Brad Gafford won the Major Series of Poker: The Tour main event at Southern California’s Sycuan Casino Resort on May 4, earning $87,963 as the champion. The World Series of Poker bracelet winner from nearby San Diego saw his career earnings climb above $1 million thanks to the cash.
“It has been a really good year for me so far. Being from here, it’s cool to win this one because it’s kind of like the hometown kid taking it home,” Gafford told reporters. “It’s definitely another notch on the poker resume for sure. I got the bracelet out of the way early, and now I’m just going down the checklist.”
The $1,110 buy-in no-limit hold’em event attracted 417 entries over three starting flights. The top 47 players all min-cashed for at least $2,192, and that is how many of them returned for the final day of play. Notables that made a deep run included Kevin Meyers (47th), D.J Buckley (46th), Stephen Taylor (45th), Rip Fritzer (34th), Jonathan McGowan (33rd), Robert Fortuno (31st), Josh Royal (29th), Armando Mesina (21st), Peter Cross (16th), Kelly Mahana (15th), Mo Pourmandi (11th), and Loyal Sprague (10th).
The final table began with Gafford sitting in second chip position, and ninth place went to Andrew Merrick a short time later. Astivan followed in eighth place, and it was Savo Mandrapa who was out next in seventh.
Gafford stayed out of the way while sixth place was clocked by Rich Spirra, and Kellan Kemp saw his tournament run end in fifth place. Hollywood produced and World Poker Tour champion Matthew Salsberg was out next with a fourth-place finish, earning $29,098 for his latest deep run. The 2024 WSOP Circuit Commerce main event winner now has more than $3.7 million in recorded scores to his name.
Gafford scored his first knockout by taking out Jon Larkin in third. That set the chip counts at 22 million for Gafford for a slight lead over the 19.7 million held by Paul Ewen heading into the heads-up showdown for the title. Ewen and Gafford exchanged double-ups before the last hand of the tournament arrived.
That final clash saw all of the chips get into the middle on a 9
9
34 board, with Ewen at risk holding K7. Gafford had him covered with the lead in the hand holding 9
8. The J
was the final card dealt in the tournament, and that gave Gafford the victory along with the top prize and MSPT trophy. Ewen scored $54,208 thanks to his runner-up showing.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Earnings | POY Points |
| 1 | Brad Gafford | $87,693 | 720 |
| 2 | Paul Ewen | $54,208 | 600 |
| 3 | Jon Larkin | $39,462 | 480 |
| 4 | Matt Salsberg | $29,098 | 360 |
| 5 | Kellan Kemp | $21,923 | 300 |
| 6 | Rich Spirra | $16,741 | 240 |
| 7 | Savo Mandrapa | $13,154 | 180 |
| 8 | Astivan Batoo | $10,364 | 120 |
| 9 | Andrew Merrick | $7,574 | 60 |
The MSPT tour will continue with another main event in Michigan at the FireKeepers Casino that will run from May 15-18.
Photo Credit: MSPT.
