Antonio Vargas came into Black Hawk, Colo., and left as a state poker champion.

Vargas, from Commerce, Colo., won the newly-rebranded Major Series of Poker Tour’s (MSPT) $1,110 Championship event at Black Hawk Casino for $141,255, beating his lifetime best of $70,352 from a third place finish in the same event last year (The tour was known for years as the Mid-Stakes Poker Tour and before that it was called the Minnesota State Poker Tour when it was founded in 2009).

“It’s truly amazing”, Vargas said after his victory, “I came very close in this event last year, so to be able to close this one out, words can’t describe it.”

The trophy and first-place prize went to Vargas after he and Zach Whitney made a deal heads-up. Whitney won a $1,000 event at the Colorado Poker Championship at Black Hawk in 2013 for $38,000, which was his best cash until this one.

The Colorado State Championship attracted 875 entries who generated a $847,250 prize pool.

Once the final table was underway, Erik Macias was the first to go after moving his short stack in holding an ace, but unfortunately ran straight into the pocket aces of Cody Mondeau to exit in ninth for $14,940.

Shortly after, chip leader Andrew Dea saw his hopes slip away after a failed bluff attempt against Zack Whitney left him short. He soon was bounced in eighth for $19,085.

Mondeau was the next to fall, his run ending in seventh after Rich Dixon rivered a flush to send him to the cashier’s cage to collect $24,070.

That left former champ John Schroer as the last title-holder standing—until he wasn’t. Schroer’s bid for a second MSPT trophy ended in sixth place, which was good for $31,539.

Next to go was Thomas Fuller, who looked to get something going from the big blind, but found himself up against Dixon’s pocket aces. Fuller had to settle for a fifth-place finish and $41,499.

With four players remaining, Rahul Lal picked his spot in a blind-versus-blind battle against Whitney, but the flop left him drawing dead. Lal collected $54,779 for his fourth-place showing.

Three-handed play kicked off with fairly even stacks, but that changed after Vargas got maximum value from a flopped flush against Dixon. Moments later, Vargas wrapped up the knockout, sending Dixon out in third place for $73,371 and taking control of the heads-up match.

Whitney and Vargas then made the deal that would end the event after two days.

The MSPT is now at Grand Falls Casino in Iowa until August 10. The $1,110 Main Event and its $300,000 guaranteed starts Friday, August. 8.