Bobby Garcia Crowned MSPT Black Hawk Main Event Champion

September 2018 was the last time Bobby Garcia cashed in a live poker tournament. The almost three-year wait for another score is over after Garcia won the $1,100 MST Black Hawk Main Event this weekend. Garcia took home $89,038 after a three-handed deal concluded the tournament.

The MSPT continues to prove a popular tour, evident by the 651 entries garnered over three starting flights. Garcia bought into Day 1B, and finished 17th in the chip counts with 143,000 chips. This put him in the middle of the pack and allowed him to fly under the radar.

Some 83 players progressed to Day 2, and only 11 of those returned home empty-handed. Alex Wheeler earned the unwanted title of bubble boy after crashing out in 73rd place. Wheeler’s exit locked in a $2,084 min-cash for those with chips in front of them.

The prize money increases as the likes of Kevin Eyster, and former WPT500 champion Craig Varnell busted. Clayton Wilson fell in tenth-place, which left only the final table of nine in the hunt for the title.

Garcia Holds Narrow Final Table Chip Lead

Garcia sat down at the final table armed with 2,595,000 chips, slightly more than the 2,380,000 in the stack of Jon Glendinning. None of the players were particularly short-stacked; even the shortest stack has 22 big blinds.

The final nine became eight when Garcia sent Yohannes Ambaye to the rail. Garcia raised three-times the big blind to 150,000 with Ah-9h, and Ambaye three-bet to 400,000 with Ac-Kd. Garcia shoved, and Ambaye called off the 200,000 chips he had behind. A final board reading 5s-Qc-Qd-9s-7c was not what Ambaye wanted to see.

Adam Wilbur joined Ambaye on the sidelines after a clash with Tyler Potts did not go to plan. With blinds of 30,000/60,000/10,000a, Michael Jagroo raised to 125,000, Wilber moved all-in for 1,035,000 from the cutoff, and Potts called the all-in from the big blind. Jagroo folded, and Wilbur found his 5h-5c against Potts’ 9s-9c. The board failed to rescue Wilbur, and the final table lost another player.

Jagroo crashed out in seventh after a mistimed shove. Garcia min-raised to 160,000 before instantly calling when Jagroo pushed all-in for 1,000,000. Jagroo showed Ah-Ts, but Garcia held Ad-As. No drama from the five community cards reduced the player count by one.

Garcia increased his lead when his 7h-7c held against the 6d-6c of Glendinning. The champion elect climbed to more than 7.6 million chips while Glendinning busted in sixth for $24,627.

And Then There Were Three

Two players busted in quick succession to leave three players in the Main Event. First, Dapo Ajayi open-shoved for 16 big blinds from the small blind with Kc-Qd. Attacking the blinds like that should have won him the pot. However, Garcia looked down at pocket aces, and snap-called. Ajayi turned a queen but could not find any other outs.

Norm Tanner suffered a similar fate to Ajayi. He open-shoved for 20 big blinds from late position with Ks-Ts. Garcia woke up with Js-Jh and called. A Jd-5s-Tc-Td-9c board improved Garcia to a full house, and resigned Tanner to the $43,571 fourth-place prize.

The final three players locked horns with Garcia way out in front. That soon changed and all three players found themselves with stacks within 10 big blinds of each other. The trio of Garcia, Potts, and Cory Smith, paused the tournament clock before striking a deal, each securing $89,038.

Garcia held slightly more chips when the dealer counted the stacks, therefore, was crowned MSPT Black Hawk champion. This is the man from Colorado’s first live tournament victory, and the his largest-ever prize. Indeed, he had $99,573 in earnings before this win, so almost doubled his lifetime winnings.

Place	Player	Prize
1	Bobby Garcia	$89,038*
2	Tyler Potts	$89,038*
3	Cory Smith	$89,038*
4	Norm Tanner	$43,571
5	Dapo Ajayi	$32,836
6	Jon Glendinning	$24,672
7	Michael Jagroo	$18,944
8	Adam Wilbur	$15,155
9	Yohannes Ambaye	$11,366

Brad Johnson

You name the game, and you can bet your bottom dollar that Brad has either played it or placed a wager on it! Brad calls himself a natural gambler, and someone who gains as much enjoyment from writing about the crazy game of poker as he does playing it.

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