As excitement gears up for the upcoming WPT World Championship in Las Vegas, the Mid-States Poker Tour (MSPT) has partnered with the World Poker Tour to give players opportunities to win a seat into the $10,400 buy-in championship event.
In addition to awarding seats to two of the year’s top performers, the MSPT will be hosting satellites at MSPT stops around the US starting at $140.
POY Will Win a WPT Seat
Like with previous years, the Season 15 Player of the Year will be awarded entry into the prestigious event at Wynn Las Vegas in December.
With the season half over, North Dakota’s Curtis Vierstraete leads the POY race with 3,350, while Minnesota Umut Ozturk is a close second with 3,000 points to be ahead of Kyle Gross (3,000 points), Sean Hinton (2,983 points) and recent WSOP bracelet winner Mo Nuwwarah (2,900 points).
Previous MSPT POY’s who won WPT Championship seats include Josh Reichard (2023) and PokerNews Podcast co-host Kyna England (2022).
Check out the Season 15 leaderboard for the latest updates on this year’s POY race.
MSPT Icons
This season’s top players and MSPT legends will have a chance to compete for a WPT World Championship seat through the MSPT Icons competition, which is open to the currently ranked top ten of the “MSPT GOAT” leaderboard and members of the MSPT Hall of Fame.
There are 16 eligible players this year, including Reichard, Blake Bohn, Richard Alsup, DJ Buckley, Aaron Massey, Rob Wazwaz and Nick Pupillo.
According to MSPT, the competition for Season 15 kicked off at Riverside Casino on July 18 and will end on Dec. 15.
2024 MSPT Icons
| Aaron Johnson | Mark Hodge |
| Aaron Massey | Matt Kirby |
| Blake Bohn | Nick Pupillo |
| “DQ” Dan Hendrickson | Pat Steele |
| DJ Buckley | Rich Alsup |
| Jason Seitz | Rob Wazwaz |
| Josh Reichard | Rodger Johnson |
| Kou Vang | Umut Ozturk |
Phirom Peterschmidt Wins Iowa State Poker Championship
The POY frontrunners hoping to win a WPT World Championship seat will have to fend off Phirom Peterschmidt, who this week took down the Iowa State Poker Championship for $141,978 and 1,700 points, putting him 18th on the leaderboard with a total of 1,775 points.
The event at Riverside Casino drew 716 runners for a prize pool of $693,020, according to MSPT updates, with others at the final table including Justin Gish (4th – $47,727), Dustin Hoffmann (3rd – $64,360) and runner-up John Sun ($86,499).
MSPT Iowa State Poker Championship Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Prize |
| 1 | Phirom Peterschmidt | $141,978 |
| 2 | John Sun | $86,499 |
| 3 | Dustin Hoffmann | $64,360 |
| 4 | Justin Gish | $47,727 |
| 5 | Jack Armstrong | $35,946 |
| 6 | DJ Aryasomayajula | $26,937 |
| 7 | Trey Bartlett | $20,700 |
| 8 | Steve Federspiel | $16,541 |
| 9 | Spence Madole | $12,383 |
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