Congratulations to RG Ignite the Night NLH Tournament Winner David Caron ($5,024)

The first of two RunGood Poker Series events wrapped up in the early morning hours of Saturday (April 30), leaving just one event to go in our limited two-event engagement at Harrah's North Kansas City. The RG Ignite the Night NLH Tournament, sporting a $230 buy-in and a $10,000 guaranteed prize pool, kicked off at 7:00 p.m. By 7:15 p.m., 100 players were seated and 5 more were waiting their turn as alternates. By the time late registration closed just over two hours later, 143 players had entered, creating a prize pool of $28,600!

Fifteen places would be paid with $8,006 earmarked for first. The money bubble burst just before 1 a.m. local time and within half an hour of play it was down to just 10 players left. Making it to the final table were WSOP bracelet winner Grant Hinkle and former RGPS Main Event winner Troy Repp. Two other Hinkle brothers entered, Blair and Mason, with Mason missing a final table appearance by just two spots.

The first player to exit from the final table was Grant Hinkle, as fate would have it, by Repp. With the blinds at 3,000/6,000 with a 1,000 ante, Repp opened to 12,000 from under the gun and Hinkle moved all in for 43,000 total from middle position. The action folded back to Repp and he called. Repp held [Ad][Js] against Hinkle's [9c][9s], with Hinkle racing for his tournament life. But it was the end of the road for Hinkle as the board ran out [Ac][6c][Ts][Ks][Qc]. Hinkle received $586 for his performance.

A short-stacked Nathan Young went out next when his attempt to steal the blinds and antes backfired. Nancy Girton woke up with pocket tens in the small blind and called. Young groaned and turned over [8c][2s] while Girton tabled [Th][Td]. The board ran out [Ks][4d][3s][7c][5c] and Young hit the rail, collecting $724.

RGPS-Downstream veteran Andre "Aces" Allen exited the tournament in eighth place. Action folded to Girton in the cutoff and she raised to 25,000. Allen reraised all-in from the big blind for 55,000 total. Girton took no time to call and turned over [Ks][Qc]. Allen showed [Jc][Jh]. The board did not fall in Allen's favor, however, as it ran out [As][Qd][6d][5h][2s]. He took it all in stride, though, wishing everyone luck as he headed to the cashier to collect his $907 prize.

Seventh place finisher Dennis Meierotto was perhaps the quietest player left, yet the first hand he'd play at the final table would also be his last. Meierotto raised half his stack pre-flop from middle position, making it 35,000 to go and having just 45,000 behind. Jonathan Nye tossed in two 25,000 chips and the dealer announced a call. "Call?" asked Nye, "I meant to raise." Both blinds folded and the dealer spread a flop of [Ac][Kh][6h]. Meierotto checked and Nye bet 90,000. Meierotto snap-called, leading Nye to say, "You must have me [beat]," as he turned over [Qh][Qc]. As it turned out, Meierotto didn't have Nye beat, but instead held [Ts][Td]. Neither the turn [Kc] or the [8d] river were any help to Meierotto and he left the tournament area $1,153 richer.

Six-handed play lasted for over an hour, as the players waited for short-stacked Shaun McBride to be knocked out. Instead, McBride managed to double and then triple up, while two of the medium stacks (Troy Repp and Joe Jackson) dwindled, with big stacks Jonathan Nye and David Caron being the most active.

Shortly after the players returned from a scheduled break, Repp moved all in from the cutoff for 116,000 total. The action folded to Nancy Girton in the big blind, and she called. Repp turned over [6s][5s] and found himself up against Girton's [Jd][Js]. Girton had not yet lost an all-in confrontation, but the outcome remained in question when the [9h][4c][3h] flop brought Repp a straight draw. However, neither the [Qs] on the turn nor the [9d] on the river filled the straight and Repp hit the rail in sixth place for $1,493.

The remaining players began discussing a chop with most of the conversation focused on the 1 p.m. start of the RGPS tournament scheduled for Saturday--a mere 10 hours away. At 2:50 a.m., the remaining players agreed to a chop with the RG medallion and an extra $200 per player going to then-chip leader David Caron. Congratulations David on your win!

Official results and payouts are shown below:

RunGood would like to thank all the players who came out for the series and made our first event in Kansas City a huge success!

Saturday (April 30) at 1 p.m. is the RG One-Day Main Event NLH Tournament at Harrah's North Kansas City. The $340 buy-in gets you a 15,000-chip starting stack and re-entries are permitted until the close of the late registration period. The One-Day Main sports a $25,000 guaranteed prize pool--but if last night tells us anything, it's that $25,000 is just the start!  The winner of the event will also receive a trophy to commemorate the win and have their name engraved on the perennial RunGood Cup.  We hope to see you there!