Billyray Gallegos Wins MSPT Bally's Black Hawk Main Event ($104,890)
On Sunday night, the Mid-States Poker Tour (MSPT) Bally’s Black Hawk $1,110 Main Event came to an end after four scintillating days of play where a huge field of 683 entrants played down to a winner after almost eleven hours of play on Day 2.
That winner was Denver's Billyray Gallegos, who took home the MSPT trophy and a grand prize of $104,890. Gallegos has just $7,283 in career tournament earnings before the win. In a post-victory interview, he stated that he is mainly a cash game pro and that he has been pursuing poker full time for about two years after quitting his job. This win is sure to be a huge launching pad for his career as he felt it was just his time to win.
“It’s just my time man. I knew it inside," he revealed. "I have always made Day 2, cashed, but this time I was like today is different. I dressed up today! I’m usually that hoodie guy, sweatpants and everything, but today I was feeling good so I dressed up”.
Gallegos was one of the ten Day 1a survivors and bagged a big stack on Day 1 to head into the Sunday finale among the top ten. He stayed steady at the start of the day and then exploded as the finish line was in sight. He would become the chip leader around the three-table mark and stayed on top until the final table where he rode his stack to the title.
MSPT Bally's Black Hawk Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Hometown | Prize |
| 1 | Billyray Gallegos | Denver,CO | $104,890* |
| 2 | Ronald Scott | Midland,TX | $93,369* |
| 3 | Brady Bullard | Edmond,OK | $81,347* |
| 4 | Chris Gfull | N/A | $45,610 |
| 5 | Jared Ingles | Baton Rouge,LA | $34,373 |
| 6 | Sam Husar | Harrison City,PA | $25,779 |
| 7 | Vincent Moscati | New York,NY | $19,830 |
| 8 | Colin Gordon | Golden,CO | $15,864 |
| 9 | Devin Garcia | Denver,CO | $11,898 |
*Denotes three-handed deal.
Action of the Day
The day started with 80 players and play slowed significantly on the money bubble with 73 players left; in fact, it took almost an hour for the bubble to burst.
After the money was reached, eliminations came at a steady pace as several notables hit the rail including Ben Keeline (55th - $2,314), Jessica Vierling (44th - $2,578), Aaron Johnson (33rd - $2,908), Will Givens (26th - $3,834) and Scott Stewart (13th - $7,932).
Devin Garcia became the first victim of the final table after falling to a set, while Colin Gordon was the next to go in eighth place.
Vincent Moscati put together another deep tournament run finishing in seventh place followed by Sam Husar and Jared Ingles in sixth and fifth place respectively.
Chris Gfull was the last elimination of the night when he was felted in fourth place to set up a three-way chop discussion between the remaining contestants. It was determined to do an ICM chop based on chip count, which put Brady Bullard in third place and Ronald Scott in second with Gallegos taking the top prize and the trophy.
That wraps up PokerNews' coverage of the MSPT Black Hawk Main Event. Be sure to tune in for other events in the coming weeks, including the upcoming MSPT Poker Bowl VI at the Venetian Las Vegas from February 10-12.