Jesse Capps Leads Final Eight in Run It Up Reno Main Event
Welcome to the final day of the 2015 Run It Up Reno $565 Main Event. At 1 p.m. local time in Reno, Nevada, the final eight players will commence action to battle for the $42,830 top prize and the right to be called champion.
Leading the way into Day 3 is Jesse Capps. He bagged up 2.16 million after yesterday's Day 2, but he's only slightly ahead of Eric Ethans in second place with 2.03 million. There's then around a 1 million-chip gap before you reach Mike Murphy's stack of 1.1 million in third place, and the shortest stack returning will be David Carey's 205,000.
The quest for the final table began a few days ago. When registration was closed, 318 entries were tallied up, and the top 32 spots would reach the money. Falling in 33rd place was World Series of Poker gold bracelet winner Jon Andlovec. This summer, Andlovec won Event #43: $1,000 Super Seniors No-Limit Hold'em in Las Vegas for $262,220.
After the money was reached, the in-the-money eliminations began to mount and the line at the payout desk grew. Gerald Cohen was the first to go in 32nd place, and others such as Dan O'Brien (26th), Michael Delvecchio (19th), and Oskar Sandberg (16th) joined him on the rail short of the final table. Then after Valerie Hanley was bounced in 10th place, the final nine players joined at one table.
Many eyes were on Rob "Boston Rob" Mariano, as the Survivor legend aimed to reach the final table. Unfortunately, he entered the final nine as the shortest stack and was not able to mount a comeback. Despite shoving a few times to increase his stack, Mariano couldn't find a double when he needed it most. All in with pocket sevens versus the ace-jack of Murphy, Mariano's run ended in ninth place for a $2,760 payday.
The final table consists of seven Americans and one member from the UK, Carey. There's also two women in the final eight, Gina Stagnitto with 950,000 and Kristin Kane with 685,000. Stagnitto topped the chip count on Day 1b, which means that her quest to the final table was an extremely long one, as she started play at 8:30 a.m. Saturday morning and ended right around midnight.
The cards will be in the air at 1 p.m. local time, but coverage will begin at 1:30 p.m. due to a 30-minute delay for hole cards. Coverage will be both right here on PokerNews and also live streamed with commentary from Jason Somerville on RunItUp.tv.