Series of Poker: The Tour (MSPT) took the MSPT team to Talking Stick Resort in Scottsdale Arizona for the $1,100 Diamond Poker Championship Major Event.

The $1 million guaranteed event drew 3,220 runners, an MSPT record outside of Las Vegas, for a prize pool of $3,121,900 and saw June “Oh Geez” Kim winning his first MSPT title and $397,950 after defeating fellow Arizonan Carlton Taylor, who earned $345,649 for his runner-up finish.

According to MSPT updates, Kim was the only player during four-handed play who turned down an ICM deal, despite being at the bottom of the chip counts. It ended up being a smart move as he eliminated Gold Poker State Champion Zilong Zhang in third place before then reaching a heads-up deal with Taylor.

“I wanted to keep playing,” Kim told the MSPT. “This opportunity doesn’t come along very often, and I’ve made deals in the past where it ended up biting me, so I just wanted to play for the trophy.”

MSPT Diamond Poker Championship Final Table Results

_{*Denotes heads-up deal}

“I’ve Never Been That Excited Playing Poker”

Speaking to PokerNews‘ Chad Holloway after the victory, Kim, a Prescott resident who had $288,511 in live earnings heading into the event, said the career-best victory felt “f***ing incredible.”

“What a wild ride today was,” he said. “I should have been out like a million times. It was just an amazing experience, especially to have the rail behind me. I’ve never been that excited playing poker.”

The final day of the championship event, which PokerNews was on-site providing video and digital coverage of, saw 345 players return in the money. That included plenty of MSPT crushers like Anthony Scarborough, Justin Lynch, Season 16 Player of the Year Jake Long, three-time MSPT champion Nick Barksdale and MSPT Hall of Famer Rich Alsup.

There were a few PokerNews faces in the Day 2 field with Chad Holloway and Kyna England, the Season 12 Player of the Year.

In addition to the six-figure top prize, Kim also won a seat to the $3,500 MSPT Championship Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open (RRPO) in Florida later this year.

Side Event Winners

The series at Talking Stick Resort ran between Jan. 24 and Feb. 1, consisting of six tournaments with buy-ins ranging from $300 to $1,110.

Action kicked off with the duo of Tong Shao and Deng Yuxuan winning the $800 Tag Team event for $40,000 while the next trophy went to Event #2: $300 Turbo NLH winner Brian Perzinski. Meanwhile, Wisconsin’s Steve Dembiec won Event #3: $300 PLO for the third trophy of the series.

What’s Coming Up?

Now wrapped up in Arizona, MSPT will return to the Venetian Las Vegas Feb. 4-7 for the $1,600 buy-in, $1,000,000 GTD Poker Bowl X.

Also this month will be the Club Poker Championship at Potawatomi Casino in Wisconsin Feb. 19-22, which will feature a $$1,110 buy-in Main Event with a $1 million guarantee.

Here’s a look at the current MSPT Season 17 schedule. More details can be found at msptpoker.com.

MSPT Season 17 Remaining Schedule

_{*Images courtesy of MSPT.}

Connor Richards is a Senior Editor U.S. for PokerNews and host of the Life Outside Poker podcast. Connor has been nominated for three Global Poker Awards for his writing.