Created (5/4/2026 12:25:25 AM by Anthony Thompson)
For the second time this season, MSPT traveled to Potawatomi Hotel & Casino in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to host an 11-Gold Card Festival!
The series was headlined by the $1,110 buy-in, $1,000,000 GTD Main Event, and it was one to remember, as a total of 1,299 entries were tallied, blasting past the guarantee and generating a $1,258,530 prize pool.
After a long road to crown a new champion, it was circuit grinder Hamid Izadi, who navigated his way through the large Day 2 field, earning himself a payday good for $219,654 and his first MSPT title!
“Feels great,” Izadi said after his win, “My friend Josh (Reichard) told me I needed to start playing more of these, but it just never really fit into my schedule,” Izadi continued to say.
“So this year I made a schedule to fit in most of the MSPT Main Events, and this is the second one I’ve played, so I’m very happy that I made this decision.”
While Izadi is a newer face on the tour, he's been putting in his dues on the felt for the past 20 years, accumulating 10 WSOP Circuit rings alongside over $2.5 million in live tournament earnings.
The victory added a new piece of hardware to Izadi’s prestige collection, but it wasn’t just a smooth ride to the finish line.
“It was really tough getting started,” said Izadi, “I came in late Friday and fired a bunch of bullets, didn’t make it through, had the same luck Saturday to only find eight big blinds to start the day.”
Izadi came into the day with one of the shorter chip stacks, but was able to pick the right spots to make a deep run.
“I was very patient,” Izadi said, “I started to get cards at the right time and went on a heater with two tables left.”
Izadi continued to say, “From that point, I basically started knocking almost everyone out, and it feels really great to be able to run this good, I’m just really happy.”
Not only did the win mark Izadi’s second-largest career score, but he also will receive a $3,500 seat into the MSPT Championship Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open (RRPO), which will be held at the Seminole Hard Rock in Hollywood, Florida, Nov. 18 – Dec. 2, boasting a $2,000,000 GTD Main Event!
MSPT Potawatomi $1,110 Main Event Final Table Results
| Place |
Player |
Prize |
POY |
| 1 |
Hamid Izadi |
$219,654 |
1,900 |
| 2 |
Cero Zuccarello |
133,897 |
1,700 |
| 3 |
Chris Weber |
101,845 |
1,600 |
| 4 |
Spencer Wright |
77,962 |
1,500 |
| 5 |
Bob Heffner |
56,925 |
1,400 |
| 6 |
Andy Rogowski |
43,312 |
1,300 |
| 7 |
Bhanuchandar Sadineni |
33,412 |
1,200 |
| 8 |
Jesse Simon |
25,987 |
1,100 |
| 9 |
Travis Young |
21,037 |
1,000 |
Day 2 Action
With 145 players coming back already in the money, action kicked right into gear with 2025 Michigan Poker State Champion Corey Wick being the first body to drop after his set of threes was flushed out in the first hand of the day, while Cody Brinn and MSPT Champ Brian Landon were part of the first batch of eliminations.
MSPT Champ Brian Landon
The first batch of eliminations sparked a fire in the field as MSPT Champ Jeff Copeland (107th Place - $2,352), Ryan Eamon (91st Place - $2,475), WSOP bracelet winner Brad Jansen (70th Place - $2,970), and MSPT Hall of Famer Umut Ozturk (65th Place - $2,970) all fell in quick succession, making their way to the payout desk.
Ryan Eamon
Players rapidly continued to make their way down to the Poker room to get paid as MSPT Champ Craig Trost (63rd Place - $3,217), Jill Bryant (52nd Place - $3,713), WSOP bracelet winner Mike Wilklow (44th Place - $4,207), and MSPT Hall of Famer Rich Alsup (35th Place - $3,770) all made their way down to the payout cage taking a much earlier exit than anticipated.
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MSPT Champ Craig Trost
The fast-paced action continued as MSPT Hall of Famer Matt Kirby found himself on the wrong side of a cooler to take a 29th place exit for $5,197, while Season 16 Player of the Year Jake Long (26th Place - $6,435), Richard Bai (16th Place - $11,632), WSOP bracelet winner Brian Altman (14th Place - $13,612) and two-time MSPT Champ Lee Rzentkowski (10th Place - $17,325) all fell on the way to the final table.
Two-Time MSPT Champ Lee Rzentkowski
Final Table Action
The stacked final table started off with the small stacks receiving a few double-ups, and 2023 Michigan Poker State Champ Travis Young thought the same was going to happen to him when he got his remaining chips in the middle holding a pair of queens against Cero Zuccarello’s pair of tens, but Zuccarello flopped a set of tens to make him the first final table elimination.
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2023 Michigan Poker State Champion
Young’s departure sparked a little fire in the final table as Jesse Simon thought he could bluff off his remaining chips into Izadi’s top final table stack, only to end up taking an eight-place finish, while Bhanuchandar Sadineni was out-kicked by Bob Heffner in seventh-place exit for $33,412.
After Sadinneni hit the deck, chips would shuffle around the table before short-stack Andy Rogowski failed to crack Zuccarello’s pair of tens to be sent home in sixth-place for $43,312, and Heffner lost most of his stack with a pair of ladies to follow him to the payout cage shortly after in fifth-place for $56,925.
Bob Heffner
With four players remaining, Spencer Wright fell to the bottom of the counts, and found a suited ace to roll with, only to bet set-up by soon-to-be Champion Izadi’s pocket jacks, ending his run in fourth-place for $77,962.
From there, Izadi continued his reign of dominance, and he chipped away at both of his opponents until he won two final races against Chris Weber (3rd Place - $101,845) and Zuccarello (2nd Place - $133,8970) enroute to a $219,654 and his first MSPT title!
This wraps up our coverage of yet another amazing event, so make sure to join us as we head back to Running Aces in Skol Country for the MSPT500 Series (May 5th -10th), and our reporting team will be on hand providing updates for the $150K GTD $500 Main Event, so make sure to come back!