Mo Nuwwarah Wins Illinois Poker State Championship: Second MSPT Title Secured

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.

Mo Nuwwarah emerged victorious from the massive turnout, securing his second MSPT title and a career-best payday of $205,499 for the win. 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.

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.