button in SafariReigning Player of the Year Jacob Long Finally Gets First MSPT Main Event Title
Over the weekend, the Major Series of Poker: The Tour (MSPT) was in St. Louis for the Season 17 Ameristar Poker Open, an $1,110 Main Event that attracted 486 entries and awarded a $469,920 prize pool.
One of those players was reigning MSPT Player of the Year Jacob Long, who won one of the tightest POY races ever in poker. Long earned $314,604 on Season 16 of the MSPT, which included a tour-high eight MSPT Gold Cards. However, none of those victories came in a Main Event.
He had final tabled two MSPT Main Events, finishing runner-up to Mike Estes in the 2025 MSPT Iowa Poker State Championship for $94,499 and less than a month later taking fourth in the MSPT Hollywood St. Louis for $43,989.
Well, Long can now call himself an MSPT champion as he took down the Ameristar Poker Open for a career-high $97,282 (not including the $250,000 bounty he pulled at the WSOP this past summer).
“Feels great,” Long told MSPT reporter Anthony Thompson after the win. “I feel like it's been a long time coming. I mean, I didn’t have many chips to start the day, but I’ve had some really decent runs here in St. Louis, and I started getting cards at the right time. I got a good suck-out against Charlie [Reichard] and especially during heads-up, so it just feels good to take it down.”
He added: “I just want to shout out the whole MSPT family, from Josh to Umut and DJ, Jerry, Bryan, my wife, obviously, and to everyone back home who’s been supporting me; you guys rock.”
MSPT Ameristar Poker Open Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Prize | POY |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jake Long | $97,282* | 1,600 |
| 2 | Mike Hurley | $66,500* | 1,400 |
| 3 | Randy Terrell | $45,758 | 1,300 |
| 4 | Charlie Reichard | $33,790 | 1,200 |
| 5 | Maurice Hawkins | $25,343 | 1,100 |
| 6 | Chris Audrain | $19,242 | 1,000 |
| 7 | Stephen Green | $15,018 | 900 |
| 8 | Aaron Sanders | $11,733 | 800 |
| 9 | Andros Ioakimides | $8,917 | 700 |
*Denotes heads-up ICM deal.
In addition to the prize money, Long won his record-extending 9th Gold Card plus a seat in the $3,500 buy-in, $2 million GTD MSPT Championship Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open (RRPO), which runs Nov. 18 – Dec. 2 at Seminole Hard Rock in Hollywood, Florida.
Others to cash the tournament were Sam Devers (13th - $5,632), Umut Ozturk (21st - $4,036), Josh Reichard (25th - $2,910), Jeff Copeland (32nd - $2,534), Gerald Cunniff (42nd - $2,300), Angela Jordison (45th - $2,300), and DJ Buckley (46th - $2,112), who cashed in his record-extending 93rd MSPT Main Event.
The MSPT now heads to Venetian Las Vegas this weekend (September 10-13) for the Season 17 Nevada Poker State Championship. Click here to see the full schedule for that stop.
*Images courtesy of MSPT.
