One of the tightest Player of the Year races in the history of poker came to an end Sunday night. It happened on the Major Series of Poker: The Tour (MSPT) when Jake Long denied Umut Ozturk an unprecedented third MSPT POY title as the yearlong back-and-forth race literally came down to the final side event.
Long earned $314,604 on Season 16 of the MSPT, which included a tour-high eight side event victories, good for eight MSPT Gold Cards. Two of those came at the final stop, which proved invaluable in helping him secure POY.
He also final tabled two MSPT Main Events, finishing runner-up to Mike Estes in the 2025 MSPT Iowa Poker State Championship for $94,499 and less than a month later taking fourth in the MSPT Hollywood St.