Canterbury Park 2018 Fall Poker Classic a mid-stakes success

The Canterbury Park Fall Poker Classic in Minnesota wrapped up this past weekend, completing a successful tournament run of 22 events. The highlight of the series was the $1,100 Championship Main Event, which drew 409 entries across two starting flights and saw its prize pool swell to $396,730. By the time the dust settled, Nghia Le, also known as “3-Putts” in the Midwest poker circuit, took the title and the top prize of $69,798.

Le was awarded the victory after a chop agreement between the tournament’s four finalists. He had a substantial lead over his opponents that afforded him the victory and the remainder of the pot was split between Kenny Haider, Rich Alsup and Scott Drill. Drill was given fourth place and $41,679 and Alsup and Haider took third and second, respectively, and pocketed $49,000 each.

This was the largest pot ever won by Le, but he has several other impressive scores. He took 108th at the WSOP Main Event in 2008 to earn $41,816 and was the runner-up at the 2009 Twin Cities Poker Open, for which he was awarded $35,386. That same year, he finished in second at the Midwest Poker Classic for $22,415 and, more recently, made it all the way to third place at the 2013 WSOP Circuit Cherokee $365 NLHE event. That victory gave him $23,220 and, in total, he has earned $417,503 in live poker action, according to Hendon Mob.

The $3,500 High Roller tournament was the most expensive in the lineup. It only attracted 15 players and Justin Thurlow was able to ease his way to victory for $24,187. Aaron Johnson was the tournament runner-up with $14,513.