The 10th event on the 2016 Run It Up Reno schedule came to a conclusion on Saturday night with Randy "nanonoko" Lew winning the $235 Mix-Max No-Limit Hold'em tournament for $4,300.
Mix-max tournament poker has been trending upwards in popularity over the last few years as it has slowly been featured more regularly on tournament schedules. With today's tournament kicking off just after the second flight of the Run It Up Main Event got underway, 61 players tried their hand at the format where play would shift from eight-handed, to six-handed, down to four-handed, and then eventually heads-up play for the final eight players.
Notables such as Kevin Martin, Chad Holloway, Deb Swift, Kevin Gerhart, and Rob Hamilton all tried their luck in this event but they would all tumble to the rail shy of the money. Michael Flores, Raphael Bouchard, Zhihao Zhang, and Danny Alvarez each collected $650 for reaching the heads-up stage, where it was Lew matched up with Alex Lavinthal and Nick Aguilera against Steve Kujubu.
Play would bounce back and forth between the two heads-up matches before both suddenly ended just minutes apart. Lavinthal found himself all in preflop holding the against Lew's . Lew flopped a jack and then went runner-runner flush. Aguilera found himself in a dominated position when his was up against Kujubu's , and although he had outs to a chop, he joined Lavinthal on the rail for a $1,400 payday.
After Kujubu went into heads-up play with a chip advantage of just one big blind, his lead would soon be flipped around as Lew charged ahead to hold a 2-1 position. Just several hands later Kujubu, three-bet shoved over Lew's button raise holding the . He was called by Lew and his . The flop brought an ace, and when no additional help arrived for Kujubu, he was out in second. Lew was crowned the champion and was serenaded by a "Re-No-No-Ko" chant led by Jason Somerville and some of the others in the tournament room.
While this isn't Lew's biggest result of his career, it is his second live win following his HK$3,772,000 ($484,617) score for winning the APPT Macau Main Event back in November 2011.
For Lew, he will take home the $235 Mix-Max No-Limit Hold'em trophy, $4,300 in prize money, and some run good for when he takes part in Day 2 of the Run It Up Reno Main Event on Sunday.
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Randy Lew (left) & Alex Lavinthal (right)
With blinds at 8,000/16,000, Alex Lavinthal opened his button to 36,000. Randy Lew responded by moving all in for 258,000 and Lavinthal quickly called to be at-risk.
Lavinthal:
Lew:
With Lavinthal in a coin-flip situation to stay alive, the flop would push Lew into the lead.
The turn of the changed nothing as the on the river would see Lew improve to a flush to send Lavinthal to the rail in 4th place for a $1,400 payday.
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Welcome back to the Peppermill Resort Hotel and the 2016 Run It Up Reno festival hosted by Jason Somerville for Event 10: $235 Mix-Max No-Limit Hold'em!
Over recent years, mix-max tournament poker has become more popular and consequently has been making regular appearances on poker schedules around the world. Here at Run It Up Reno, the players have spoken and the staff have listened as it makes it's debut following an absence in 2015.
The tournament will be run as a standard no-limit hold'em tournament until just 48 players remain, from there play will switch to six-handed poker until 24 players remain. From there play will be four-handed until 8 players remain and then the tournament will finish under a heads-up format.
The PokerNews Live Reporting Team will be on the floor providing updates from 4:00 p.m. PDT of all the Mix-Max action here from Run It Up Reno.
![[user80015]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
against Lew's 
. Lew flopped a jack and then went runner-runner flush. Aguilera found himself in a dominated position when his 
, and although he had outs to a chop, he joined Lavinthal on the rail for a $1,400 payday.
. The flop brought an ace, and when no additional help arrived for Kujubu, he was out in second. Lew was crowned the champion and was serenaded by a "Re-No-No-Ko" chant led by Jason Somerville and some of the others in the tournament room.
flop saw his hopes drop dramatically as he would now need running cards to stay alive.
on the turn to render Kujubu drawing dead as the 
completed the board on the river.
flop would push Lew into the lead.
changed nothing as the 
on the river would see Lew improve to a flush to send Lavinthal to the rail in 4th place for a $1,400 payday.
