This Player Has the Chance to Win MSPT Player of the Year for the Third Year in a Row
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Winning a Player of the Year (POY) title on a major poker tour is a prestigious thing to do. Going back-to-back is an incredibly rare feat, and winning POY three years in a row is unprecedented. However, it could very well happen this weekend at the final stop of the Major Series of Poker: The Tour (MSPT) Season 16 as Umut Ozturk has a realistic shot at it.
Ozturk, who won POY in both Season 14 (2023) and 15 (2024), currently sits with 9,732 POY points behind only Jake Long, who has 10,172 points. That is a slim margin of just 440 points, meaning things will really come down to the wire as PokerNews has confirmed both players plan to play a full slate at the season-ending stop at Minnesota’s Running Aces Casino, which sits just outside the Twin Cities.
Long was actually a guest on the latest episode of the MSPT Podcast Presented By PokerNews to talk about leading the POY race headed into the last stop, as well as Ozturk potentially winning a third POY (which Long affectionately calls the “Ozturkey”).
The Winter Poker Classic, the 29th and final stop of 2025, features 18 Gold Card events from December 2-14 and marks the last opportunity for players to earn coveted Player of the Year Points. On Thursday, the $1,110 buy-in, $500K GTD Main Event will get underway and PokerNews will be on-site all weekend long to keep an eye on the POY race.
MSPT Season 16 POY Standings
| Place | Player | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jacob Long | 10,172 |
| 2 | Umut Ozturk | 9,732 |
| 3 | Josh Reichard | 7,299 |
| 4 | DJ Buckley | 5,283 |
| 5 | Gerald Cunniff | 5,005 |
| 6 | Anthony Scarborough | 4,984 |
| 7 | Aaron Johnson | 4,713 |
| 8 | Brett Reichard | 4,700 |
| 9 | Ryan Eamon | 4,150 |
| 10 | Michael Estes | 3,896 |
Back-and-Forth Battle
Ozturk and Long have been going shot-for-shot all season with each taking turns atop the leaderboard. Ozturk started out hot, finishing fourth and second in back-to-back Main Events at Bally’s Black Hawk and Milwaukee’s Potawatomi Casino, respectively. He then finished third at Grand Falls Casino in August, followed by another third-place finish at JACK Cleveland a month later. In between, he finished fifth at the MSPT Hollywood St. Louis.
For Long, he’s made two Main Event final tables, placing second in the 2025 Iowa Poker State Championship at Riverside Casino and a month later fourth in the aforementioned MSPT Hollywood St. Louis, where Ozturk finished fifth. However, where Long has made a name for himself is in the side events – players get a Gold Card for each victory in an MSPT event with a $200 buy-in or higher.
Long got his first side event win in October and since then has ripped off a MSPT-high seven Gold Cards, well ahead of Michael Starek and John “Farmboy” Kurfman, who sit with four and three Gold Cards respectively. Only four other players have two Gold Cards to their name.
Ozturk was on top of the leaderboard going into the penultimate stop at Ameristar East Chicago; however, Long captured an astounding four side event titles at the stop. When the dust settled, Long had amassed 642 POY points in side events, which put him in the lead with 9,732 points ahead of Ozturk, who had 9,467, with one stop to go.
Since then, both players have added points, especially Long, who won MSPT Running Aces Event #2: $250 Monster Stack NLH for $9,463 and 240 POY points, and then the following day finished second in Event #4: $300 PLO for $5,298 200 POY points.
Jake Long’s MSPT Side Event Wins
| Date | Tournament | POY Points | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10/1/25 | MSPT Potawatomi Event #4: $400 Mixed PLO/NLH | 333 | $10,450 |
| 10/12/25 | MSPT FireKeepers Event #5: $400 Monster Stack NLH | 400 | $21,020 |
| 11/18/25 | MSPT Ameristar Event #2: $300 PLO | 175 | $5,832 |
| 11/19/25 | MSPT Ameristar Event #5: PLO NLH | 200 | $6,329 |
| 11/21/25 | MSPT Ameristar Event #8: $250 Monster Stack NLH | 200 | $6,479 |
| 11/23/25 | MSPT Ameristar Event #12: $200 Last Chance | 67 | $2,448 |
| 12/2/25 | MSPT Running Aces Event #2: $250 Monster Stack NLH | 240 | $9,463 |
MSPT Running Aces Schedule
The $1,110 buy-in, $500K GTD Main Event will take place toward the start of the festival (so as not to conflict with WSOP Paradise and WPT World Championship) from December 4-7. The first of three starting flights will take place at 2 p.m. CT on Thursday, December 4, with Day 1B taking place at the same time on Friday, December 5. Day 1C will then be held at Noon local time on Saturday, December 6, before the surviving players from all flights return in the money at 11 a.m. on Sunday, December 7, to play down to a winner.
While the Main Event will award the most POY points, all of the side events have some available. That includes Event #4: $300 Pot-Limit Omaha Monster Stack, Event #13: $300 Epic Stack NLH, and Event #15: $400 Mini Main Event.
Here’s a look at the full MSPT Winter Poker Classic schedule:
