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When Jason Somerville announced the Run It Up Reno VIII series early in January this year, it certainly got the poker fraternity talking. The 26-event poker fest kicked off on April 12 with the series-opener $440 Mini Main Event that ran alongside crowd-pleasers like a Welcome Party and a Stand-up Open Mic Night.
Snagging the first title of the series was John Boriolo who took down the Mini Main Event for $26,073. Peppermill Resort and Spa in Reno has witnessed non-stop poker action since then, as a further 11 more events have crowned champions!
It was an action-packed day at the RIU Reno VIII on Friday where two events were running parallel to each other. The biggest buy-in event at the series so far, the $1,100 Thursday Thrilla saw its final nine finishers return in the hunt for the glory of winning the title. The tournament certainly had a surprise ending. Katie Lindsay had stormed into the final table with a monstrous chip lead, but it was Adin Cota who squeezed out a win! Cota defeated Timothy Guilford heads-up to bank the winner’s cheque of $20,400. Lindsay, who is the wife of poker superstar Chris Moorman finished two spots before Cota, in third place.
The marquee event at the stop – the $600 buy-in Main Event got underway yesterday with Day 1A registering 267 players. 53 among them made it to Day 2 with Patrick Truong the frontrunner amidst the survivors with a stack of 471,000.
Another player grabbing the spotlight was Donnie McCormick. Having scored in the Mini Main Event and the $125 Super Sonic, and fresh off his sixth-place finish in the $235 Pro Bounty, McCormick entered the $235 Black Chip Bounty along with 235 others. Dominating the final table, McCormick eliminated six players on the final table to take down the title convincingly. Along with $5,060 in prize money, he pocketed an additional $1,900 in bounties.
Also playing out was the $235 Pro Bounty that was taken down by Jim Petzing for $7,930. “I’m very excited. It feels really great,” said Petzing after his win.
Interestingly, Petzing who has $738,000 in live winnings after this win, came up against his own flatmate and close friend David Larson heads-up. Petzing mentioned later that just a night before, during dinner, the duo had discussed the possibility of making it to the final table of the event and dueling over the title! Petzing was quite the crowd favorite and added a lot of fans after the Open-mic Night where he gave a stand-up comedy performance.
Event Name | Player Name | Prize Money |
---|---|---|
$440 Mini Main Event | John Boriolo | $26,073 |
$125 Short Deck Hold ‘em $10K GTD | Sherman Mah | $3,153 |
$125 NLHE/ Omaha 8 6-Max | Sarah Sherman | $2,000 |
$235 HORSE 6-Max | Adam Owen | $5,955 |
$125 NLHE Super Stack Super Sonic | Patrick Tardif | $3,030 |
$235 NLHE Pro Bounty | James Petzing | $7,930 |
$125 NLHE Bomb Pot | John Lewis | $2,440 |
$235 NLHE Black Chip Bounty | Donald McCormick | $5,060 |
$125 NLHE –All In or Fold | Kyle Anderson | $3,185 |
$235 8-Game Championship 6-Max | Nicholas Kiley | $5,220 |
$125 NLHE- Win the Button | Steven Filipovic | $4,125 |
$125 N.O.R.S.E 6-Max | James Cappucci | $2,219 |
$1,100 Thursday Thrilla | Adin Cota | $20,400 |
$600 Main Event | Dan O' Brien | $46,681 |
$125 Triple Stud 6-Max | Joe Brindle | $1,627 |
$125 2,3,4,5 Mix | Patrick Truong | 42,215 |
$340 Short Deck Hold 'em Championship | Andy Pokrivnak | $5,083 |
$125 Taiwanese Double Board 5-Max | Joe Brindle | $2,460 |
Day 1B of the $600 buy-in Main Event kicks off today and also on the tap is the $125 2,3,4,5 Mix Event. Coming up tomorrow will be Day 2 of the Main Event along with the $340 buy-in Short Deck Hold ‘em Championship $20K GTD and the $125 buy-in 5-Max Taiwanese Double Board $10K GTD.
The Thursday Thrilla was the biggest buy-in tournament at the series and saw 178 entries join the field. Only nine of them survived to the final day and leading the charge with nearly a third of the chips in play (1.104 Million) was Katie Lindsay.
Lindsay was the hot favorite to win the title but Day 2 completely changed the dynamics. Lindsay was overtaken by two others in the race to the title as Adin Cota won the event after defeating Timothy Guilford heads-up for $20,400. Guilford banked $13,020 for his runner-up finish, and Lindsay had to make do with a third-place finish worth $8,940.
The tournament offered $500 bounties on each player and Cota collected six bounties on his way to the finish line, picking up an additional $6,000.
After Andrew Lok bubbled in 19th place, 10 in-the-money players had to hit the rail before the final table was drawn. Notable among them were Patrick Tardif (10th for $2,400), Joel Danforth (13th for $1,500), Noel Rodriguez (16th for $1,500), and David Thomas (18th for $1,500).
Chris Moneymaker, Benjamin “Spraggy” Spragg, Brad Owen, Adam Owen, Jason Somerville, Evan Jarvis, Ricky “ratedGTO” Guan, Jesse Sylvia, Arlie Shaban, Tyson Apostol, and Kevin Martin also played the event but without much success.
Final Table Recap
Jerry White ended up as the first casualty on the nine-handed final table, and he was followed to the rail by Fintan Hand.
Derek Frye proceeded to collect the bounties of both Jeff Newman and Frank Lagodich after eliminating them in seventh and sixth place respectively. Frye’s own run didn’t last beyond fifth place.
It was not long before the next elimination. Cota opened for 33,000 under the gun, and Timothy Guilford moved all in from the cutoff for 167,000. Max Brown jammed all in for 763,000 from the small blind, and Cota instant-called, putting Guilford and Brown at risk. His were ahead of Brown’s and Guilford’s but Guilford hit a flush on the board to win the pot and Cota survived, collecting Brown’s $500 bounty as the latter left in fourth place.
Katie Lindsay was eliminated in third place after her raise for 75,000 from the small blind with got re-raised to 180,000 by Cota holding . Lindsay made the call, and the flop of came through where Lindsay checked, and Cota led out for 100,000. Lindsay check-raised all in for 775,000 prompting Cota to snap-call. The turn gave Lindsay a clubs flush draw, but she missed her draw on the river.
Cota came up against Timothy Guilford in the heads-up play and got done with the latter in the second hand itself when Guilford moved all in with his 270,000 and Cota called.
Adin Cota
Timothy Guilford
Cota hit a gutshot straight draw on the flop, but the turn gave Guilford a pair. Just when it looked like Guilford would take down the pot, the on the river completed Cota’s straight and he snagged the title along with collecting the final $500 bounty of the tournament!
Final Table Results (USD)
$235 Black Chip Bounty
The $235 Black Chip Bounty attracted 236 runners with all of them having a $100 bounty on their head. It took the single-day event nearly 10 hours to declare a winner, and the man holding the trophy at the end was Oregon’s Donnie McCormick! McCormick won the title for $5,060 along with an additional $1,900 in bounties.
Dan Brown and Jovanny Jayne ended up bubbling the event for $150 each, after busting at the same time on separate tables.
Among the other notables who made the cashes list were Kevin Bratner (9th for $600), Michael Trivett (13th for $380), Mini Main Event champion John Boriolo (15th for $380), LFG Podcast co-host Jamie Kerstetter (20th for $300), and Tyson Apostal (23rd for $300).
Final Table Recap
McCormick came into the final table as the commanding chip leader holding 1.1 Million in chips and notched six eliminations on his way to victory.
In the heads-up, McCormick began with 2,900,000 against Twitch streamer Eric ‘TABLECAPTAINN’ Wemlinger ‘s 607,000. Nearly an hour later, Wemlinger conceded defeat when McCormick limped holding the , and Wemlinger checked with . Both of them checked the flop , and Wemlinger checked the turn while McCormick moved all in. Wemlinger called off for 1 Million. He was one card away from scoring a double up, but the on the river, declared McCormick as the champion!
Final Table Results (USD)
$235 Pro Bounty
Another one-day tournament at the stop, the #235 Pro Bounty attracted 174 runners and took 12 hours to play out. RIU fan favorite Jim Petzing came out on top to win the title and a pay cheque of $7,930.
The event offered a $300 bounty on various pros. Though Petzing didn’t collect any ‘pro’ bounties, he managed to win an extra $100, that was placed on the head of Andy Pokrivnak by another player. Making things even more interesting was the fact that Petzing’s head-up opponent was his good friend and flat-mate David Larson, whom he defeated to claim the title.
The top 21 spots earned at least $400 from a prize pool of $30,500. Popular Twitch streamer Arlie Shaban fired three bullets in the events but was unable to make any headway each time.
Todd Studenicka (10th for $780), Scott Moskowitz (12th for $620), Patrick Tardif (15th for $500), Benjamin “Spraggy” Spragg (16th for $500), Kenyah Harris (19th for $400), and Andrew Romeo (21st for $400), all finished in the money.
Final Table Recap
Players fell in quick succession early into the final table and leaving first were Steven Nevius, Stefan Helber, Cody Courtois, Don McCormick, and Jordan Spurlin in places ninth to fifth.
It wasn’t long before Stefan Helber was eliminated in fourth place after his ran into David Larson’s . Helber was ahead on the flop , but the turn paired Larson making the river inconsequential.
Petzing then knocked out Miguel Cardenas out in third place to reach the heads-up play alongside David Larson. The final hand saw Larson move all in for his last 560,000 and Petzing retaliated with a snap call. Larson tabled versus Petzing’s . Petzing was leading and held through the runout to win his first-ever RIU Reno title!
Final Table Results (USD)
Content & Images Courtesy: Run It Up Reno & PokerNews
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