The second stop of Season 17 took the MSPT to the beautiful Sycuan Casino Resort in San Diego, California, for the inaugural Golden State Poker Championship!
A total of 265 entries were tallied after three starting flights, and on Sunday, 30 players returned to Day 2 action, with a fast-paced final day, during which California native Zilong Zhang rose to the top, securing his first MSPT title!
“It feels really great,” Zhang said after his victory, “ Starting off 2026 with a victory is always good, and I’m glad my friend Nan Chen told me to come here, as he won the side event and now I won the Main Event, I couldn’t be happier”.
The victory marked Zhang’s second-largest career score, and with his win, Zhang will also receive a $3,500 seat into the MSPT Championship Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open (RRPO), which will be held at the Seminole Hard Rock in Hollywood, Florida, Nov. 18 – Dec. 2, boasting a $2,000,000 GTD Main Event!
MSPT Season 17 Golden State Poker Championship Final Table Results
| Place |
Player |
Prize |
POY |
| 1 |
Zilong Zhang |
$54,334* |
900 |
| 2 |
John Terrill |
$49,571* |
900 |
| 3 |
Robert Fortuno |
$42,817* |
900 |
| 4 |
Sammy Weisman |
$23,220 |
800 |
| 5 |
Matt Salsberg |
$17,415 |
700 |
| 6 |
Michael Bailund |
$13,351 |
600 |
| 7 |
Cody Blades |
$10,159 |
500 |
| 8 |
David Bashel |
$8,127 |
400 |
| 9 |
Clint Wolcyn |
$6,385 |
300 |
Day 2 Action
The final day came back with all 30 players already in the money, so action kicked right into gear with Minnesota’s Mark Bloomberg being the first body to drop, followed by 2021 Sycuan Regional champ Armando Mesina, starting a spree of eliminations.
The next batch of players who followed to the payout desk included the likes of reigning Sycuan regional champ Scott Aulds, Christopher Smith, and Josh Mok.
The fast-paced action continued as Michael Starek (19th Place - $3,193), Rip Fritzer (18th Place - $3,744), Bret Eberhart (13th Place - $4,354), Steve Westberg (11th Place - $5,224), and Mary Anne Madruga (10th Place - $5,224) all fell on the way to the final table.
Final Table Action
Minnesota’s Clint Wolcyn went into the final table at the bottom of the chip counts and became the first elimination after he got rivered by Matt Salsberg, while fellow Minnesotan David Bashel fell to the same fate by Robert Fortuno to take an eighth-place finish.
Cody Blades came into the final day at the bottom of the chip counts but was able to make an impressive run to the final table, only to end up losing a race to John Terrill, as he made a heartbreaking seventh-place exit.
After getting a few ladder ups, Michael Bailund nearly blinded out before finally getting his chips in the middle with king-high, only to be hooked by Terrill in sixth place.
After making his sixth final table appearance here at Sycuan in the past three years, television writer and producer Salsberg was looking to secure his first MSPT title, but fell short after being out-kicked by Fortuno in fifth place for $17,415.
Following Salsberg to the payout desk was Sammy Weisman, whose Big Slick wasn’t able to crack soon-to-be champ Zhang’s pair of cowboys, as he departed in fourth-place for $23,220.
Three-handed action started with the players agreeing upon an ICM deal, with Terrill holding the most chips, but after his bluff didn’t scare off Fortuno, he took an unsatisfying third-place exit.
The heads-up duel started with Fortuno holding over 90% of the chips in play, but Zhang battled back to overcome the deficit to secure the first-ever Golden State Poker Championship.
This wraps up our coverage for this event, but Season 17 of the MSPT continues this week as we head to Bally’s Black Hawk next (January 22nd - 25th), and our reporting team will be on hand providing updates for the $300K GTD $1,110 Main Event, so make sure to come back!