Mo Nuwwarah Wins MSPT Illinois Poker State Championship

The Major Series of Poker: The Tour made its debut at Rivers Casino in Des Plaines for the inaugural Illinois Poker State Championship. The $1,100 buy-in no-limit hold’em event attracted 1,807 entries, a new field-size record for the state. As a result, the prize pool swelled to $1,751,290, topping the guarantee by more than $1 million.

While the event was new, the eventual champion has been a fixture on the poker scene for well over a decade. Longtime journalist and player Mo Nuwwarah emerged victorious from the massive turnout, securing his second MSPT title and a career-best payday of $205,499 for the win.

“It feels good,” Nuwwarah told MSPT staff after coming out on top. “I mean, it’s been a pretty swingy year, but also a good one so far. A little bit more good than bad, but I’ve blown a few heads-up battles in these before, so it feels good to get win number two in the books.”

Nuwwarah’s Lifetime Earnings Tick Over $1.2 Million

Nuwwarah has worked in poker media since the early 2010s, and after a few years covering sports betting, has recently returned to covering the game. In addition to his extensive résumé covering the gaming scene, the Card Player contributor has also built an impressive trophy collection with his exploits on the felt. His first MSPT triumph came in 2024, when he took down the main event at Bally’s Black Hawk for $155,189. Later that year he came out on top in the World Series of Poker Online $1,000 pot-limit Omaha event for $135,172 and a bracelet.

With this latest triumph, the Omaha, Nebraska native’s career tournament haul grew to over $1.2 million.

The victory also came with 1,080 Card Player Player of the Year points. This was the first title and third final-table finish of the year for the PokerScout deputy editor. With 1,880 total points, he now sits just outside of the top 150 in the 2026 POY race standings presented by CoinPoker.

Closing Out The Win

The final day of this event was a marathon session, with 198 players returning inside the money to play down a winner. Plenty of big names ran deep, including MSPT Hall of Famer Rob WazWaz (96th), three-time MSPT champion Josh Reichard (89th),  and Brett ‘Pops’ Reichard (50th).

Matthew Schurter was the chip leader when the final table was set, with Nuwwarah sitting on the next-largest stack. 2024 WSOP Circuit Horseshoe Hammond main event winner Evan Bethyo bowed out in ninth place, earning $27,626 after his pocket aces were cracked by the pocket jacks of Greg Koutelidakis. A set of jacks also saw Nuwwarah score his first knockout of the final table, with his pocket pair improving on a jack-high runout to send David Kowal packing in sixth place ($56,978).

The final five players then hashed out a deal to redistribute the remaining prize money based on ICM numbers. Nuwwarah, with the chip lead at the time of the agreement, was awarded the largest payout and the title. All five walked away with six-figure scores, with Koutelidakis’ $163,737 being the second-largest sum of the group.

Final Table Results

Photo credits: MSPT