The 2021 Mid-States Poker Tour Venetian NYE $1,100 buy-in no-limit hold’em main event drew a field of 851 entries, blowing away the $500,000 guarantee to create a final prize pool of $821,215. Just one day before 2022 arrived, Japan’s Masashi Oya emerged victorious with the title and the first-place prize of $161,780.
This was Oya’s first recorded live tournament score ever. In addition to the title and the money, Oya was also awarded 912 Card Player Player of the Year points for the win, putting him into a 13-way tie for 378th place in the POY rankings sponsored by Global Poker.
The event featured two startling flights and then one additional day to play down to a champion. The final day kicked off with 103 players remaining. The top 90 finishers made the money, with a min-cash being worth $2,135.
Plenty of big names made deep runs in this year-ending event, including 2019 World Poker Tour Venetian champion Ben Palmer (53rd – $2,628), 2021 WPT Venetian main event winner and 2nd-ranked POY contender Qing Liu (33rd – $3,285), 11th-ranked POY contender Shannon Shorr (32nd – $3,285), MSPT Riverside champion Daniel Sepiol (25th – $3,860), bracelet winner Ryan Laplante (24th – $4,599), WPT ARIA Summer Championship winner Matthew Wantman (19th – $5,502), and seven-time MSPT final tablist Nicholas Pupillo (18th – $6,734).
2016 MSPT Firekeepers main event winner Aaron Massey finished seventh for $24,472 and 228 POY points. This was his sixth MSPT main event final table finish and his 15th cash. He now has more than $466,000 in total earnings on the tour and nearly $4.7 million in total tournament scores to his name.
2018 MSPT Canterbury Park main event winner Rob WazWaz placed fourth for $58,717 at his 10th final-table showing on the tour. In the end, it came down to a heads-up battle between Oya and Jerry Payne for the title. Oya emerged victorious to secure the title, while Payne took home $108,154 as the runner-up finisher.
Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded at the final table:
| Place | Player | Earnings (USD) | POY Points |
| 1 | Masashi Oya | $161,780 | 912 |
| 2 | Jerry Payne | $108,154 | 760 |
| 3 | Kelly Kielbasa | $78,262 | 608 |
| 4 | Rob WazWaz | $58,717 | 456 |
| 5 | Thu Nguyen | $43,935 | 380 |
| 6 | Ronald West | $32,849 | 304 |
| 7 | Aaron Massey | $24,472 | 228 |
| 8 | Christopher Paolino | $18,231 | 152 |
| 9 | Mohammed Bennane | $13,961 | 76 |
Winner photo via MSPT’s official Twitter account.
