Griffin Poker Prodigy
Wednesday, March 10th, 201021-year-old online poker prodigy Ashton Griffin from Lake Worth, Florida won consecutive shootout tables and eliminated six opponents, racking up a $560,000 payday in winning the North American Poker Tour Venetian High Roller Bounty Shootout. The win was Griffin’s largest live tournament result to date. He also finished seventh at LAPT San José on Season 1, earning $28,956. The $25,000 buy-in invitational featured 49 of the world’s best poker players, including former world champion and Team PokerStars.net Pro Peter Eastgate, who made the final poker table, ultimately finishing in 7th place. Team PokerStars.net Pro was also represented by Daniel Negreanu, Joe Cada, Bertrand ‘ElkY’ Grospellier, Jason Mercier, Joe Hachem, Barry Greenstein, Vanessa Rousso, Chris Moneymaker, Greg Raymer, John Duthie, Dario Minieri, Hevad Khan, Steven Paul. Others in the field included Phil Hellmuth, Annie Duke, Jennifer Tilly, Antonio Esfandiari, Phil Laak, Yevgeniy Timoshenko, Joe Sebok, Tony G and Phil Galfond, amongst others. The field was divided into seven tables of seven players, via a random table draw. $5,000 was deducted from each player’s buy-in and turned into a claimable cash bounty award, given to any player who eliminates another from the tournament. Bust an opponent; claim his/her bounty. Each table was played sit’n'go style and the seven winners from the opening round heats received $75,000 and earned a spot at the final poker table which boasted a winner-take-all format. PokerStars.net added a $100,000 cash bonus to the prizepool, awarded to the player who collected the most bounties. PokerStars.net player Scott Seiver was the recipient of that award, claiming eight victims throughout the tournament. Seiver eliminated all six opponents at his opening round table, jumping out to an early lead in the bounty race. He added two more at the final table finishing with a tournament-best eight bounties, worth a grand total of $140,000 ($40,000 in bounties and a $100,000 bonus).