Run It Up Reno VIII

Day 1b of the Run It Up Reno VIII $600 Main Event attracted 362 runners, which along with 1a’s 267 brought the total field up to 629 entries, making it the largest spring event in RIU history. Like it was in the first flight, action was halted with 26:32 remaining in Level 12. At that time, 90 players remained with Robert Valdez and his stack of 326,500 leading the way.

That was well behind that of 1a chip leader Patrick Truong, who made it through Friday night with 471,000. Others to bag big stacks on Day 1b were Andy Camou (200,500), Ryan Schoonbaert (191,000), Joe Brindle (171,500), Stanley Wong (169,500), and Vito Distefano (140,000).

Others to bag were Max Brown (130,000), Ashley Sleeth (111,000), Jason Somerville (83,500), Kevin Martin (65,500), two-time Survivor contestant Shirin Oskooi (63,500), Adam Owen (34,000), and Jesse Sylvia (25,000).

Among those to see their RIU Reno VIII Main Event dreams come and go on Day 1b were Jesse Capps, Fintan “Easy with Aces” Hand, Evan Jarvis, Sasha Liu, Deb Swift, Cat “Catrific” Valdes, Black Chip Bounty champ Donnie McCormick, and six-time RIU Reno trophy winner Jimmy Cappucci.

On Sunday, the surviving 143 players from both Day 1a and 1b - 53 and 90 respectively - will return at Noon local time to play down to the final table. The PokerNews Live Reporting Team will be on hand to capture all the action, so be sure to tune in then.

Play has come to a close here on Day 1b of the $600 Run It Up Reno VIII Main Event. Stay tuned for a recap of the day's action, including highlighted chip counts.

Alan Mastic limped in from the cutoff, as did Shirin Oskooi in the small blind, and the big blind checked his option.

All three player checked the flop, and the peeled off on the turn. Oskooi bet 4,000, and after the big blind folded, Mastic quickly raised to 12,000. Oskooi quickly tossed her hand in the muck.

Alan Mastic opened for 5,000 under the gun and Shirin Oskooi called from the cutoff. The player in the big blind came along and the trio saw a flop of .

Two checks saw Oskooi bet 4,000, the big blind folded, and Mastic called.

Both players then checked the turn as well as the river. Oskooi showed the for kings and eights, but it was no good as Mastic had the in the hole for kings and queens.

A player raised to 4,500 from UTG, and the hijack called. Ryan Schoonbaert three-bet to 16,000 from the cutoff, and only the UTG player called.

Both players checked an flop, and the UTG player bet 6,500 on the turn. Schoonbaert called.

The river was checked by the UTG player, and Schoonbaert tossed in 50,000, enough to put his opponent all in for his last 38,000. After counting up his stack and tanking for a minute, the UTG player folded.

With 60,000 already in the pot on the river of a board, Mark Mazza checked from the big blind over to Robert Valdez, who bet 54,000 from UTG+1. Mazza check-jammed to put Valdez at risk for his last 154,500, and Valdez immediately called, tabling for a full house.

Mazza pushed his cards to the muck, but the dealer turned over his for a busted flush draw, before shipping the giant pot to Valdez.

Carlos Pal, who last October won an RIU Reno package on PokerStars and proceeded to win the $30K PSPC Platinum Pass freeroll that sent him to the Bahamas, has been eliminated from the Main Event.

He shoved his paltry stack of 5,500 all in under the gun and the player in the big blind looked him up.

Pal:
Big Blind:

Pal got it in good buy fell behind on the flop. Neither the turn nor river helped Pal and he exited the tournament.