The Major Series of Poker: The Tour has crowned another first-time champion in Jorden Helstern. The Illinois native outlasted 1,785 total entries in the 2026 MSPT Club Poker Championship $1,110 no-limit hold’em event for his debut title on the tour and a career-best score of $239,788. Prior to this victory, his top payday had been the $37,207 he earned for a seventh-place finish in a $1,600 event at the 2020 Venetian DeepStack Extravaganza IV.
“Feels amazing. I basically just 8x’d my largest career score, so I think I’ll go buy some new shoes,” Helstern told MSPT reporters after closing out the victory
The strong turnout at Potawatomi Casino Hotel saw the $1 million guarantee easily surpassed, with $1,729,950 paid out amongst the top 197 finishers. The Milwaukee poker hotspot played host to deep runs from Joshua Reichard (43rd), Joe Elpayaa (38th), Kevin Maahs (25th), DJ Buckley (14th), and Richard Bai (11th).
Helstern survived to the final four and then won a big preflop showdown with pocket tens against pocket nines to eliminate Sung Kim (4th – $98,526). Bracelet winner Jean ‘Prince’ Gaspard (3rd – $131,083) was the next to fall, with his 6♥5♣ bested by K♠8♠ for Greg Sessler.
Gaspard flopped a pair to take the lead, but had a lot of outs to fade with Sessler adding the nut flush draw to go with his overcards. The turn brought the 4♠ to give Sessler the nuts and the knockout, making the river a mere formality. Gaspard now has more than $3.3 million in career earnings after this latest deep run.
The final two soon hashed out a deal that brought the event to a close, with Helstern earning $239,788 and the title while Sessler secured $210,000 as the runner-up. This was a new high score for the Wisconsin resident.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Payout | POY Points |
| 1 | Jorden Helstern | $239,788 | 1080 |
| 2 | Greg Sessler | $210,000 | 900 |
| 3 | Jean Gaspard | $131,083 | 720 |
| 4 | Sung Kim | $98,526 | 540 |
| 5 | Ken Daciolas | $76,079 | 450 |
| 6 | Michael Wilklow | $56,546 | 360 |
| 7 | John McVoy | $44,551 | 270 |
| 8 | Craig Trost | $34,270 | 180 |
| 9 | Andrew Leichtle | $27,416 | 90 |
Photo credit: MSPT.
