Kasey Orr Win RunGood Poker Series Thunder Valley Main Event ($65,728)
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Kasey Orr was a wrecking ball on the final day of the RunGood Poker Series (RGPS) $575 No-Limit Hold’em Main Event $200,000 GTD from Thunder Valley Casino Resort and it resulted in him taking home $65,728 after a deal was made at the beginning of heads-up play.
“It feels good because, one, it’s the biggest victory I’ve ever had, and two, I’ve been playing for ten years never cashed in a tournament this size,” said Orr. “My wife is here with me, she is my biggest motivator. It’s an intense moment because I do want to start my poker career and this is definitely kicking that off. I could almost cry right now.”
A new record was set this weekend at the RGPS. After three starting flights, there were 890 entries in the Main Event. That broke the previous record of 851 entries in Omaha, Nebraska at the Horseshoe Council Bluffs stop in June of 2021. The field also smashed the $200,000 guarantee, generating a prize pool of $445,000.
RGPS Thunder Valley Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Prize |
| 1 | Kasey Orr | $65,728* |
| 2 | Nicolaus Estrella | $65,726* |
| 3 | Dustin Russell | $34,815 |
| 4 | Jack Jenco | $26,075 |
| 5 | Mike Hanson | $19,760 |
| 6 | Ryan Awwad | $15,755 |
| 7 | Theresa Cummings | $13,040 |
| 8 | Daniel Hatch | $10,370 |
| 9 | Balthazar Villa | $7,790 |
*Denotes heads-up deal.
Some of the players to fall throughout the day included Eric Estrellado, Martin Abraham, Jeff Platt, Frank Saunders, Dustin Orozco, Tsolmon Jargalsaikhan, Blong Moua, Bernard Lee, and Julie Cornelius.
It took about six hours to narrow the returning field of 112 players down to the final two tables. Orr, 30, from Reno, Nevada, went on to knock out six players in a row as he built a chip lead heading into the final table. Orr never looked back as he used timely bluffs to separate from the pack and began to knock out even more players.
“It wasn’t too easy to read people but you basically know when someone’s shoving they aren’t shoving lightly,” said Orr. “There were a few spots where it got tricky, I folded a couple of good hands and I ran some massive bluffs. I basically almost bluffed my way through the entire final table in tricky spots because mostly I had the range advantage and position.”
Final Table Action
Balthazar Villa was the first to go in ninth when he shoved his short stack with ace-jack but Nicolaus Estrella paired a queen with queen-jack. Estrella also scored the next elimination when his jack-ten bested the ace-king of Daniel Hatch, who exited in eighth place.
Orr would take over from there, pulling off a big bluff with king-high against Estrella and then eliminating Theresa Cummings in seventh when his ace-jack got there against pocket sevens.
Estrella sent the next one out when Ryan Awwad shoved ace-eight. Estrella called with pocket sixes and made a set on the turn to send Awwad out in sixth.
From there, Orr knocked out the next three players while also mixing in some key bluffs. Mike Hanson found himself short and shoved queen-nine right into the king-nine of Orr and had to settle for fifth.
Next, Orr bluffed the river with ten-high against Jack Jenco to leave him short on chips. The two would get all the chips in shortly thereafter when Jenco held two pair against the flush draw of Orr. The flush came home on the river and Jenco exited in fourth. Dustin Russell went down in third shortly after he jammed king-nine into the ace-nine of Orr and could not improve.
Orr held about two-thirds of the chips after that, but he and Estrella agreed to a heads-up deal before another hand was dealt. Orr was declared the winner and also won a ticket into 2022 RunGood ProAM.
“It was just crazy,” said Orr. “Going on a run like that on the final table is kinda what people dream of, where you can go on one of those runs.”
Congratulations to Kasey Orr for taking down the RGPS $575 No-Limit Hold’em Main Event $200,000 GTD from Thunder Valley Casino Resort.
RGPS Thunder Valley Winners
| Tournament | Prize Pool | Entries | Winner | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $255 Fifty Five $55k GTD | $93,955 | 437 | Forrest Kollar | $18,555 |
| $300 PLO | $19,500 | 75 | Keith Hudson | $5,000 |
| $135 Ambassador Bomb Pot Bounty | $25,000 | 250 | DJ Huges | $5,665 |
| $300 HORSE | $14,820 | 57 | Graham Perry | $3,055 |
| $565 Main Event | $445,000 | 890 | Kasey Orr | $65,728 |
| $240 Finale $20k GTD | $24,800 | 124 | Charlito Aseberos | $3,913 |
The RunGood Poker Series is returning to one of its popular destinations next month — Jamul Casino in San Diego. From February 1-6, players in Southern California can take a shot at the $575 buy-in no-limit hold'em tournament, which features a $100,000 guaranteed prize pool.
Nicholas Baltz is a sports journalist from San Diego, California, and works as a freelance live reporter for PokerNews covering the World Series of Poker.
