Umut Ozturk is an attorney from Egan, Minnesota, who made a name for himself on the Major Series of Poker: The Tour (MSPT).
Heading into 2026, Ozturk sits fifth on the MSPT’s all-time money list with $881,162 in earnings, all of which came since his first cash in Season 9 (2018). In 2023, Ozturk won the MSPT Missouri State Poker Championship for $101,336 and his first MSPT title.
He was subsequently named Season 15 Player of the Year and also inducted into the MSPT Hall of Fame, becoming the 13th player to win their way in.
In 2024, Ozturk accomplished an incredible feat by successfully defending his POY title, becoming the Season 15 Player of the Year. As if that wasn’t impressive enough, he nearly had the three-peat in Season 16 (2025) when he finished runner-up in the POY race to Jake Long, losing by just 145 points (10,255 points to the 10,395 points of Long).
Ozturk broke the single-season MSPT cash record in 2023 by earning 17 Main Event cashes, and then went on to break his own record with 19 Main Event cashes in 2024. He split the difference with 18 Main Event cashes in 2025.
As the end of 2025, Ozturk sat atop the MSPT’s World Rankings and also claimed MSPT ICON of the Year for a second time (in back-to-back years). He had just shy of $1.4 million in lifetime tournament earnings according to The Hendon Mob.
