Peter Brown’s Major Series of Poker: The Tour main event debut was a profitable one. His very first attempt saw him come away with the title and $68,912 in prize money. The Gilbert, Arizona resident made the (relatively quick) trip to Sycuan Casino near San Diego for this MSPT tournament and returned with a trophy in tow.
“Feels great, this was my first MSPT I’ve ever played, so that’s pretty cool to think about,” said Brown to reporters on the scene after the win.
The $1,110 buy-in no-limit hold’em tournament attracted 431 entries, topping the $300,000 guarantee with a final prize pool of $416,75.
The final 49 who made the last day of play were all in the money. It took roughly nine hours to narrow that total down to a champion. Notables lost during the playdown period to the final table included Clint Wolcyn (39th), Kellan Kemp (30th), MSPT champion John Kurfman (25th place), Rudy Cervantes (24th place), perennial MSPT player of the year winner and contender Umut Ozturk (18th), Raad Nasouri (17th), Hal Kilgore (13th), and Johnny Groat (10th).
Big Names Join Brown In Final Nine
The final nine began with Brown out front with a healthy lead, but Stephen Graner doubled through him before they took a dinner break. Mo Pourmandi was the first player to fall in ninth place, and soon after that, Joe Asker took eighth place.
World Poker Tour champion and television writer/producer Matt Salsberg was out next in seventh place, and Brown doubled up after that to keep his stack cruising near the top of the counts. Josue Aguirre busted out in sixth place, and Brent Gill got out of the way for fifth place. Stephen Graner claimed his third knockout punch in a row with a blow to MSPT Hall of Fame member Gerald Cunniff for a fourth-place finish.
The next bustout proved to be the final hand dealt in the tournament. That hand saw the pocket tens of Brown connect for a set on the turn after a king and five fell on the flop to give the K♥5♥ of previous Sycuan champ Justin Lynch an early lead in the hand.
The final two players then had a discussion that crowned Brown as the winner of the tournament, and Graner took runner-up honors along with $54,561. Graner has many tournament accolades under his belt, including a European Poker Tour title and a World Series of Poker Circuit gold ring. This recent score took his career earnings close to $2.8 million.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Payouts | POY Points |
| 1 | Peter Brown | $68,192 | 720 |
| 2 | Stephen Graner | $54,651 | 600 |
| 3 | Justin Lynch | $45,293 | 480 |
| 4 | Gerald Cunniff | $35,148 | 360 |
| 5 | Brenton Gill | $34,341 | 300 |
| 6 | Josue Aguirre | $17,119 | 240 |
| 7 | Matthew Salsberg | $13,451 | 180 |
| 8 | Joe Asker | $10,598 | 120 |
| 9 | Mohammad Pourmandi | $7,744 | 60 |
Photo Credit: MSPT.
