Merlin Orvik (St. Paul, MN) won 4-3 over Hunter Clawson (Denver, CO) in the Final of the The Big Spiel, held January 10 - 13, 2019 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. To advance to the championship game, Orvik won 9-0 over Mike Farbelow (St. Paul, MN) in the semifinals
 
Orvik finished 4-0 in the 0-team qualifying round. . In their opening game, Orvik defeated Tim Risdal (Chaska, MN) 12-2, then won 5-1 against Ron Silverness (St. Paul, MN) and 7-3 against Jim Bronson (St. Paul, MN). Orvik won 6-5 against Margie Smith (St. Paul, MN) in their final qualifying round match.
 
. For week of the event schedule, Orvik did not improve upon their best events, remaining at th place on the World Ranking Standings with total points. Orvik ranks th overall on the Year-to-Date rankings with points earned so far this season.