Around the Country: Ashton Griffin wins NAPT High Roller event

Ashton “TheASHMAN103″ Griffin, who hails from Florida but wrestles at Southwest Minnesota State University, took down the PokerStars North American Poker Tour $25,000 buy-in Invitational High Roller Bounty Shootout tournament on Thursday night. Including his bounty collections and the first place prize, Griffin took home more than $500,000.

This “high roller” shootout format was invite only, and 49 players were spread across seven tables to begin the tournament. Griffin won his first table, and was joined by Hoyt Corkins, Joe Cassidy, Peter Eastgate, Scott Seiver, Brett Richey, and Faraz Jaka at the final table.

Last summer, Griffin, 21, won the Full Tilt $25,000 buy-in heads-up tournament for over $500,000. Even though he is primarily a nosebleed-stakes cash game specialist (over $4 million won online since the beginning of 2009), he has a knack for crushing high roller tournaments.

The NAPT tournaments were all broadcast live at http://www.napt.com/tv/, but they will also air on ESPN 2 with hole cards in the near future.

For a detailed write-up of how the final table played out, including details about why Griffin was taking naps during breaks, check out the PokerStars blog.

1st – $560,000: Ashton Griffin
2nd – $100,000: Hoyt Corkins
3rd – $95,000: Joe Cassidy
4th – $215,000: Scott Seiver
5th – $95,000: Faraz Jaka
6th – $90,000: Brett Richey
7th – $85,000: Peter Eastgate