Carson Richards was topped as the primary Mid-States Poker Tour champion of 2025 when he gained the tour’s opening cease of the 12 months 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 displaying within the 2024 World Series of Poker thriller thousands and thousands bounty occasion. Richards’ profession earnings are actually simply shy of $670,000.
“It feels really good, I used to just play mostly as a hobby, but I got into it more after I finished second in a bracelet event last summer for a big score so I’ve been playing a lot more,” mentioned Richards to MSPT reporters after the win. He continued when requested concerning the robust problem on the ultimate desk: “Pro after pro after pro, it was a very tough final table. Being able to come out on top of this one and winning a trophy, feels amazing.”
Richards additionally earned 720 Card Player Player of the Year factors, sufficient to surge into the lead within the 2025 POY race standings introduced by Global Poker.
The $1,100 buy-in no-limit maintain’em match drew a subject of 431 entries to create a ultimate prize pool at $415,591, simply surpassing the $300,000 assure. The high 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.
Familiar 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 sturdy 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 evening when took out Johnson Nguyen in sixth place.
The poker participant from Scottsdale, Arizona may merely not be stopped when he despatched Bojan Gledovic residence in fifth place as effectively. 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. Despite Richards’ spectacular run by way of the ultimate desk, three-time bracelet winner Ryan Leng had carried out 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 is a take a look at the payouts and POY factors awarded on the ultimate desk:
| Place | Player | Earnings | POY Points |
| 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 principal occasion at Sycuan Casino Resort in San Diego, California operating from Jan. 17-20.
Photo Credit: Mid-States Poker Tour
