Aaron Overton Spins Set of Threes Into $94K RGPS Graton Main Event Win
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Aaron Overton was down to one card left when the three of clubs on the river changed the trajectory of his tournament and sparked the comeback that carried him to victory in the RunGood Poker Series Passport Graton $1,100 Main Event at the Graton Resort Casino.
“I wanted to play for the win,” Overton said. “The (pocket) threes is probably a fold normally, but I felt like gambling a bit more for a win in that scenario.”
Overton rode that momentum all the way to the title, collecting $94,050 after outlasting a field of 578 entries and claiming the biggest share of the $563,550 prize pool.
The final table featured plenty of talent, including three-time RGPS winner Brett Murray and two-time RGPS ring winner Xiong Thao.
The heads-up duel carried extra meaning as Overton faced his friend Anthony Hugenberg for the title. The tournament came to an end in dramatic fashion when Overton rivered a full house, besting Hugenberg’s own full house to seal the victory.
“It was a tough final table. I was playing against two really good players (Hugenberg and Murray),” Overton said. “I play once a week with Anthony. He’s a friend of mine. I had to cooler the hell out of him to win the tournament.”
With the win, Overton adds another major result to his résumé and pushes his career live tournament earnings past $1.5 million, according to The Hendon Mob.
RGPS Bay Area Main Event Final Table Payouts
| Place | Player | Country | Prize (USD) |
| 1 | Aaron Overton | United States | $94,050 |
| 2 | Anthony Hugenberg | United States | $62,000 |
| 3 | Brett Murray | United States | $46,500 |
| 4 | Vera Dong | United States | $34,500 |
| 5 | Andrew Nguyen | United States | $26,000 |
| 6 | Wo Lin | United States | $20,000 |
| 7 | Grant Maruya | United States | $15,400 |
| 8 | Xiong Thao | United States | $11,900 |
| 9 | Andrew Yurchak | United States | $9,400 |
Day 2 Action
A total of 73 players returned for Day 2, but the field quickly began to thin as eliminations piled up during the opening levels of the final day. After just four levels of play, the tournament was down to the final three tables.
Among those eliminated before the late stages were Marco Johnson, Toan Nguyen, Steven Gnatovich, Sasha Sabbaghian, Joe Nguyen, and Kris Burchfield.
Andrew Yurchak reached the final three tables as the chip leader, but Andrew Nguyen surged up the counts after scoring a double knockout against Zach Smyth and Andre Ali.
Nguyen’s run would stall when he called an all-in from Brett Murray and was shown a full house, leaving Nguyen short with 13 players remaining.
With 12 players left, the eventual top three began to take shape as Murray, Hugenberg, and Overton held the biggest stacks in the room.
Murray strengthened his position by eliminating Zhengun Guan, allowing him to enter the final table as the chip leader.
Hugenberg later dented Overton’s stack to move neck and neck with Murray, but Murray extended his lead when he knocked out Yurchak in ninth place.
Overton climbed back into contention after eliminating Grant Maruya in seventh place, but a series of lost pots, including a big one to Hugenberg, dropped him to just 1,900,000 chips.
That proved to be the low point of his run. Overton’s comeback began soon after when he spiked a set against Murray to stay alive and start the run that ultimately carried him to the title.
