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

$440 Mini Main Event

Day 1a Started

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!

04-12-2019 11:35 UTC-7

Let the Games Begin

Chad Holloway

Schedule of Events for Day 1 of #RunItUpReno:
— Run It Up Reno (@runitupreno)

Level: 1

Blinds: 100/100

Ante: 100

04-12-2019 12:22 UTC-7

Familiar Faces in the Field

Chad Holloway

Level 1 : 100/100, 100 ante

Player	Chips	Progress
Ashley Sleeth	20,000	20,000
DJ Fenton	20,000
Michelle Nastasis	20,000	20,000
Vincent Newland	20,000	20,000
Patrick Tardif	20,000	20,000
Steve Roselius	20,000	20,000

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 12:33 UTC-7

Last Warrior Standing Drawing

Chad Holloway

Level 1 : 100/100, 100 ante

The RIU Reno VIII is chock full of fun promotions. One of them is the "Last Warrior Standing" Drawing. Here's how it works.

To qualify for the Last Warrior Standing drawing, participants must be the last player remaining in any qualifying RIU Reno VIII tournament wearing Run It Up gear, Team RIU member gear, or Andrew Neeme gear. Qualifiers will receive entry into a drawing taking place on April 21st for their chance to win one prize package to attend Run It Up Reno in October 2019.

One (1) Last Warrior Standing Drawing entry will be awarded per specified tournament. If a qualifier achieves the feat in multiple tournaments they will receive one (1) entry per specified tournament.

The drawing will take place at or around 2 p.m. on Sunday, April 21 during the first break on the Main Event Day 2. Qualifiers need not be present to win.

The prize package includes one (1) entry into the RIU Reno IX Main Event ($600) taking place in October 2019, transportation credit (up to $900), and choice of six (6) complimentary nights hotel accommodations ($1,100 value) at Peppermill Reno.

Here are the qualifying tournaments:

Date	Time	Event	Buy-in
Friday, April 12	7pm	Short Deck Hold'em	$125
Saturday, April 13	5pm	6-Max NLO8	$125
Sunday, April 14	Noon	Mini Main Event Day 2	$440
Sunday, April 14	2pm	6-Max HORSE	$235
Sunday, April 14	6pm	SuperStack Supersonic	$125
Monday, April 15	Noon	NLH Pro Bounty ($300 Pro Bounty)	$235
Monday, April 15	5pm	NLH Bomb Pot	$125
Tuesday, April 16	Noon	Black Chip Bounty ($100 bounty)	$235
Tuesday, April 16	5pm	All In or Fold w/ $50 rebuys	$125
Wednesday, April 17	Noon	6-Max 8-Game Championship	$235
Wednesday, April 17	5pm	NLH Win the Button	$125
Thursday, April 18	5pm	6-Max NORSE	$125
Friday, April 19	2pm	Thursday Thrilla Day 2 (final table) $1,100
Friday, April 19	5pm	6-Max Triple Stud	$125
Saturday, April 20	5pm	2, 3, 4, 5 Mix	$125

Level: 2

Blinds: 100/200

Ante: 100

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