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More Impressive Turnouts at Recent RGPS Events

Written by Jennifer Newell
Last updated on
Jennifer Newell

What a year it’s been for the RunGood Poker Series…and it’s not even half over.

The RunGood Poker Series – RGPS – started the year by setting a new Main Event record at its Thunder Valley Casino stop in early January. The rungood continued – see what I did there? – to the next stops at Jamul in Southern California, Council Bluffs in Iowa, and the Horseshoe in Tunica, Mississippi. Main Event fields were pushing prize pools far beyond the guarantees.

Since then, RGPS hosted two more stops, one in Florida and the other in Missouri. Both exceeded their Main Event guarantees as well. It’s been all good for RunGood lately, and there’s more to come. The tour keeps adding more stops to the second half of the year.

First, let’s get to the last two Main Event results.

RGPS Coconut Creek

Seminole Casino Coconut Creek in Florida was the place to be for one of the larger RunGood Poker Series buy-ins of this season. The full series started on April 21, but the Main Event didn’t kick off until April 28.

The RunGood crew set a reasonable $200K guarantee on the prize pool, but 608 entries later, the actual prize pool was nearly triple that hopeful goal.

Three starting days added up to 608 entries, but there were only 134 survivors of those day to start Day 2. That night took only about half of those players into the money. With just a few tables left, names like Jamie Kerstetter, Phillip Hui, and Ray Henson busted. And with the tenth-place elimination of Dennis Rodriguez for $9,271, the final nine took to one last table.

It was already late into the night, but play moved forward as Jason Wandling busted Jacob Ristich and Matthew Bretzfield ousted Leroy Grant rather quickly. Wandling sent Kevin Blewitt out in seventh place as midnight hit, and Timothy Miles eliminated Matthew Lambrecht. It was several hours before another bustout, before Wandling busted Miles in fifth place. The final four ultimately agreed to stop for the night.

They returned on May 2 with Bretzfield in the chip lead, followed by Vladimir Grechnikov and Denys Shafikov, and Wandling on the shortest stack. It was then that the final four agreed to a payout deal. Each of them would take $65K and leave $15,268 on the table.

Play then moved along quickly. Wandling doubled through Bretzfield, the latter of whom busted to Grechnikov on the next hand. Wandling then took out Shafikov, but he took only 7.2M chips into heads-up against the 11M of Grechnikov. Wandling chipped up a bit but then shoved with A-Q. Grechnikov had pocket tens and won the hand and the tournament.

April 28 – May 2 $1,100 buy-in RGPS Seminole Coconut Creek (Florida)
Total entries: 608
Total prize pool: $589,760 ($200K GTD)
Players paid: 76
Minimum payout: $1,469
Final table results: 1st place: Vladimir Grechnikov $80,268
2nd place: Jason Wandling $65,000
3rd place: Denys Shafikov $65,000
4th place: Matthew Bretzfield $65,000
5th place: Timothy Miles $27,607
6th place: Matthew Lambrecht $22,600
7th place: Kvin Blewitt $18,595
8th place: Leroy Grant $14,827
9th place: Jacob Ristich $11,117

 

RGPS Joplin

In mid-May, players gathered in Southern Missouri for the last RunGood series before the 2022 World Series of Poker in Las Vegas. It offered several events, including a Main Event with a lower $600 buy-in and a modest $100K guarantee.

As has been the case all year, attendance was high, and the guarantee was left in the dust. Entries totaled 794, pushing the prize pool to nearly $413K, more than four times the guarantee.

Three starting flights delivered just 97 players to Day 2 of the tournament, all in the money. Eliminations went fairly quickly at first, and later in the evening, players like Michael Lech and Jesse Jones hit the rail as well. And with the elimination of Dale Schuman in tenth place, the final nine gathered at one table.

Jason White was the first of the short stacks to depart, courtesy of Derrick Young. Scott Brandau sent William Fisher out next and then William McCracken in seventh place and Douglas Dalton in sixth. Young stepped back in to bust Philip Carselowey in fifth place and Chris Fraley in fourth.

Brandau started the final table with the chip lead and took it into three-handed play, though Young was in second, and Dustin Hill was hanging in there. Young quickly took over the lead, and Hill chipped up, though Brandau took a huge pot from Young and then eliminated him in third.

Hill gave Brandau a run for the money during heads-up, but Hill then risked it all with pocket fours. Brandau had pocket eights, which held to win the tournament.

May 20-22 $600 buy-in RGPS Downstream Casino Joplin (Missouri)
Total entries: 794
Total prize pool: $412,880 ($100K GTD)
Players paid: 97
Minimum payout: $970
Final table results: 1st place: Scott Brandau $72,260
2nd place: Dustin Hill $48,180
3rd place: Derrick Young $35,520
4th place: Chris Fraley $26,480
5th place: Philip Carselowey $15,220
6th place: Douglas Dalton $15,220
7th place: William McCracken $11,735
8th place: William Fisher $9,155
9th place: Jason White $7,255

What’s on Tap for RunGood?

The only stop with a schedule released thus far is in June, but there are numerous other stops on the calendar for the rest of 2022.

Next Stops Dates RGPS Main Event
Hard Rock Tulsa in Oklahoma Jun 16-19 $420 buy-in Contenders Weekend Event ($50K GTD)
Horseshoe Casino in Council Bluffs, Iowa Aug 4-7 TBD
Horseshoe Casino in Tunica, Mississippi Oct 4-9 TBD
Horseshoe Casino in Council Bluffs, Iowa Oct 18-23 TBD
CardPlayer Cruises on Royal Caribbean Oct 29 – Nov 6 TBD
Jamul Casino in San Diego, California Nov 15-20 TBD
Thunder Valley Casino in Lincoln, California Nov 25 – Dec 5 TBD

 

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