The 2025 Free Poker Network (FPN) Desert Dash-for-Cash National Championship in Las Vegas reached its finale tonight with the Desert Dash-For-Cash Championship Main Event as Marion Massmann won $25,000 and brought another title to Billy’s Bar & Grill in Vergas, Minnesota.
Massmann won her seat in July 2024 in an event commemorating the 20th anniversary of a poker raid in Minnesota. It was fitting that her run came as FPN celebrates an anniversary of its own.
In a winner’s interview, 78-year-old Massmann told PokerNews her kids were watching her from afar and rooting for her. Meanwhile, she had a supportive rail of Minnesotans in the Golden Nugget ballroom cheering her on.
“It was awesome,” Massmann said about the support she received. “The cheering that they did, I just loved it.”
The event had 404 qualifiers, the largest-ever field for an FPN championship event, and battled down to a final table that included John Ford, Elisabeth Walker, Fred Morales and runner-up Skyler Sand of North Dakota. Massmann was down to just 1,700 in chips at one point in the event but came back to earn the more than 10 million chips in play.
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FPN Desert Dash-For-Cash Championship Main Event Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Prize (In USD) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Marion Massmann | $25,000 |
| 2 | Skyler Sand | $15,000 |
| 3 | Fred Morales | $8,100 |
| 4 | Elisabeth Walker | $5,000 |
| 5 | John Ford | $4,300 |
| 6 | Suzanne Barsalow | $3,400 |
| 7 | Joe Manno | $2,600 |
| 8 | Wendy D’Andrea | $2,170 |
| 9 | Sue Liskunas | $1,750 |
Schaefers Hits Quads
The Golden Nugget ballroom was electric despite the early start time as hundreds of players vied for a shot at the champion title.
Within the first orbit, South Dakota’s Glenn Schaefers hit quads twice after two decades of playing poker in Sioux Falls bars like Shenanigans, The Thirsty Duck and Woody’s in Sioux Falls. Schaefers told PokerNews he has won $4,000 this trip including with back-to-back victories in the Nugget nightly tournament.
Bill Easson went out on the money bubble in 37th place in a three-way pot against Jessica Peca and Massmann. Action sped up from their as remaining players locked up a minimum cash of $720.
Final Table Action
Everyone was happy to see five women at the nine-handed final table, but two of them were the first to go as Sue Liskunas and Wendy D’Andrea were eliminated in ninth and eighth place.
Next to go was Joe Manno followed by Illinois’ Suzanne Barsalow and John Ford representing Pennsylvania’s Windbur Hotel and Pub, who were eliminated in a double knockout at the hands of Sand.
The field narrowed further as Elisabeth Walker and Fred Morales bowed out before a brief heads-up battle that saw Sand’s ace-four being outflopped by Massmann’s king-five.
“The king-five is now the Marion hand!” some yelled on the rail.
Wrapping up FPN at the Nugget
The end of the Main Event wraps up PokerNews coverage of the FPN Desert Dash-for-Cash National Championship at Las Vegas’ Golden Nugget.
Earlier in the series, lat year’s FPN ‘Step in the Ring’ National Championship winner Craig Ashley took down the $200 WPT Passport event as the Illinois resident earned a $5,000 passport to any 2025 WPT event.
On Saturday, the father-son duo of Brett and Austin Emerick won the Tag Team Championship after getting through a final table that included the mother-son duo of Susan and Lester Hauglid.
Read About the FPN Tag Team Championship!
*Lead photo courtesy Free Poker Network
Editor & Live Reporter U.S.
