For the second time this season, the MSPT traveled to the Ameristar Casino in East Chicago to host the Season 17 Indiana Poker State Championship, and the turnout did not disappoint.

A total of 544 entries were tallied after three starting flights, generating an impressive $526,180 prize pool, and on Sunday, 61 players returned for Day 2 action, and after roughly 10 hours of action, it was Kirby Rogers who outlasted the challenging field to secure a career payday of $111,344 while claiming the MSPT 2026 Indiana Poker State Championship!

“It feels really good,” Rogers said after his win. “I’ve put in a lot of time over the years on this tour and have had a bunch of top-twenty and top-ten finishes with a couple of second-place finishes, so it feels really good to get it done.”

The victory marked Rogers’ fourth top-10 finish in his decade-long career on the tour, bringing his MSPT career earnings to $440,741 and the win not only marked his largest career score, but with it, he also received 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.

MSPT Season 17 Indiana Poker State Championship Final Table Results

Day 2 Action

The final day came back with 61 players already in the money, and action kicked right into gear with Joseph Saltanovitz being the first elimination of the day, while Mike Pucciol and Kirstin Ives followed him to the payout desk as part of the first batch of eliminations.

Players then continued dropping like wildfire while other making moves to gain chips as Brett "Pops” Reichard (51^st Place - $2,121), MSPT Hall of Famer Aaron Johnson (41^st Place – $2,280), fellow Hall of Famer Rob WazWaz (32^nd Place - $2,598), WSOP bracelet winner Garrett Dwire (27^th Place - $3,181), all fell in quick succession, of each other.

The fast -paced action continued with Clint Lilienthal (23^rd Place - $3,871), WSOP bracelet winner Jean “Prince” Gaspard (20^th Place - $4,560), MSPT Champ Matt Porter (14^th Place - $5,302), and Jeff Halcomb (10^th Place - $7,577) all falling before the final table.

Final Table Action

Once the players took their seats, action picked right up with Imran Sajwani running his pair of fives into Tom Koral’s pair of aces to become the first final table elimination, while Alin Cotolan’s Big Slick was set up by David Orlando’s pair of threes to follow him to the payout desk.

A few hands later, Shimon Braun found himself at risk in a battle of blinds holding a dominating ace-king to Koral’s ace-queen, but Koral was able to river a straight to send him home with a seventh-place finish.

Once the short stacks hit the deck, action slowed down for a few levels before two-time bracelet winner Scott Bohlman’s dominating ace-five was out-flopped by soon-to-bet champ Rogers’ king-five, ending his run in sixth place for $21,208.

After Bohlman’s departure, Tyler Schmidt moved his short stack into the middle with a suited ace from the small blind, only to have Dustin Bowling wake up with a pair of snowmen in the big blind, ending his run in fifth place for $28,260.

Action then sped up with Rogers securing back-to-back knockouts of Koral (4^th Place - $37,115) and Orlando (5^th Place - $49,84) to take a slight chip lead over Bowling in the heads-up duel.

The two players started with nearly even stacks, and an ICM deal came up, but Rogers declined it because he wanted the outright win, and he did just that, as he chipped away at Bowling until all of the chips were in his possession as Bowling took a second-place finish for $68,392, while Rogers secured the MSPT Season 17 Indiana Poker State Championship for his first career title and career score of $111,344!

This wraps up our coverage of another eventful tournament, so make sure you join us when we make our way back to the Ameristar Casino in St. Louis, MO, for the $1,110 Ameristar Poker Open Main Event September 3^rd - 6^th, and as always, the MSPT live reporting team will be on hand providing updates for that event, so make sure to come back!