button in SafariJames Cloutier Gets First Big Tournament Win at Hollywood Penn National
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After adjusting his plans to spend the entire week at the RunGood Poker Series Passport Pennsylvania series, James Cloutier managed to accomplish multiple career goals at Hollywood Casino at Penn National Race Course.
Cloutier earned his first live series tournament win in the $800 Main Event after reaching a heads-up deal with Dan Gerard. The two agreed to adjust the top two payouts immediately after the elimination of Adam Fraley in third place.
The IT professional from Scranton, Pennsylvania got into poker back in 2004, and often focuses on cash games in his spare time. He has been making time for tournaments, and felt a win was finally on the horizon.
"I started focusing back in on playing some tournaments," Cloutier told PokerNews after his victory. "But I only play maybe 30 or so a year. I'm still focused mostly on cash, so this is definitely my first win of any sort of major series. Definitely a surreal feeling."
"I hope this is just the start of how my tournament progression goes. I honestly feel like I was close for about a year now for something big happening, and a lot of people around me have felt the same way. And so I'm just glad I finally made a breakthrough in a big way."
The second edition of this RunGood stop in Pennsylvania attracted 144 entries across four starting flights, creating a total prize pool of $100,800 that far surpassed the guarantee. Cloutier took home $23,278 along with his first RGPS ring, one that he had coveted since laying eyes on it for the first time.
"When I saw the rings come out at the beginning of the year, something about it, it's just something I wanted this year. It didn't have to be a Main Event ring, but I just wanted one of these rings from these events. I couldn't be happier to get one today."
RGPS Passport Pennsylvania $800 Main Event Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | James Cloutier | United States | $23,278* |
| 2 | Dan Gerard | United States | $20,539* |
| 3 | Adam Fraley | United States | $12,167 |
| 4 | Kazi Hossain | United States | $8,699 |
| 5 | Jack Baldauff | United States | $6,411 |
| 6 | Adam Williams | United States | $4,879 |
| 7 | Jamie Thomas | United States | $3,830 |
| 8 | Josh Swails | United States | $3,115 |
| 9 | Vernon Yoder | United States | $2,621 |
*Denotes heads-up deal
Day 2 Strategy
After four flights to begin the weekend, just 16 players returned with a shot to take down the RGPS ring. Cloutier entered as one of the larger stacks after leading the field in Day 1c. He relied on his reads all day, serving him well in maintaining his chip position as the knockouts began.
"I don't necessarily study hard in the GTO and solvers and that type of stuff. I play off to people and what I find in their tendencies. I was trying to pick my spots when we got to the final table."
"As good as my draw was to start the day, my redraw over on the final table was the most horrendous redraw I could have."
That redraw saw Cloutier sit down two spots to the right of the big stack, and the two would clash in a pivotal way once action resumed.
Final Table Moments
The biggest moment of the day for Cloutier came at the final table, facing a big river bet from Kazi Hossain for most of his remaining stack. Cloutier opted to stick in the call with his pocket eights, vaulting him into the chip lead.
"I just took a minute to figure out if I was wrong, how much I'd be left with, and just decided that it was worth putting the chips in. Basically, if I'm right, I have a million.I'm wrong I can just rebuild. So we were in that ballpark, and I decided it was worth the chance to go with my read on what I thought the situation was and. Everybody was Impressed by what they saw."
"Not only the fact that I had the chip lead, but the fact that people saw that I was willing to make that type of play. I felt like people stopped playing back at me for a little. At least for a good 15 minutes."
Cloutier would eventually knock Hossain out in fourth place, before Gerard eliminated Fraley in third. Once Cloutier and Gerard reached heads-up play, the pair paused the action to talk about adjusting the payouts.
"I had no intention of making a deal today, but I had played with him all day long. He brought it up, and I've always been the type of person to facilitate something for somebody else as long as it's equitable. I'm not all about the money, a portion of this money is going to charitable donations that I do for all my tournaments."
"For me, it was about playing a good tournament and being happy with the results, and I am extraordinarily happy with the results I had today."
Cloutier plans to stream some of his online play and create videos to help other players learn the game.
"Hopefully help educate some people as far as what I see and how my play translates. Especially now that I actually have some proof that, hey, how I play is actually worthwhile."
Beyond that, Cloutier is planning to play in the RunGood series at Thunder Valley this summer.
"Once I heard that was part of the ring, I was like, well, I have to take a little bit more vacation time and go do that."
