Jesse Jones Turns Day 2 Chip Lead into RGPS Tulsa Main Event Title
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After two days of action at the inaugural stop of the 2026 RunGood Poker Series Passport Season, Jesse Jones triumphed over Joshua Hatfield in the RGPS Tulsa $800 Main Event, earning a payday of $34,074, along with his third RGPS ring.
Hosted by Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tulsa, the event drew 209 entries, all of whom braved the frigid, snowy weather here in Oklahoma. Of those, only 23 players advanced and returned for the final day of action. Jones entered Day 2 as the runaway chip leader, and it looked as if he was going to have a smooth day at the office all the way through.
Hatfield had other plans and made Jones' victory anything but easy once heads-up play began. After a lengthy duel, in which the chip lead swapped back and forth multiple times, Jones accomplished what he set out to do and claimed the lion's share of the $146,300 prize pool.
2026 RGPS Passport Season Tulsa Main Event Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jesse Jones | United States | $34,074 |
| 2 | Joshua Hatfield | United States | $22,720 |
| 3 | Bobby Randolph | United States | $16,488 |
| 4 | Tracey Rudd | United States | $12,158 |
| 5 | Timothy Black | United States | $9,114 |
| 6 | Coulter Conner | United States | $6,949 |
| 7 | Randy Cramer | United States | $5,384 |
| 8 | Braden Garrison | United States | $4,243 |
| 9 | Richard Gebhart | United States | $3,409 |
From Smooth Sailing to Adversity Heads-Up
After bagging huge on Day 1b, Jones entered the final day with 987,000, good for nearly 200 big blinds. When asked if there were any additional expectations coming into Day 2, he mentioned, "I playfully told people I can only underachieve, but not a whole lot, I guess."
Jones proved he wasn't feeling any pressure and leveraged his big stack and experience throughout the early stages of the day to enter the final table as the chip leader. He kept his foot on the gas and eliminated three opponents en route to heads-up play, where he started the match with more than a 2:1 chip lead.
At one point, Jones had his opponent down to less than 10 big blinds and was two cards away from sealing the victory. However, Hatfield proved that he wasn't going down without a fight, doubling up multiple times to battle his way into a sizable lead.
Jones admitted that he felt it starting to slip away and explained what he did to mentally reset and adjust his strategy.
"It always crosses your mind when someone gets hot like that. You're like, oh man, should I have called this? Should I have folded that? But, just kind of regroup and try to stay levelheaded and it worked out. I just kind of mixed up different raises I do with different hands, and I decided to take a couple of more passive checks just to confirm that I wasn't tilted."
Turning Point and Closing Out the Win
A pivotal hand in the match came when Jones took an unconventional line based on an observation he had picked up. He went on to explain his thought process and how the action didn't unfold as he expected, but worked out in his favor.
"I just thought that he had some sizing tells pre, and I actually was wrong that I thought he was going to fold pre when I back-raised that hand. And then I got a really lucky flop."
Jones was fortunate enough to retake the lead with the help of that hand, gaining nearly a 5:1 chip advantage in the process. From there, he was able to close in on the victory, as it didn’t take long to reach the final hand of the tournament, where Jones flopped trips and played it fast.
Drummonds Wins Inaugural RunGood Passport PokerNews PowerStack Title
Alongside the Main Event, the first chapter of the PokerNews PowerStack Leaderboard was officially entered in the books after the inaugural PowerStack event took place at the Tulsa stop.
The PowerStack is a season-long competition running across the RGPS Passport Season, with points awarded at designated PokerNews PowerStack events at every stop. The top ten finishers on the leaderboard at season’s end will earn a $1,100 RGPS Passport Thunder Valley Main Event seat plus two nights’ accommodation.
The opening PowerStack event saw 317 entries turn out for the $400 buy-in tournament. After two days of play, Luke Drummonds emerged victorious, ultimately agreeing to a three-way chop with Doug Speir and Allen Roberts, with all three players taking home $15,916.
RGPS Tulsa PokerNews PowerStack Results
