For the second time this season, the MSPT made its way to East Chicago for the 2026 Indiana Poker State Championship, and players have been duking it out over the past week inside the Ameristar Casino for its 11-Gold Card Event Series!
Event #1: $300 Epic Stack NLH kicked things off, with 224 epic players taking to the trenches and creating a $54,880 prize pool for the top 24.
Among those to cash but fall before the final table were Edward Akers (10th Place - $1,001), defending Indiana Poker State Champion John "Farmboy" Kurfman (14th Place - $834), Frank Hodits (17th Place - $723), Jennifer Mandel (21st Place - $623), and Tan Nguyen (24th Place - $556).
In the end, it was Jorge Galarza who walked away with the epic victory to take down the lion's share of the prize pool along with his first Gold Card to start the series!
Final Table Results
| Place |
Name |
Prize |
POY |
| 1 |
Jorge Galarza |
$12,038* |
250 |
| 2 |
Charles Bell |
$10,509* |
250 |
| 3 |
Hal Kilgore |
$6,229 |
225 |
| 4 |
Bryan Stanley |
$4,616 |
200 |
| 5 |
Anthony Parille |
$3,448 |
175 |
| 6 |
Florin Iacoban |
$2,614 |
150 |
| 7 |
John Kyritz |
$2,058 |
125 |
| 8 |
Brian Burbank |
$1,613 |
100 |
| 9 |
Piotr Grubba |
$1,279 |
75 |