$440 Mini Main Event Day 1a | Run It Up Reno VIII

04-12-2019 20:05 UTC-7

Alan Mastic Leads as 26 Players Bag Day 1a of RIU Reno Mini Main; Jesse Capps Among Big Stacks

Chad Holloway

Level 12 : 1,000/2,000, 2,000 ante

Day 1a of the Run It Up Reno VIII Event #1: $440 Mini Main Event attracted 127 runners. It took just shy of 12 levels to play down to 20 percent of the field and put an end to the night. Leading the surviving 26 players is Alan Mastic, who bagged up 310.000.

Mastic is no stranger to poker with two cashes in the World Series of Poker Main Event (309th in 2016 for $32,130 and 554th in 2015 for $17,282). He also won the 2012 Peppermill Poker Kickoff $440 Championship Event for $8,501. He also has a pair of RIU Reno cashes from years past.

Others to bag big stacks were Andy Pokrivnak (242,000), Jesse Capps (194,000), Glenn Uchibori (155,500), and Jason Pease (144,000), who round out the top five.

Pokrivnak got a chunk of his stack after raising with ace-five and then calling a shove from Donald Van Patten, who had around 30,000. Pokrivnak was actually ahead of Van Patten’s king-ten and held after the latter flopped an open-ended straight draw.

Among those to fire and fall on 1a were Jason Somerville, Michelle Nastasis, Michael Trivett, Jimmy Cappucci, Ashley Sleeth, LFG co-host Jamie Kerstetter, and Joe Brindle.

Brindle actually busted to his good friend, Adam Owen, in the last level. It happened when Owen raised from early position and picked up a limped. Brindle three-bet jammed with what turned out to be queen-jack and Owen isolated by shoving over the top with ace-queen. The superior hand held and Brindle headed to the rail. Owen bagged 60,000.

Day 1b will kick off at Noon local time on Saturday and play to the same point in the tournament (4:42 left in Level 12). The PokerNews Live Reporting Team will be there to bring you all the action, so be sure to join us then.

04-12-2019 19:29 UTC-7

Pokrivnak Sends Van Patten to the Rail

Chad Holloway

Level 12 : 1,000/2,000, 2,000 ante

Andy Pokrivnak opened for 4,500 from early position and the raise cleared the field all the way around to Donald Van Patten in the big blind. He moved all in for just shy of 30,000 and Pokrivnak, who has chips to spare, opted to make the call.

Pokrivnak:
Van Patten:

The paired Pokrivnak but it also gave Van Patten an up-and-down straight draw. Unfortunately for him he missed when the bricked the turn followed by the on the river.

Van Patten told the table what a pleasure it was to play with them today, but don't worry, he'll be back for at least the Main Event as he's already won his way in via a satellite.

Player	Chips	Progress
Andy Pokrivnak	185,000	30,000
Donald Van Patten	Busted

Tags: Andy Pokrivnak Donald Van Patten

04-12-2019 17:30 UTC-7

Capps Can't Lose

Chad Holloway

Level 10 : 600/1,200, 1,200 ante

Jesse Capps raised to 2,700 from middle position and the player in the hijack flatted. The player on the button then moved all in for 41,100, both blinds folded, and Capps called. The hijack got out of the way and the hands were turned up.

Capps:
Button:

The flop gave Capps a freeroll to running spades, but the turn took away any chance of that happening. The meaningless was run out on the river and then the pot was chopped up.

While he didn't win that pot, Capps has been on a heater and is closing in on the first player to reach the 200K mark.

Player	Chips	Progress
Jesse Capps	190,000	65,000

Tags: Jesse Capps

04-12-2019 12:46 UTC-7

Get to Know Twitch Streamer Patrick "iregption" Tardif

Chad Holloway

Level 2 : 100/200, 100 ante

Among the masses slated to attend the RIU Reno VIII are noteworthy players from the online, vlogging, and live stream realms. One of them is Canada’s Patrick Tardif, who is in action today. Known as “Egption” online – and @IrEgption on Twitter – Tardif is in action here on Day 1a of the Mini Main Event.

A member of Team Online for partypoker, Tardif is a prominent Twitch streamed at twitch.tv/iregption. Here’s partypoker’s bio on the man:

Twitch allows you to connect with players as they progress through the stakes, and followers of Patrick Tardif have witnessed the Canadian’s meteoric rise from $4 to $25K MTTs in under two years.

Having graduated from the University of Western Ontario, Patrick relocated to South Korea to teach English as a foreign language. Perhaps moving to a country where gamers are treated like rock stars reignited the former Halo player’s interest in gaming, and he soon established himself as a professional poker player.

Although Patrick switched the blackboard for the felt, it’s an experience that he nonetheless regards as an important development in his maturity. Owing to such worldly adventures, streamers can follow a down-to-earth account of a genuine mid-stakes player, rather than something altogether more false and flashy.

Fiercely competitive, Patrick maintains that his restlessness is a crucial ingredient in his success as he is never satisfied. By this logic, his journey is far from over. Expect to see Patrick take on lofty challenges and continue to push his game to the next level!

In the live realm, Tardif has amassed more than $112K in tournament earnings including a career-best $56,800 for finishing 65th in January’s $25,000 PSPC PokerStars Players Championship. He also placed third in the RIU Reno V $600 Main Event for $21,840.

We'll be keeping an eye on Tardiff throughout the RIU Reno VIII to see if he can pad his live stats.

Tags: Patrick Tardif

04-12-2019 12:27 UTC-7

Early Pot for Roselius

Chad Holloway

Level 1 : 100/100, 100 ante

We happened upon Table 31 with just under 5,000 in the pot and a board reading when Steve Roselius bet 1,600 from the small blind and DJ Fenton, who won the RIU Reno VI Main Event for $56,200, thought for a bit before calling from the button.

Roselius rolled over the for tens and sixes with an ace kicker, and it was good as Fenton sent his hand to the muck.

Player	Chips	Progress
Steve Roselius	24,000	4,000
DJ Fenton	16,000	-4,000

Tags: DJ Fenton Steve Roselius

04-12-2019 10:24 UTC-7

Welcome to Day 1 of Jason Somerville's Run It Up Reno VIII at the Peppermill Casino!

Chad Holloway

Are you ready for 11 days of fun poker action? We hope so because the Run It Up Reno VIII kicks off today at the Peppermill Resort Hotel. With $700,000 in guarantees spread over a wide variety of games and buy-ins, it's shaping up to be Jason Somerville's biggest series yet.

PokerNews will be on hand to live report five events starting with today's $440 Mini Main Event (April 12-14). Other events that will be live reported over the next week and a half are the $235 Pro Bounty (April 15), $235 Black Chip Bounty (April 16), $1,100 Thursday Thrilla (April 18-19), and the $600 buy-in, $250K GTD Main Event (April 19-22).

RIU Reno officials have confirmed that some big personalities from the poker world will be in attendance this week, many of them tackling commentary duties at different times. Among those slated to attend are Somerville, Fintan Hand, Benjamin “Spraggy” Spragg, Kevin Martin, Arlie Shaban, Ricky Guan, Andrew Neeme, and Brad Owen.

Likewise, Joe “Stapes” Stapleton, 2003 World Series of Poker champ Chris Moneymaker, LFG Podcast co-host Jamie Kerstetter, Marle Cordeiro, Johnnie Vibes, David Tuchman, and Survivor legend Tyson Apostol will all be at the Peppermill.

Today is the first of two starting flights in the $440 Mini Main Event. Day 1a will get underway at Noon local time with the 1b flight taking place the same time tomorrow. The tournament features a big blind ante (it becomes the size of the small blind when four-handed or less) and starts players with 20,000 in tournament chips. Registration and re-entries are available until the start of Level 12, at which point the length of each level will increase from 30 to 40 minutes.

There will be 15-minute breaks every two hours with a one-hour dinner break at the end of Level 11. The plan for each starting flight is to play through Level 17 or until 20% of the field remains, whichever comes first. Here’s a look at the structure:

Level	BB Ante	Small Blind	Big Blind	Level Length
1	100	100	100	30 Minutes
2	100	100	200	30 Minutes
3	200	100	200	30 Minutes
4	300	100	300	30 Minutes
5	400	200	400	30 Minutes
6	500	300	500	30 Minutes
7	600	300	600	30 Minutes
8	800	400	800	30 Minutes
9	1,000	500	1,000	30 Minutes
10	1,200	600	1,200	30 Minutes
11	1,600	800	1,600	30 Minutes
12	2,000	1,000	2,000	40 Minutes
13	2,500	1,500	2,500	40 Minutes
14	3,000	1,500	3,000	40 Minutes
15	4,000	2,000	4,000	40 Minutes
16	5,000	3,000	5,000	40 Minutes
17	6,000	3,000	6,000	40 Minutes

Stay tuned as PokerNews brings you all the action straight from the tournament floor. Also, be sure to follow @runitupreno on Twitter and runituptv on Instagram for more behind-the-scenes covereage of the eight edition of Run It Up Reno!