Run It Up Reno IX

Run It Up Reno IX held the biggest edition of the $1,100 Thursday Thrilla in the history of Run It Up today, with 224 entrants hitting the felt, blowing past the advertised $150,000 Guarantee. After the dust had settled from just over 18 levels of play, just nine players will return tomorrow at 2 p.m. local time. Valerie Hanley will be returning with the chip lead, as her 1,316,000 stack is the only one cresting a million heading to the final day.

Hanley's path to the final table was littered with big names, as she first sent Run It Up Founder Jason Somerville home in 15th in a crazy three-way hand. Later, she hit a straight to crack CSOP founder Matt Stout's set of jacks, before eventually eliminating him in 13th, then later, she hit a set to send popular poker vlogger Andrew Neeme out in 11th.

The rest of the final table is all fairly close together chipwise, with Phil Beesley, Adam Johnson, Ashley Sleeth, and Jeremy Pekarek all within two big blinds of each other. Lucas Hill and Max Young both are making their second appearance at a Run It Up Reno IX final table, while Patrick Preston and Ryan Meyer round out the final table of nine. All nine players start with over 20 big blinds for Day 2 action, promising viewers on Twitch plenty of action all day long.

Final Table Seat Draw

Plenty of stars came out to try their hand at snatching a few $500 bounties, and some of those that failed to earn a cash out of the regular tournament prize pool include a plethora of WSOP bracelet winners, including Chad Holloway, David "Bakes" Baker, Kevin Gerhart, and Ronnie Bardah. Former Thursday Thrilla champ Mark Mazza also was unable to cash, and Garry Gates, Adam Owen, and Jamie Kerstetter were some other notables to fall short.

Tomorrow's Day 2 will begin at 2 p.m. local time, with the Run It Up Twitch stream starting at 5 p.m. local time. The PokerNews live blog will sync up with the dynamic live stream, so follow all the action both on Twitch and right here on the blog as we crown this year's Thursday Thrilla champ!

At the feature table, "Young" Matthew Moreno was all in before the flop from the button for 89,000, Patrick Preston was all in for the exact same stack from the small blind, and Max Young called to put both players at risk in the big blind.

Matthew Moreno:
Patrick Preston:
Max Young:

Preston's queens held on the flop, but Young could now catch up with an eight. The turn gave Moreno a flush draw, but the river sent the final bounty of the night over to Preston.

Players are now bagging and tagging for the evening. Stay tuned for full chip counts, as well as a full recap of the day's action.

Valerie Hanley opened to 35,000 from the cutoff, Phil Beesley called on the button, and Andrew Neeme put in the squeeze, three-betting to 115,000 in the small blind.

Hanley called, and Beasley folded.

The flop came , and Neeme went all in, for about 180,000. Hanley snap called.

Andrew Neeme:
Valerie Hanley:

Neeme's pocket aces ran into Hanley's set, and the turn and river ended the tournament run for the Run It Up ambassador.

Phil Beesley raised to 26,000 from the cutoff, and Adam Johnson called in the big blind.

Both players checked the flop, and Johnson bet 26,000 on the turn. Beesley called.

Johnson bet 52,000 on the river, and Beesley called again.

"Ace-high," Johnson said, and Beesley tabled for the winner.

Adam Johnson raised to 20,000 from the hijack, Timothy Guilford three-bet all in for 65,000 from the cutoff, and Johnson called.

Timothy Guilford:
Adam Johnson:

Board:

It was unfortunate timing for Guilford, who suffered the wrong end of a cooler at the worst of times. No miracles came on the runout, and Guilford is out in 12th place.