More Impressive Turnouts at Recent RGPS Events

Written by Jennifer Newell

Last updated on May 28th, 2022

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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.

Saturday is for poker. ♠️♣️♥️♦️ pic.twitter.com/vnpKlJqAWf

— Tana Karn (@tkarn421) April 30, 2022

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.

Final table time here at @CasinoCocoPoker! The remaining 9 players are competing for $111,186 plus a seat into the 2022 ProAM at the @PokerGO Studio!

Follow the action here: https://t.co/wrbiWVzBA1 pic.twitter.com/2ajTmBonVA

— RunGoodGear.com (@RunGoodGear) May 2, 2022

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.

 

Winner winner!

Vladimir Grechnikov is the 2022 @RGPokerSeries Main Event champion after a four-way deal at the final table. He earned $80,268 along with a seat to the RunGood All-Stars ProAM in Las Vegas.

Congrats and well played Vladimir!

Results: https://t.co/4Cg7UvOLpd pic.twitter.com/P5TOCpEg50

— Seminole Casino Coconut Creek Poker (@CasinoCocoPoker) May 2, 2022

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.

The $600 RunGood Main Event at @DSCasinoResort has reached the final 9 players! Everyone is guaranteed at least $7,255 with first place being $72,760 as well as a seat into the 2022 ProAM at the @PokerGO Studio!

Follow live updates here: https://t.co/IAYDHzVMjK pic.twitter.com/8slseNjbSa

— RunGoodGear.com (@RunGoodGear) May 22, 2022

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.

The $600 Main Event at @DSCasinoResort drew 794 entries, more than quadrupling the guaranteed prizepool! Scott Brandau takes the victory, earning a $72,260 payday while also punching his ticket into the RG ProAM!

Recap: https://t.co/vPvNDHFab9 via @PokerNews pic.twitter.com/oqHfVbUCxU

— RunGoodGear.com (@RunGoodGear) May 23, 2022

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.