Four-Way Deal Brings Inaugural RGPS Atlantic City Main Event to a Close
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What was shaping up to be a long night inside the Borgata Hotel, Casino & Spa came to an abrupt end when the final four players agreed to a deal that brought the inaugural RunGood Passport Season Atlantic City Main Event to an early finish.
Oliver Simon, despite being the short-stack among the final four, was declared the winner after giving up $1,000 to each of his three opponents in exchange for the RunGood Poker Series championship ring. “This is like a fairy tale right now,” Simon said as the ring and chips were assembled on the table for his winner’s photo.
RGPS Atlantic City Final Table results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Oliver Simon | United States | $47,375* |
| 2 | Michael Cohen | United States | $58,480* |
| 3 | Michael Cheng | United States | $55,385* |
| 4 | Cenk Cerci | Germany | $54,745* |
| 5 | Ilya Ashmyan | United States | $18,980 |
| 6 | Soukha Kachittavong | United States | $14,825 |
| 7 | Yusuf Buber | United States | $11,835 |
| 8 | Wooyang Lin | United States | $9,525 |
| 9 | Travis Hartshorn | United States | $7,660 |
*Denotes four-way ICM deal
The Connecticut native took home $47,375 out of the $497,000 prize pool after the deal put him atop the 710-entry field. He had just $15,000 in live tournament earnings before this event, with his biggest career score being $6,500.
Simon didn’t have much to say after posing with his new jewelry, declining to be interviewed, but Cenk Cerci more than filled the void after a special week here at the Borgata. Cerci took down the Super Stack event earlier in the festival, beating out a field of 74 players to win $11,270. He showed off his new ring to his opponents at today’s final table and capped off another deep run with a $54,745 payday.
“It was a great experience, actually. I love playing here at Borgata because I can focus here purely on poker, forgetting family and responsibilities. That’s why I can make deep runs. Yeah, it was a great week for me. Basically, I almost cashed every event. I made two deep runs. Perfect, perfect week,” Cerci said.
The first-ever RGPS event at the Borgata was a success for more than just Cerci. It brought hundreds of players to the East Coast gambling mecca of Atlantic City, each chasing a piece of history. It was also Cerci’s first experience at an RGPS stop, and he says the experience will make him seek out more events in the future.
“This is my first RunGood event. I think it’s a very well-organized event. The staff here is always great, so I think it was a good combination. I think I’m going to play every other event in the future,” he said.
Day 2 Action
Day 2 began with 87 players making their way to the Borgata poker room at noon local time to play down to a champion. The start-of-day chip leader Lucas Vergara suffered an early bad beat when his kings were cracked by Yusuf Buber’s running straight. He then lost with kings again to Buber, who turned a pair of aces to send Vergara to the rail in 53rd place.
Mukul Pahuja (79th), three-time WSOP bracelet winner Ryan Eriquezzo (78th), Nan Min (61st), Eric Buchman (56th), Chris Conrad (54th), Nicholas Rigby (50th), and Vinny Pahuja (40th) were also among the first casualties. Day 1c chip leader Greg Himmelbrand got involved in a big pot against Simon, who shoved the river and sent Himmelbrand deep into the tank. He eventually called for his last 750,000 with a set of sevens, but Simon had a flush to win the pot and bust Himmelbrand in 30th place.
Alen Habib, the chip leader from the opening flight, never showed up for Day 2 and had his million-chip stack steadily blinded down throughout the day. It took more than five hours before his last chips went in the middle, and he was officially eliminated in 21st place. NFL player Avery Williams then moved all in for 1,700,000 on the turn with a set of queens, but Travis Hartshorn had hit a set of kings to win the pot and bust Williams in 20th.
Keith Becker fell in 18th place to Simon, while Michael Cheng cracked Federico Castro’s kings when he spiked trip queens on the turn. Joe Foote was all in for 1,490,000 against Cerci with ace-king against king-queen and hit top pair on the flop, but Cerci made a running flush to bust Foote in 14th place.
Cheng continued his hot run when both he and Chris DeQuatro flopped top pair with jacks, but DeQuatro was in the lead with his ace-kicker until Cheng hit two pair on the river to eliminate DeQuatro in 12th. Simon then won a flip with two jacks against Aytumen Akyildiz’s king-queen to set the nine-handed final table.
Cheng had a massive lead at the start of the final table with 11,500,000, more than double that of Michael Cohen in second place. Hartshorn was the first to fall, running his ace-five into Cohen’s ace-queen as Cohen hit top pair on the flop to send Hartshorn out in ninth.
Cohen then raised to 400,000 under the gun and was called by Cheng and Wooyang Lin in the blinds. Lin moved all in for 2,400,000 on the eight-high flop and Cohen reshoved. Cheng laid down ace-eight, while Cohen turned over two queens. Lin could only show nine-eight and failed to improve on the turn and river to fall in eighth place.
Buber attempted a failed bluff against Cohen with seven-deuce, then called off his last 1,300,000 against Cerci with king-seven. He was ahead of Cerci’s queen-ten until a ten on the river gave Cerci a pair and the knockout.
Cheng then flopped a full house holding pocket threes to bust Soukha Kachittavong in sixth, while Simon picked up two tens and called Ilya Ashmyan’s shove for 2,025,000. Ashmyan was holding ace-six and couldn’t improve as he was eliminated in fifth place.
The remaining four players were relatively even in chips, and with the blinds getting bigger and the stacks shallower, Cerci brought up the idea of a deal. The other three agreed, and Cohen took the biggest share of $58,480 as the chip leader. Cheng earned $55,385 and Cerci $54,745, while Simon, the shortest of the four, agreed to give each of them $1,000 in exchange for the ring and $47,375.
“Basically, we were pretty even stack-wise. It was more or less a coin flip. All the four players are more or less their skills at the same level. That’s why I offered it and then the guys accepted it, and I’m glad we made the deal,” Cerci said afterward.
Cohen received the most money, Simon the ring and the official title of champion, and Cerci got to cap off another deep run with his second big payday of the festival. It brought a historic week to an end here at the Borgata, and with the popularity of the festival, it surely won’t be the last stop in Atlantic City.
