Poker Player w/ Heavy Heart Goes on High Roller Heater After Beloved Friend's Murder
Ben Grise finished second in consecutive days at the PokerGO Cup in Las Vegas, just one day after his friend and fellow poker player, Matt Lushin, was murdered.
Lushin, a beloved member of the Indiana poker community, according to police, was found dead in his Indiana home on Thursday. Investigators initially ruled the death as "suspicious," before later reclassifying it as a homicide, FOX59 News reported.
Details about the homicide haven't yet been released. What has been reported is the Westfield Police Department received a call about an unresponsive individual inside a Westlake, Indiana home at around 7:30 p.m. Medics arrived at the scene and pronounced the 47-year-old accomplished poker player dead.
No suspect has been arrested, and the incident is under investigation. Police believe this was an isolated incident and that there is no additional threat to the public.
Friend Goes on Heater in High-Stakes Poker Tournaments
Lushin, according to The Hendon Mob, had $511,000 in live tournament cashes, including fourth-place finish for $69,542 in a 2025 World Series of Poker Circuit (WSOPC) Main Event in Amsterdam. He last cashed just two weeks ago in the $600 WSOPC Mini Main Event in Hammond, Indiana, a 61st-place finish for $2,276.
The late poker player traveled around the world to compete in tournaments. He has PokerStars European Poker Tour (EPT) and WSOPC cashes in Spain and the Netherlands in the past year.
Grise, Lushin's close friend, played with a heavy heart at the PokerGO Studio this weekend. He took second place for $136,500 on Friday in Event $8: $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em, before then again finishing in the same position on Saturday in Event #9: $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em, that one also paying $136,500.
A teary-eyed Grise, who also lives in Westfield and met Lushin through poker, gave a heartfelt interview with PokerNews following his second runner-up finish to speak about his late friend.
"You always knew you could hangout with him and he'd put a smile on your face," Grise said. "It was tough to find that out after the first final table yesterday, I found out. But all of our poker friends kept it from me the whole time because they knew trying to carry that, all that emotion at the table would be hard for me to focus."
Grise spoke glowing praises of Lushin and how much he meant to him. He referred to Lushin as a "funny guy" he could count on to keep his spirits up on breaks during tournaments when he was struggling.
The tragic news Grise received after he was already deep in the second PokerGO Cup tournament he entered on Friday caused him to get up from the table for a bit so he could process it all. He missed "a lot of hands" while he collected himself before returning to the felt, where he would go on to bag the Day 1 chip lead over Sean Winter, who would eventually won the tournament.
"Yesterday felt num, but then today the emotion hits you and then I have to come to the final table and gather myself. And just feeling angry now because it's just not going to be the same for any of us back in Indy without him," Grise said.
Grise continued to mention he'll miss playing poker and golf with his friend. He's still processing the death and said "it still doesn't feel real."
"I'm just really thinking about his son. He's got a son (the same age as my son), and I felt heartbroken for his son."
Grise said he's most going to miss Lushin's sense of humor and referred to his pal as "so witty and so funny, and always just could make everybody laugh."
"He almost felt to me like a big brother that always picked on his little brother, in a fun way," Grise explained.
He then began to smile as he reminisced about poker stories involving Lushin.
"It was just such a joy to compete against him and be friends with him," Grise said.
PokerNews would like to send our condolences to Grise, and all the friends and family of James "Matt" Lushin.
