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Former Mid-States Poker Tour (MSPT) Player of the Year Kyna England is two steps closer to joining the MSPT Hall of Fame after back-to-back deep runs in MSPT Main Events in Milwaukee and Las Vegas.

England finished 16th in the MSPT 100 Grand Stack Festival $1,110 Main Event at Potawatomi Casino Hotel for $14,898 on Jan. 31 before finishing tenth in the MSPT Venetian $1,600 event for $19,250 a week later. The Chicago native was recently named an MSPT Icon and is now seven Main Event cashes shy of the 25 cashes needed for MSPT champions to make the Hall of Fame.

Should she reach that milestone, she would be the first woman to be inducted.

“It definitely lit a fire under me now that I’m seven cashes away,” the 2021 MSPT Canterbury Park winner told PokerNews in an interview. “That’s still quite a lot. And I don’t put in as much volume as I did in previous years, so I kind of try and play the convenient ones. I have other focuses in life now; I have a job and I enjoy that.”

Back to Her Roots

England, who co-hosts the PokerNews Podcast, has a history with Milwaukee’s Potawatomi Casino Hotel. In her early poker days, England would drive from Chicago and play $250 satellites into the Main Event. “And then I would usually sell them and play smaller tournaments,” she said.

One trip, England won three satellites and decided to play the Main Event. She still remembers busting just short of the money after “making it all the way to the end of the day.”

“I still remember it,” she said. “It’s still fresh in my head.”

Now based in Las Vegas, England rarely gets to play Midwest events but made the trip to Potawatomi as the MSPT returned to the small Wisconsin casino for the first time since 2020. “I felt like that was a special enough thing where I wanted to go back and play it.”

It proved to be a successful trip as England first finished ninth in a $200 Ultimate Stack event for $1,043 before her 16th-place finish in the Main Event. Her PokerNews Podcast co-host Chad Holloway also cashed in the event.

Back home in Vegas, England navigated a field of local pros in the $1,600 Venetian Main Event before finishing in tenth, coming just short of playing on the debut stream of the Venetian Poker Studio.

MSPT Icon and Chasing HOF

England was recently named an MSPT Icon, making her one of a handful of successful MSPT grinders like Rich Alsup, Josh Reichard, Rob WazWaz and Blake Bohn who will battle this year for a $10,000 Main Event package.

The 2021 MSPT POY will also play as many MSPT stops as she can as she chases the Hall of Fame, including the San Diego and Battle Creek stops.

“They are really great fields,” England said. “They are big events, and if you do well you can earn a lot of money.”

For more on England’s poker career, listen to her interview on the Life Outside Poker podcast at the 2024 PokerStars North American Poker Tour (NAPT) Las Vegas festival.

Connor Richards is an Editor & Live Reporter for PokerNews and host of the Life Outside Poker podcast. Connor has been nominated for two Global Poker Awards for his writing.

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