Sam Grafton is part of PokerStars’s ambassador roster and one of the best players to come out of the United Kingdom. The 44-year-old British pro shared his thoughts on the EPT 20th Anniversary, as it played a pivotal role in his career.
How the European Poker Tour Changed Grafton’s Life
Before moving on to that, you need to know about his EPT journey. In 2013, Grafton participated in his first-ever European Poker Tour. He competed in the €5,300 Main Event and finished 24th place for $31,370.
2019 was a career-changing year for the 44-year-old poker pro. Not only did Grafton make some deep runs but also scored his first-ever seven-figure score, which came in the EPT Barcelona €100,000 NLH Super High Roller. He finished as the runner-up in the €100k Super High Roller and banked a staggering $1,453,517.
In 2022, Grafton won the EPT Prague €10,200 NLH opening event for $88,196. He then made a 2nd place finish in the €25,000 NLH High Roller for $240,211. The same year, he finished 7th place in the EPT Monte Carlo €25,000 No Limit Hold’em (Event 11) for € 85,280 and followed that up with another 7th place in the EPT Prague Super High Roller (Event #18) for €140,070.
Last year, he won Mystery Bounty (Event 4) at EPT Monte Carlo for € 97,900 and followed that victory up with a win in the No Limit Hold’em (Event #38) at EPT Barcelona. Currently, he is competing in the ongoing European Poker Tour Barcelona and we are once again expecting some big score from him.
“The European Poker Tour had a huge impact on my career, and I’ve made many great memories at the stops, ” said Sam Grafton on the eve of EPT’s recent 20th anniversary.
Who is Sam Grafton?
Sam Grafton is a British poker player with more than $15 million in live poker tournament earnings. Grafton is also an ambassador of the popular poker site, PokerStars. His story of joining poker is very different from other players of his age, unlike other players. Grafton was introduced to poker at the age of 28.
Grafton began playing poker in his hometown’s local casino and snooker halls. He then moved to London, where he started working in his aunt’s nightclub and used those payouts to play heads-up pot-limit hold’em in the International Club. He just played it as a hobby on weekends, but soon realized his prowess. Soon, the poker pro began playing five days a week and used that money to pay home rent.
Grafton never thought of poker as a profession. He always says “I am playing for rent money.” He thought professional poker players were way better than him. In 2009, the International Club was hosting the London Poker Masters series, and one dealer of the series asked Grafton to play some tournaments.
Initially, Grafton hesitated to play tournament poker, as it differed completely from cash games and was particularly very lengthy. But he thought of giving it a try, beginning his professional poker career.
Sam Grafton’s Live Poker Achievements and Winnings
As I already mentioned, his first tournament was in 2009 in the London Poker Masters series. It was a £150 NLH event where he came 6th for $1,671. He then made an 11th-place finish in the £500 NLH Main Event and earned $2,218.
Along with these two tournaments, he took part in two other tournaments that year in the International Club. In 2010, Grafton started traveling to play tournaments. His first tournament of 2010 was in the UKIPT Coventry, where he came 14th in the £550 NLH Main Event for $3,122.
He then made a 4th place finish in the GUKPT Manchester Main Event and earned $22,200, which significantly boosted Grafton’s motivation for tournaments.
In 2012, Grafton won the GUKPT London £2,625 NLH Main Event, securing his first-ever six-figure sum of $163,953. 5 years later, in 2017, Grafton scored his second $100k+ score after he triumphed in the Aussie Millions. A$10,600 Main Event for $106,156.
That same year, he scored his third six-figure score, where he came 1st in the PokerStars Festival Bucharest Main Event and banked $139,050. One year later, Grafton came 5th in the partypoker Millions Dusk Till Dawn Main Event, banking $271,012.
He scored another six-figure in the 2019 partypoker Millions South America, where he came 2nd for $114,939. In 2022, Sam Grafton won the Triton Poker Super High Roller Series Cyprus $200,000 NLH Event, scoring his career-best $5,500,000.
Sam Grafton’s WSOP Run
In 2011, Sam Grafton traveled to Las Vegas and played his first ever WSOP event, which was a $2,500 NLH Six-Handed event, where he made a 14th-place finish and earned $25,769.
He played some WSOP events later but didn’t make any significant runs in the game. Rather, he would always finish in the money, but not very deep.
It was in 2019 that he finished 11th in the $50k WSOP 50th Annual High Roller, banking $101,604. That same month, he came 13th in the $100,000 WSOP NLH Event, earning $171,936.
In 2021, Grafton came close to securing a WSOP bracelet. He existed in 7th place in the WSOP Event #7: $100,000 NLH High Roller for $263,227. It wasn’t the closest he came to claiming a bracelet, as he made another final table finish in 2022 WSOP Europe where finished in 2nd place for $465,852.
Since 2022, Sam Grafton hasn’t competed in any WSOP events. As of now, Grafton has made 30 cashes and earned nearly $1.5 million in the World Series of Poker.
Sam Grafton’s Recent Cashes
2024 has been good for the poker pro. He made 5 final table finishes while winning one tournament. Grafton banked $422,000 in the Triton Poker Super High Roller Jeju, for his 9th-place finish. He won the ESPT Malaga €3,300 NLH for $66,880.
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Sources: TheHendonMob/PokerNews/PokerOrg
