Rzentkowski Victorious at MSPT Ameristar East Chicago; Estes Extends POY Lead

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Chad Holloway

PR & Media Manager

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Apr 28, 2026 3 min read

Table Of Contents

• MSPT Ameristar East Chicago Final Table Results
• Current MSPT Season 17 POY Leaderboard
• What's Else is Coming Up?
• MSPT Podcast

This past weekend, Season 17 of the Major Series of Poker: The Tour (MSPT) hosted an $1,110 Main Event at Ameristar East Chicago, a tournament that attracted 386 runners.

Of those, 43 returned for Sunday’s Day 2 in the money, and after 10 hours of play, it was Wisconsin’s Lee Rzentkowski coming out on top to claim his second MSPT title and a $82,955 top prize. In October 2022, Rzentkowski topped a 749-entry field to win the MSPT Riverside for $145,006 and his first title.

Rzentkowski also earned a seat in the $3,500 MSPT Championship Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open (RRPO), which will be held at the Seminole Hard Rock in Hollywood, Florida, Nov. 18 – Dec. 2, boasting a $2,000,000 GTD Main Event.

“I’ve been on a heater here lately”, Rzentkowski told MSPT reporter Anthony Thompson after his win, “Only I’ve come up short back-to-back times, so it feels really good to close this one out.”

According to Thompson, Rzentkowski was coming off back-to-back final table appearances at Ameristar, finishing in ninth and fifth place, respectively. His third final table appearance in a row proved to be the charm.

“It was really nice just knowing I had my family in my corner the whole time”, said Rzentkowski. “They were cheering for me from afar, but it feels nice knowing they had my back and were rooting for me.”

MSPT Ameristar East Chicago Final Table Results

PlacePlayerPrizePOY Points

1Lee RzentkowskiMiddleton, WI$82,955

2Aaron BrownMiddleport, NY$51,286

3Michael EstesChicago, IL$37,330

4Jeff StephensAurora, IL$27,526

5Daniel JohnsonChicago, IL$20,739

6Del BeilerDecatur, IL$15,837

7Jinha ParkChicgo, IL$12,443

8Allen PritchettVicksburg, MI$9,804

9Mike EstesCoralville, IA$7,164

By finishing the final table in ninth place, Iowa’s Mike Estes claimed 600 MSPT Season 17 Player of the Year points, which extended his lead atop the season-long leaderboard with 4,707 points. That is ahead of both Zilong Zhang (3,900 points) and Michael Wilklow (3,477 points).

Current MSPT Season 17 POY Leaderboard

PlacePlayerPoints

1Mike Estes4,707

2Zilong Zhang3,900

3Michael Wilklow3,477

4Lee Rzentkowski3,158

5Jacob Long3,051

6Greg Sessler3,050

7Clint Wolcyn2,995

8Carlton Taylor2,900

9Wesley Cannon2,896

10June 'Oh Geez' Kim2,850

Others to cash the tournament were Jamie Payne (12th - $6,033), Bill Brudenell (16th - $4,148), DJ Buckley (23rd - $3,054), Kevin Maahs (28th - $2,262), Cody Brinn (34th - $2,262), and Tom Koral (42nd - $2,074).

What's Else is Coming Up?

The MSPT now heads to Milwaukee’s Potawatomi Casino for a $1,000,000 GTD Main Event (along with a slew of side events).

More details on all those stops can be found at msptpoker.com.

Here’s a look at the remaining MSPT Season 17 schedule.

DatesVenueStateEventGuarantee

April 28-May 3Potawatomi CasinoWisconsinMSPT Festival$1,000,000

May 12-17FireKeepers CasinoMichiganMichigan Poker State Championship$1,000,000

May 13-25Sycuan CasinoCaliforniaShowdown SeriesTBD

June 2026The VenetianNevadaDiamond Poker ChampionshipTDB

June 2026The VenetianNevadaTBDTDB

July 21-26Riverside CasinoIowaIowa Poker State Championship$500,000

July 22-Aug. 2Bally’s Black Hawk CasinoColoradoColorado Poker State Championship$600,000

August 4-9Rivers CasinoChicago, IL-$1,000,000

August 18-23JACK Cleveland CasinoCleveland, OHMSPT Festival$500,000

September 2026The VenetianNevadaNevada Poker State ChampionshipTDB

Sept. 22-27Potawatomi CasinoWisconsinWisconsin Poker State Championship$1,000,000

Oct. 1-12PlaygroundMontreal, CanadaCanadian Poker Championship$1,000,000

Oct. 13-18FireKeepers CasinoMichiganMajor Spade Poker Championship$1,500,000

Nov. 3-8Riverside CasinoIowaMSPT Festival$500,000

Nov. 18-Dec. 2Seminole Hard RockFloridaMajor Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open (RRPO)$2,000,000

Dec. 1-13Running Aces CasinoMinnesotaWinter Poker Classic$700,000

MSPT Podcast

Did you know that Chad Holloway and Kyna England host the MSPT Podcast Presented By PokerNews_.

The show covers all things MSPT, including recent results, player highlights, guest interviews, and a preview of upcoming stops.

Episodes are available on the PokerNews YouTube channel. An audio version is also available on all major podcasting platforms.

Here’s a look at the latest episode:

*Images courtesy of MSPT & Tyler Abrams.