Carson Richards was topped as the primary Mid-States Poker Tour champion of 2025 when he gained the tour’s opening cease of the yr on the Venetian Poker Room in Las Vegas, Nevada on Jan. 5. This was his first match victory, however the $76,045 in prize cash paled compared to his largest match rating of $536,080 that was earned for his runner-up exhibiting within the 2024 World Collection of Poker thriller tens of millions bounty occasion. Richards’ profession earnings at the moment are simply shy of $670,000.
“It feels actually good, I used to only play largely as a interest, however I received into it extra after I completed second in a bracelet occasion final summer season for a giant rating so I’ve been taking part in much more,” stated Richards to MSPT reporters after the win. He continued when requested in regards to the powerful problem on the ultimate desk: “Professional after professional after professional, it was a really powerful ultimate desk. With the ability to come out on high of this one and profitable a trophy, feels superb.”
Richards additionally earned 720 Card Participant Participant of the 12 months factors, sufficient to surge into the lead within the 2025 POY race standings offered by International Poker.
The $1,100 buy-in no-limit maintain’em match drew a area of 431 entries to create a ultimate prize pool at $415,591, simply surpassing the $300,000 assure. The highest 48 gamers all cashed for at the least $2,356, and that’s what number of gamers returned on day 2 for the lengthy march all the way down to a champion.
Acquainted faces that made a deep run on the ultimate day of play included Anthony Rocco (forty fifth), Jeff Platt (thirty seventh), Jeff Madsen (twenty second), Rodger Johnson (18th), Aaron Massey (eleventh), and Darren Rabinowitz (tenth). Richards had stormed to the highest of the chip counts among the many ultimate 9 with virtually two million greater than his closest competitor.
Richards jumped proper out of the gates robust by eliminating each John Lewis in ninth place and Jeff Yarchever in eighth place. Louis Haeick noticed his quantity referred to as subsequent when he fell in seventh place, after which Richard discovered his third knockout punch of the night time when took out Johnson Nguyen in sixth place.
The poker participant from Scottsdale, Arizona might merely not be stopped when he despatched Bojan Gledovic residence in fifth place as nicely. Poker fan favourite Jamie Kerstetter hit the rail subsequent in fourth place, after which Richards was again in motion once more when he took out two-time bracelet winner Joshua Remitio in third place. Regardless of Richards’ spectacular run by way of the ultimate desk, three-time bracelet winner Ryan Leng had finished sufficient to maintain tempo with him all through the ultimate desk as they entered the ultimate match almost even.
There was only one all-in hand between them, and it noticed Leng’s final chips wagered with 6
4
on a board studying 6
4
3Q. Richards was ready with a cooler within the type of 52 for a flopped straight, and the river modified nothing when it introduced the three. That gave Richards the match win, whereas Leng took residence $56,008 because the runner-up to take his profession earnings near $3.9 million.
Here’s a have a look at the payouts and POY factors awarded on the ultimate desk:
Place
Participant
Earnings
POY Factors
1
Carson Richards
$76,045
720
2
Ryan Leng
$56,008
600
3
Joshua Remitio
$41,714
480
4
Jamie Kerstetter
$31,422
360
5
Bojan Gledovic
$23,941
300
6
Johnson Nguyen
$18,454
240
7
Louis Haeick
$14,392
180
8
Jeff Yarchever
$11,358
120
9
John Lewis
$9,072
60
This was the primary MSPT cease of 2025, and the tour will proceed with one other fundamental occasion at Sycuan On line casino Resort in San Diego, California operating from Jan. 17-20.
Photograph Credit score: Mid-States Poker Tour
