For the second time this season, MSPT returned to Potawatomi Hotel & Casino in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to host the 2025 Wisconsin Poker State Championship, and the turnouts were one for the record books.
The 11-Gold Card Series was headlined by $1,110 buy-in, $1,000,000 GTD 100 GRAND STACK Main Event, and it was one to remember as a total of 1,698 entries were tallied, besting the 1,697 field set in February, and the $1,645,560 generated prize pool went down in the history books as well.
After a long road to crown a new champion, it was Wisconsin native Greg Shuda who navigated his way through to the finish, earning himself a career payday of $232,955 and his first MSPT title!
“It feels great to be honest,” the Wisconsin native said after his victory, “I don’t really get to play much poker,” Shuda stated, “The last tournament I played in was this one in February, so to be able to come back and win this one is pretty special.”
While this was Shuda’s largest career score and the first on the tour, he has put together a pretty impressive resume on his short list of cashes as he finished eighth in a WSOP $25,000 PLO bracelet event back in 2022, and then followed that up with a second-place finish the following year in a $15,000 PLO PokerGO event as well.
Day 2 Action
The final day came back with each of the 189 players already in the money, so action kicked right into gear with Roland Johnson being the first body to drop, while MSPT Hall of Famer Josh Reichard, and two-time MSPT champ John Sun being part of the first batch of eliminations.
The first batch of eliminations sparked a fire in the field as MSPT Hall of Famer Gerald Cunniff (147th Place - $2,251), 2025 Michigan Poker State Champ Corey Wick (143rd Place - $2,251), two-time MSPT champ Angela Jordison (140th Place - $2,251), and 2025 Colorado Poker State Champ Antonio Vargas (111th Place - $2,251) all fell in quick succession making their way to the payout desk.
Players rapidly continued to make their way down to the Poker room to get paid as five-time MSPT champ Blake Bohn (104th Place – $2,733), MSPT champ Jeff Copeland (91st Place - $2,894), MSPT top casher DJ Buckley (81st Place - $3,377), WSOP bracelet winner Keven Stammen (50th Place - $3,573) and MSPT champ Matt Porter (50th Place - $4,502) all made their way down to the payout cage taking a much earlier exit than anticipated.
The fast-paced action continued as back-to-back Player of the Year Umut Ozturk found himself on the wrong side of a cooler to take a 41st place exit for $4,985, while two-time MSPT champ Jeremy Dresch (33rd Place - $6,43), Dennis Stevermer (21st Place - $12,381), WSOP bracelet winner Michael Wilklow (15th Place - $17,687) and MSPT Hall of Famer Aaron Johnson (13th Place - $17,687) all fell on the way to the final table.
Final Table Action
The stacked final table started off with a bang, with WSOP circuit ring king Maurice Hawkins losing a race to Minnesota’s Arlo Strozewski on the river, making him the first final table elimination.
Shortly after Hawkins' exit, short-stack Doug Timmer found a strong ace-queen to roll with, only to run into Loki Abboud’s pocket kings to take an eighth-place exit for $33,767.
Next on the chopping block was Frank Lagodich, who went into the final table second in chips, only to run into Andrew Loomis’ pair of aces to take a heartbreaking seventh-place exit for $43,414.
With six players remaining, Abboud got into a raising war against soon to be champ Shuda, holding a premium hand of jacks, and Shuda called, holding an inferior pair of tens.
Abboud was looking good to secure a double and catapult to the top of the chip counts until Shuda hit a one-outer to end his run in sixth place for $54,670.
Once Abboud hit the deck, the fast-paced action would continue with Kyle Gahan falling victim to Loomis’ pair of ladies to be sent home in fifth place for $72,357, with Strozewski following him to the payout desk after he lost a race to Mykel Robble’s lucky pair of sevens.
Three-handed action started with each holding similar stack sizes, which prompted a deal to be made between the remaining players to help speed up play, but the remaining players couldn’t agree on a deal, so action continued for three levels before Loomis hit the deck in third place for $125,419, setting the stage for the heads-up match.
The heads-up battle started with Robble holding a slight chip advantage over Shuda, so the two finally came to an agreement on an ICM to play for the title, and Robble started off hot only to lose the two most significant hands to take second place for a career best $202,000, while Shuda secured his first Main Event title, earning a career payday as well for $232,955.
This wraps up our coverage for this event, but Season 16 of the MSPT continues as we head to FireKeepers Casino in Battle Creek, Michigan, for the MAJOR Spade Poker Championship, October 7th - 12th, and our reporting team will be on hand providing updates, so make sure to come back!!