11-Way Deal in Massive Monster Stack Tournament; "Crazy Carl" Crowned Champ
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This past weekend, Minnesota’s Canterbury Park hosted a $400 NLH Monster Stack Event, which attracted 1,116 entrants and offered up a $368,280 prize pool. That made it the venue’s largest-ever standalone tournament, which was quite the accomplishment given it's one of the Midwest’s longest-running cardrooms.
The prize pool, paid out to the top 126 finishers, was originally slated to pay $61,000 to first place with the runner-up slated to receive $41,280. Meanwhile, the 11th-place finisher was originally to receive $5,155.
However, no one received those amounts as the final 11 players worked a deal. Ultimately, they each secured at least $15,540 in prize money, while chip leader “Crazy” Carl Carodenuto, a well-known Minnesota grinder, was awarded the trophy and $44,000 in prize money.
Canterbury Park Monster Stack Results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Carl Carodenuto | $44,000* |
| 2 | Uri Foox | $22,000* |
| 3 | Ashish Gandhi | $18,700* |
| 4 | Ricky Landais | $17,700* |
| 5 | Lucas Campbell | $17,700* |
| 6 | Eric Eelkema | $17,700* |
| 7 | Nghia “3-Putts” Le | $17,200* |
| 8 | Alan Hilger | $17,200* |
| 9 | Jay Chaudhary | $17,200* |
| 10 | A.T. | $17,200* |
| 11 | R.F. | $15,450* |
*Denotes 11-way deal.
Other familiar names to cash the tournament were Steve Wazwaz (19th - $2,980), Kanat Ozturk (38th - $1,215), Rich Alsup (39th - $1,215), Todd Fisher (47th - $1,100), Max Havlish (66th - $970), and DJ Buckley (70th - $970).
It’s not the first time a tournament has ended with so many players working a deal. In fact, last June at the Wynn Las Vegas a $600 buy-in Ladies Event made headlines when the final 15 players decided to work a deal, which sparked a debate within the poker community.
Generally speaking, many on the outside looking in aren’t a fan of double-digit deals, but at the end of the day, the players actually in the tournament get to call the shots.
As for Carodenuto, it was just another win in his laundry list of poker accomplishments. He was the first-ever player to win three Mid-States Poker Tour (MSPT) titles and nearly $1.4 million in lifetime tournament earnings according to The Hendon Mob. That includes a career-high $313,078 for winning the August 2024 Arizona State Poker Championship.
It was the second big tournament Carodenuto won at Canterbury Park as he previously won the 2014 $300 Chea & Deep, which is now the venue’s third-largest in-house tournament ever with 916 runners.
Top Canterbury Park In-House Tournaments By Attendance
| Rank | Date | Event | Entries | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jan. 1-5, 2025 | $400 Monster Stack | 1,116 | Carl Carodenuto |
| 2 | Sept. 26-Oct. 2, 2015 | $115 The Ultimate $100K | 1,114 | Thomas Sawyer |
| 3 | Jan. 3-7, 2014 | $300 Cheal & Deep | 916 | Carl Carodenuto |
| 4 | Sept. 30-Oct. 4, 2013 | $130 Ultimate Overlay | 850 | Josh Oslund |
