For the third time, the RunGood Poker Series (RGPS) made its way to the Reno's Atlantis Casino and Resort to run its $600 Main Event. Overlay was nowhere to be found this time around as 301 entrants made their way into the tournament, ensuring that 39 players would be getting a piece of the $153,510 prize pool. After a relatively short Day 2, the field was reduced to just one player whose name was Dustin Cavanaugh, who won $33,450 and his first RunGood ring.
“This is the best weekend of poker I have had in years,” the newly crowned champion told PokerNews, “so much fun, lot of good players, lot of good competition, and I had a blast.”
“My grandma taught me how to play poker for dimes when I was about five years old,” Cavanaugh talked about his experience playing, “I also took a math course in college. Not real excited to go back to being a pharmacist, so I’m just hunting. Picking pinenuts and playing poker.”
The first thing that Cavanaugh did was call his mother after the tournament and he talked a bit about her support of him during this tournament. “It’s been freezing in this room, so she brought me my long sleeve. She’s working on her doctorate here at UNR so I was just up for the weekend visiting. It feels good to spend time with my mom and take home a ring. She’s so supportive of me.”
Cavanaugh is going to play a poker series in Windover then followed by a poker series in Los Angeles, so his plans for the $33k will be wrapped up in those tournaments for the immediate future. “Believe in yourself but still stay humble,” he said when asked about what kind of advice he would give “but most importantly have fun. It always feels like you’re late on rent when the blinds increase, but at the end of the day we are just playing games.”
| Place | Player | Hometown | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dustin Cavanaugh | Boseman, MT | $33,450 |
| 2 | Michael P Harris | Reno, NV | $23,525 |
| 3 | Scott Stewart | Lakewood, CA | $15,130 |
| 4 | Adam Saven | Del Mar, CA | $9,540 |
| 5 | Aki Suzuki | Reno, NV | $7,360 |
| 6 | Matthew Betti | Cupertino, CA | $6,095 |
| 7 | Coy Sanders | Tracey, CA | $5,120 |
| 8 | Thomas Tran | Modesto, CA | $4,210 |
| 9 | Greg Paradero | Reno, NV | $3,360 |
As the players got back to the felt, Rian Mullins (39th-$850) ended his run as the first player to go. After that, players like Dallas Elwell (34th-$995), Derek Stark (33rd-$995), Christian Cooper (25th-$1,165), tournament director Michael “Murph” Murphy (19th-$1,640), last spring’s runner up Andrew Fredericks (18th-$2,005), and Ryan Awwad (11th-$2,825) all fell shorter than what their hopes were.
Jordan Cushman became the final player to fall before the final table as Cavanaugh raised and called Cushman’s shove with queen-jack. The jack-high board added to Cavanaugh’s stack and Cushman’s ace-ten could not find any improvement, eliminating him from the tournament and effectively from the NAPT Golden Player of The Series race for $2,825.
The final table started with the elimination of Greg Paradero. He came into the day as one of the biggest stacks in the room, but coming into the final table he was rendered as the shortest of the remaining stacks. He was unable to find any momentum as his final chips went in after a confrontation with ace-king on a queen-high flop against Michael P Harris who held queen-jack. No help was brought to his gutshot and Paradero ended his tournament in ninth place for $3,360.
Next on the chopping block is Thomas Tran who moved in his final few blinds in from the small blind with ten-seven offsuit and Harris called him in the big blind with king-two. The king on the flop locked up the pot for Harris and the man donning the nickname “tesla” collected $4,210 for his eighth place finish.
Only one hand later, Coy Sanders jammed in his last couple of chips in over Matthew Betti’s open and Aki Suzuki moved all in for more which folded out Betti. Sanders looked to be in good shape with the ace-queen against Suzuki’s ace-jack, but the board ran out containing a jack and Sanders collected $5,120.
The Main Event was giving away the most points, but once there were only six players left it became a two horse race between Betti and Harris as to who could potentially win the Golden Player of The Series leaderboard. The competition was fierce between the two of them, but Betti became the shortest stack and eventually he got in his final chips with queen-jack against Adam Saven who held pocket tens. The flop contained a ten and the turn paired the board leaving the pot to go to Saven and Betti to finish the tournament in sixth place for $6,095. He played the final eligible event for points, but was eliminated shortly after registration closed which left Harris as the winner of $10,000 pass.
Harris’ domination of the final table continued as he and Suzuki shared top pair on a king high board. Both players got their chips into the middle, but Harris’ ace-kicker was better than Suzuki’s ten-kicker and he took down another player from the table while Suzuki’s fifth place finish was good for $7,360.
As the tournament progressed, Harris’ seemed to extend his lead further and further. His biggest turbulence so far at the final table came when he clashed with Cavanaugh when Cavanaugh held queens against Harris’ ace-queen. No help was brought to the ace-queen and the queens were good for the pot to even the stacks out. Shortly after, Saven moved in his final chips in the small blind with ace-four and Harris called in the big blind with ace-nine. The board contained no help for Saven who bettered his ninth place finish last Spring with a fourth place finish worth $9,540.
Scott Stewart came into the day as the overwhelming chip leader, but the day had a tumultuous turn for him as his chip stack swung all around including during the final table. He went from chip leader to shortest stack, then a confrontation with Harris put him as a bigger stack once more. The three players all had relatively even stacks, but Cavanaugh ended up scooping up Stewart’s chips on a jack-high board holding aces against Stewart’s king-jack. Cavanaugh entered heads up with the massive chip lead while RGPS ring winner Stewart finished in third place for $15,130.
Heads-up play did not take too long as eventually the two players clashed in a sizable three-bet pot where Harris held a pair of nines against Dustin Cavanaugh’s king-ten. A king on the flop saw both players get their chips into the middle, and Harris was unable to find a nine to scoop up the pot, and he exited the tournament in second place for $23,325 while Cavanaugh took down the title.
Thank you for reading along at PokerNews. Be sure to check in again next week with the RunGood Poker Series at Harrahs in Kansas City.