Nick Murray Wins Michigan State Poker Championship On The Mid-States Poker Tour

Nick Murray took home the title in the Mid-States Poker Tour main event at the Firekeepers Casino in Battle Creek, Michigan. The tournament was also the Michigan State Poker Championship, so major bragging rights were up for grabs as well. Murray became that champion, and he picked a good time to do so with a payday worth $295,494 up top. The Michigan resident from Belmont scored his largest cash by a mile with his top previous score clocking in at four figures.

“This is a dream come true, my previous best cash before this was $8,700 so I’m feeling on top of the world,” said Murray to reporters after the win. He continued, “I literally flipped a quarter to come here, and I ran it up so I couldn’t be happier.”

“To say that I came in first place out of 2,819 is honestly a lot to take in, but I’ve been working on my game for years now and it just means a lot to me to be called a champion,” said the new MSPT champ to end the interview.

The $1,110 buy-in no-limit hold’em poker tournament attracted an impressive field of 2,819 entries, creating a prize pool worth $2,733,830 that demolished the $1 million guarantee. The top 309 players all cashed for at least $2,200, and all of those in-the-money players advanced to the final day from three starting flights for a long march down to the last player standing.

The playdown to the final table thankfully moved quickly, with a pair of MSPT Hall of Famers (Aaron Johnson – 23rd place and Patrick Steele – 15th place); as well as a pair of former MSPT champions (Danny Sepiol – 13th place and Angela Jordison – 10th place) all making deep runs into the massive field.

Soon after cards got into the air at the final table, Rob Wazwaz met his end with a ninth-place finish during a three-way all-in. Even though he was the first player to fall, it was a record 20th MSPT final-table appearance for Wazwaz, more than any other player. Mike Iacovone was then out in eighth place, and Tim Capretta fell in seventh. They were both eliminated by MSPT Hall of Famer Joshua Reichard, but he was the next to go in sixth place. Earlier this year Reichard took down the World Poekr tour Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown $3,500 main event for a career-best score of $839,000. The 15-time World Series of Poker Circuit ring winner has now made seven final tables in 2024, accumulating 3,420 Card Player Player of the Year points along the way. He now sits in 39th place in the 2024 POY race standings presented by Global Poker.

Dapreesh Scates took fifth place, and Amir Kamari was out in fourth place in quick succession. It then took another hour before David Evans fell in third place to set up the heads-up final between Nicola Ditrapani and Nick Murray. The final two players agreed to a chop, which gave Murray the MSPT trophy along with his first tournament victory. Ditrapani was the perennial chip leader throughout most of the final table, but he paid out some untimely doubles to slice away from his chip stack. Ditrapani also scored his largest tournament cash worth $295,492 to take his career earnings up to just shy of a million.

Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded at the final table:

The next MSPT main event will be hosted by The Riverside Casino in Iowa, with the $1,110 buy-in main event taking place from Oct. 31 to Nov. 3.