It's Still the MSPT But Mid-States Poker Tour Rebrands to Major Series of Poker: The Tour
For the second time in its history, the MSPT acronym has a new meaning. What started as the Minnesota State Poker Tour in 2009 became the Mid-States Poker Tour two years later after expanding to five midwestern states.
Now that the MSPT has grown to host events all across the country – it has hosted 279 Main Events ($1K+ buy-in) and 70 Regional Events ($360/$400 buy-in) while awarding nearly $206 million in prize money thus far – it is now rebranding to the Major Series of Poker: The Tour.
While it’ll still be referred to as the MSPT, some exciting changes accompany the rebrand. The tour will soon announce dates and locations of five annual MAJORS at separate properties, each of which will boast a minimum $1,000,000 guaranteed prize pool as well as a custom award for each winner.
Each MAJOR will include a 1.5x multiplier on Player of the Year points and MAJOR wins will be tracked on the MSPT Leaderboards as well as within each player’s personal MSPT profile. MAJOR wins will also be crucial going forward to achieving MSPT Hall of Fame status.
The MSPT Hall of Fame, which currently has 17 inductees, was established in 2017 when the tour was comprised of just 18 Main Events. As such, the criteria for players to earn their way into the MSPT Hall of Fame reflected the size of the tour. However, now that the MSPT has grown to 30 Main Events in 2024, an increase of 67%, there are more opportunities.
As their press release stated: “This is why it’s time to adjust the HoF requirements to appropriately reflect the era and the Tour’s new vision to include MAJORS (think golf), which will now become a focal point of the adjusted requirements of entry into the MSPT Hall of Fame. Though the requirements are being adjusted to reflect the era.”
The good news is that players already in the MSPT Hall of Fame will remain there as the new criteria will not be retroactively applied.
The new criteria for MSPT Hall of Fame induction are:
- Tier 1 – Hall of Fame – Achieve a minimum of 40 MSPT Main Event Cashes, 2 MSPT Main Event Wins or 2 POY, 1 MAJOR Win, $500,000 MSPT Earnings.
- Tier 2 – Legends Club – Achieve a minimum of 60 MSPT Main Event Cashes, 3 MSPT Main Event Wins or 3 POY, 2 MAJOR Wins, $750,000 MSPT Earnings OR the 1st Five Players to Earn 100 Main Event Cashes
- Tier 3 – HOF God Mode – Achieve a minimum of 80 MSPT Main Event Cashes, 5 MSPT Main Event Wins, 3 MAJOR Wins, $1,000,000 MSPT Earnings
The MSPT has also announced a Senior’s Tour.
“We are excited to announce the launch of the MSPT Senior (50+) Tour, in conjunction with the MSPT - THE TOUR,” revealed the press release. “With a start date to be announced soon, all MSPT Senior tournaments (generally $300-$400 buy-ins, but may include $1Ks) taking place during an MSPT Series will count toward its own Senior POY Leaderboard. At year-end, the 2025 Senior POY will receive a $5,000 cash prize!”
Finally, all MSPT side events with a buy-in of $200 or greater will now count toward the Player of the Year race, and such winnings will be posted to the player’s MSPT profile.
The complete MSPT rebrand will be completed on June 1.
For more information on the tour, visit msptpoker.com.
