Brian Craig Wins First RGPS Main Event Of The Year ($70,169)
A total of 517 entrants blew the initial prize pool guarantee out of the water as 63 players saw a piece of the $361,900 prize pool. At the beginning of the day, each one of those players had hopes and visions of a shiny black ring around their finger, but after 10 hours of play, only one of those players had their wish granted.
Kansas’ Brian Craig came into the day, sitting 15th place in chips and maintained a steady chip stack throughout the tournament. As the day continued, he found himself coming into the final table with the chip lead and after a couple of hours of play, he found himself sitting atop of the counts as the last player standing.
“The money is great,” he said when asked about which part of winning sounds most appealing. The Kansas resident had been a regular on the RGPS circuit for sometime, final tabling a $400 Deepstack Event at Council Bluffs just over a year ago. He sat with $75,789 in lifetime earnings before the start of day and has now nearly doubled it with this finish.
“Had to be very patient,” the new champion said about his mindset throughout the day. “I had stretches where I won every hand for 30 minutes, I also had stretches where I lost every hand for an hour. With all that back and forth, patience was important.”
Craig bore witness to second place finisher Mike Travis eliminating nearly every player at the final table, then arrived at heads up with a 3:1 chip deficit. After just under an hour of play, he managed to flip that script and take down the title.
“I’m a tournament player, circuit grinder,” Craig mentioned as far as his tournament poker experience was concerned. “I play only about 10-15 poker tournaments a year, so I am very much a semi-professional player. Heavy emphasis on the semi. With this score now, I can probably play more tournaments.”
He also becomes the first player of the 2025 RGPS to win a free seat to the $300 Dream Seat Invitational which will occur in November of 2025. A bit far away to be planning for, Craig is going to be resting on his laurels for a bit before planning his next poker trip.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Hometown | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brian Craig | Olathe, KS | $70,169 |
| 2 | Mike Travis | Tulsa, OK | $46,757 |
| 3 | Josh Wyatt | Chelsea, OK | $34,453 |
| 4 | Michael Cantrelli | Tulsa, OK | $25,695 |
| 5 | Ryan Anderson | Kansas City, MO | $19,362 |
| 6 | Tyler Barnes | Miami, OK | $14,766 |
| 7 | James Stone (OK) | Broken Arrow, OK | $11,400 |
| 8 | Ha Tran | Ft. Smith, AR | $8,867 |
| 9 | Greg Henry | Goldsby, OK | $7,021 |
Day 2 Action
As mentioned in the intro, 6 players who had won RGPS Main Events came into the day, four of them coming from this casino. 2022 Tulsa champion Pete Petree (61st-$1,303) was the first to be eliminated of those six, and he was joined on the rail with main other regulars like Forrest Kollar (63rd-$1,303), Trevor Lewis (57th-$1,303), Hunter Cichy (49th-$1,448), St. Louis Champion Iman Al-Saden (43rd-$1,629), and Kansas City Champion William McCracken (41st-$1,629). After a few more eliminations, it was down to just 26 players for the redraw.
Seth Wright (26th-$2,171) and Chris Willis (25th-$2,171) saw their short stacks unable to spin. Devin Arnone (24th-$2,569) saw his queens cracked by Greg Henry’s jacks, and RGPS Tulsa Deepstack champion Michael Perrone’s (23rd-$2,569) aces fell to Ryan Anderson’s ace-king. A flurry of eliminations saw Jon Braker (22nd-$2,569), Andrew Todhunter (21st-$2,569), and WSOPC Hammond Main champion Brant Jolly (20th-$3,076) all fall. After that it was Jeremy Radebaugh’s (19th-$3,076) ace-queen that couldn’t improve against Mike Travis’ kings.
With two tables left, Kiet Tran’s (18th-$3,076) day came to a close, with Wesley Jones (17th-$3,076) following him out the door after losing a flip to Tyler Barnes. RGPS Ambassador Bounty Champion Seth Hargrove (16th-$3,691) who couldn’t beat Ha Tran’s kings. Rachel Sawyer (15th-$3,691) would lose a flip to Josh Wyatt and be ousted the next hand, while at the other table, 2018 Tulsa champion Byron Abernathy (14th-$4,524) got in his short stack against Brian Craig. Ashley “PokerFaceAsh” Frank (13rd-$4,524) saw her top pair get cracked by Travis’ set, but she walked over to register the final tournament of the series and came in 3rd place for two scores in one day. Kevin Elwood (12th-$5,609) would be next to go, followed by 2024 RGPS Tulsa Main Event champion Todd Tucker (11th-$5,609) who’s king-jack wouldn’t beat Travis’ ace-queen.
The final elimination prior to the final table came courtesy of a cooler between Rosmel Munoz who flopped a set of fours against James Stone’s (OK) top set of tens. Both players got their money in on the turn and no help would be brought to Munoz, who collected $7,021 for his finish.
Final Table Action
The first two all in confrontations at the final table, saw the short stack double as Josh Wyatt’s ace-seven cracked stones kings with a flush and Michael Cantrelli’s set of sixes filled up on Anderson’s flopped nut-straight. After that it seemed the eliminations would be slow, but the floodgates opened shortly after.
First it was Greg Henry who moved in his last chips holding pocket queens, only to find that Wyatt held a pair of aces. No help came on any street and Henry became the first casualty, finishing in ninth place for $7,021.
Ha Tran began the final table as the second biggest stack behind Craig, but a massive cooler saw Wyatt’s nut straight take almost all of Tran’s chips as Wyatt overtook the chip lead. After that it was Tran’s ace-four that couldn’t improve against Craig’s ace-king and he ended his run in eighth place for $8,867.
After that it was Stone who would collide with Travis and the tone would be set for the rest of the final table. Stone would four-bet jam his sizable stack with ace-five against Travis’ aces and Travis ascended into a sizable lead while Stone collected $11,400 for his seventh place finish.
Only one former Main Event champion remained at the final table and Tyler Barnes’ second RGPS final table appearance came to an end in sixth place. He moved in with king-queen against Travis’ ace-eight and the flop contained an ace and an eight to leave the 2023 RGPS Tulsa Main Event champion to collect $14,766 for his deep run.
Anderson’s run would come to an end in fifth place. After the big pot at the beginning of the final table against Cantrelli, Anderson fell to the shortest stack and remained there for most of the final table. He would jam his last chips in with six-five which flopped the second pair. Travis would flop top pair with ace-seven in the same hand and he would hold to add to his chip lead as Anderson collected $19,362 for his efforts.
Travis would be the executioner again when he would flop top pair with ace-seven and call Cantrelli when he moved all in with ace-jack and no pair. The board ran out with no help and despite starting the day as the third shortest stack, he would outlast almost all of the players left and collect $25,695 for his fourth place finish.
Another player would fall to Travis’ domination as he would call in the small blind with ace-king against Wyatt who would move all in for his last ace-two and Travis would call. No help would be brought to the ace-two and Travis would take a 3:1 lead into heads up play while Wyatt would finish his tournament in third place for $34,453.
The lead in heads up between Craig and Travis would change when Craig would bet two streets and then move all in on the river in a massive pot where Travis held ace-king, unconnected from the eight-high board. After some tanking, Travis would fold and Craig would take over the lead.
One more hand would determine heads up play as Travis would raise flop and jam turn with bottom pair holding six-two, only for Craig to have flopped three fours with four-three and his call would lock up the tournament and leave Travis collecting $46,757 for his runner-up finish.
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