If a live poker tournament series is good, it will grow over time. People hear about it, see good value, find a nearby location or a way to travel to one, and they will collectively grow the series.
Of course, it also takes a team to run that series with growth in mind, to nurture it and care about it enough to keep pushing. Those in charge need to have fun with it and show players that there are more than just standard poker tournaments to be found on the tour.
That series is the RunGood Poker Series (RGPS).
A quick look at the totals for its 2022 season showed an impressive one.
Hurdles and Challenges
A poker tournament series with mid-stakes buy-ins has competition in America. There are other tours, one with the biggest name of them all – WSOP. That’s a challenge that Tana Karn was ready for when he founded RunGood Gear and the RunGood Poker Series.
The last few years, however, brought challenges that no one could have predicted.
There has been economic instability, increasing political divides, and something else…oh yeah…a global pandemic that shut down most of the world. All of poker, along with most other industries deemed non-essential, shut down in the first months of 2020.
Of course, RunGood was one of the first entities to step in to help support those in dire financial need. Alongside Poker Central and Global Poker, they started the “Keep the Lights On” campaign to garner donations via livestreams to benefit poker media personnel. Karn and Hayley Hochstetler also worked with the United Way to help others.
https://twitter.com/PokerGOnews/status/1253415185584238593?s=20&t=9J_DlkjLgx3U9LOaI4oXuQ
Meanwhile, most casinos and poker rooms stayed closed for much of 2020. Poker tournament operators waited longer to resume its action. And even when Karn and his team felt ready, some partner casinos were not. RGPS began to play the “Comeback Tour,” though it didn’t actually get underway until nearly halfway through 2021.
When they did, the numbers were strong. Poker players were fired up to return to the tables.
RGPS Numbers
There were some RGPS tournaments at the beginning of 2020 before the shutdowns, and there was a half-year of tour stops in 2021. But this 2022 year was the first full year since 2019.
So, we looked at 2019 and 2022 numbers to compare and show the tour’s progress. We already knew that most of the RGPS stops this year crushed their prize pool guarantees, but we didn’t know by how much.
Number of Main Events:-17 in 2019-16 in 2022Total number of Main Event entries:-6,507 in 2019-10,119 in 2022 (up 55.5%)Total number of payers paid in Main Events:-725 in 2019-1,237 in 2022 (up 70.1%)Total Main Event prize pools generated:-$3,050,347 in 2019-$6,168,379 in 2022 (up 102%)
That is growth.
2022 Season
RGPS just wrapped its season finale for 2022 at Thunder Valley Casino in California. Oddly enough, that was the only Main Event of the year with a $1M guarantee, and there was an overlay. But all other events throughout the year surpassed their guarantees, usually substantially.
For the record, this is a list of the Main Events of the 2022 RGPS season with relevant stats and winner information”
The RunGood crew is headed to Las Vegas for the 2022 All-Stars ProAM presented by PokerGo. On December 15, there will be a single-day tournament at Aria’s poker room on the Las Vegas Strip. The $240 buy-in event will award a RGPS ring and two seats to the ProAM.
That ProAM is a freeroll for all poker players who qualified throughout the year at RGPS Main Events and festivals. Invited poker players, celebrities, and members of the poker community can also play for a $550 entry fee. The event will take place at the PokerGO Studio December 16-17.
https://twitter.com/RunGoodGear/status/1601313593366294529?s=20&t=S30zfdghLCPECwgZjILgwg
