2015 RunGood Poker Series Horseshoe Council Bluffs

Main Event
Day: 1c
Event Info

2015 RunGood Poker Series Horseshoe Council Bluffs

Final Results
Winner
Winning Hand
75
Prize
$39,083
Event Info
Buy-in
$600
Prize Pool
$251,340
Entries
426
Level Info
Level
29
Blinds
80,000 / 160,000
Ante
20,000

Jimenez Leads Advancing 17 Day 1c Players; RunGood Ambassador Bernard Lee Sitting Pretty

Level 13 : 1,500/3,000, 500 ante
Bernard Lee
Bernard Lee

On Saturday, the RunGood Poker Series Horseshoe Casino Council Bluffs $675 buy-in Main Event continued with two more starting flights. Day 1b attracted 166 entrants, and after 13 levels of play just 32 remained with RunGood Ambassador Joe Hebda and his stack of 323,000 leading the way. Later in the evening, Day 1c kicked off with 111 more entrants, but by the end of the night only 17 made it through with Adrian Jimenez and his stack of 353,000 leading the way.

Along with Day 1a's 149 entrants – which was lead by RunGood Ambassador Ryan Tepen with 330,000 – the tournament officially attracted 426 entries, which created a prize pool of $251,340 and smashed the $100,000 guarantee. That will be spread amongst the top 45 finishers with the eventual winner taking home $57,806.

Among those still in contention from the Day 1b/1c flights are RunGood Ambassadors Bernard Lee (219,000), Jamie Kerstetter (219,000), Jonathan Gaviao (102,500), Justin Gardenhire (160,000), and Michael Sanders (153,000); Nick Marsh (299,000); Mike Vanier (208,000); and Bob Slezak (170,000).

As for Jimenez, he dominated the later levels on Day 1c first by busting Eric Rodawig, who held kings, with pocket rockets, and then using the same hand to eliminate Isaac Tucker, who held {k-Spades}{2-Clubs} on a king-high flop. Toss in a bit of luck in Level 12, which is when his {a-Clubs}{9-Clubs} found a nine on the turn to best Mike Conlan's {a-Diamonds}{k-Diamonds}, and it proved a great day for Jimenez, who will begin Day 2 as the overall chip leader.

Of course not everyone was so lucky. RunGood Ambassador Ross Bybee and three-time WSOP Circuit ring winner Stephen Kats both fired on Day 1b and missed. Neither opted to return on Day 1c, though plenty of other casualties from the earlier flights did. Unfortunately it proved a fruitless endeavor for the likes of RunGood Poker Series Downstream champ Saied Moradi; Wisconsinites Ben Wiora and Josh Reichard; and RunGood Ambassadors Clint Tolbert and Jordan Morgan.

Top 10 Counts Heading Into Day 2

PlacePlayerCount
1Adrian Jimenez353,000
2Ryan Tepen330,000
3Joe Hebda323,000
4Fred Walker302,000
5Nick Marsh299,000
6Joe Thornton265,000
7Bernard Lee219,000
8Jamie Kerstetter219,000
9Mike Vanier208,000
10James Hall206,000

On Sunday at 12:00 p.m. local time, the surviving 73 players from all three starting flight will return to the Horseshoe Council Bluffs Poker Room to play down to a winner. Of course you can follow all the action right here on PokerNews.

Tags: Adrian JimenezBernard Lee

Back to the Farm for Mader

Level 13 : 1,500/3,000, 500 ante
Phil Mader
Phil Mader

During the break we learned that Nebraska farmer Phil Mader had been eliminated from the tournament. RunGood Ambassador Bernard Lee did the deed and was kind enough to fill us in on the details.

As he told it, Mader raised to 5,300 from middle position and Lee three-bet to 14,300. Mader responded by four-bet shoving all in for roughly 60,000 and Lee snap-called.

"Uh oh, " Mader said before Lee even tabled his {q-}{q-}. Mader then showed {a-}{9-}.

The {8-}{6-}{5-} flop gave Mader a gutshot straight draw to go with his one over, but neither would come in as the turn and river both ran out threes. With that, Mader's night came to an end while Lee chipped up to 170,000.

Player Chips Progress
Phil Mader us
Phil Mader
Busted

Tags: Phil MaderBernard Lee

Rodawig Coolered in First Hand Back from Break

Level 9 : 600/1,200, 200 ante
Eric Rodawig
Eric Rodawig

"I should have stayed at the craps table," World Series of Poker bracelet winner Eric Rodawig told us as he headed toward the exit. He stopped long enough to tell us about his demise.

According to him, in the first hand back from break he woke up with {k-}{k-} only to run into the [axa] of Adrian Jimenez. The board ran out clean, and just like that Rodawig's 2015 RunGood Poker Series Horseshoe Council Bluffs Main Event came to an end.

Player Chips Progress
Adrian Jimenez us
Adrian Jimenez
85,000
85,000
85,000
Eric Rodawig us
Eric Rodawig
Busted
WSOP 1X Winner

Tags: Adrian JimenezEric Rodawig

Justin Gardenhire: The Man, the Myth, the Legend

Level 6 : 300/600, 75 ante
Justin Gardenhire
Justin Gardenhire

Justin Gardenhire, who just late registered the tournament, has been a Team RunGood veteran since the inaugural year. He is married with one beautiful daughter and resides in the great state of Oklahoma. With a ninth-place finish in the World Series of Poker National Championship and a 17th-place finish in the WSOP $1,500 PLHE event last year he is hoping to get the Rio “monkey” off his back and close out an event at the 2015 WSOP, but of course a Run Good title in between would be sweet.

"I began playing poker as many of us did with friends in a private game. A group of about eight of us would play a $10 tournament almost every night then the winner would usually take everybody out to the bar afterwards and spend all his winnings on the group," Gardenhire says of his poker origins. " Although most of these guys don't play anymore I knew from the start with my love of gambling and competitiveness my passion for poker wouldn't die out anytime soon. From there I met Ash Day who introduced me to online poker and that is when I started playing for money that wouldn't just change what I did that night but what I did for the rest of my life. I have been very fortunate to meet some of the people along the way that have helped me develop as an all around poker player."

*Biography and photo courtesy of Run Good Gear.

Player Chips Progress
Justin Gardenhire us
Justin Gardenhire
20,000
20,000
20,000

Tags: Justin Gardenhire

The Wisconsin State Champ Chipping Up

Level 4 : 150/300, 25 ante
Ben Wiora on Day 1a
Ben Wiora on Day 1a

A couple weeks ago, Ben Wiora topped a field of 463 players to win the MSPT Wisconsin State Poker Championship for $114,512. Wiora opted to make the seven-hour drive to Council Bluffs and is looking for even more poker success. The Wisconsinite played Day 1a only to bust in the early goings. He skipped Day 1b, but he's giving it another go here on Day 1c.

Recently, Wiora opened for 825 under the gun only to have his neighbor to the left pop it to 2,500. The player in the hijack flatted, and action folded back to Wiora, who just called. All three players ended up checking the {5-Hearts}{q-Clubs}{6-Hearts} flop, and then Wiora led out for 3,625 on the {2-Hearts} turn. The player to his left folded, but the hijack called to see the {K-Diamonds} river.

Not to be deterred, Wiora fired out 8,000, and that did the trick and his opponent chucked his cards to the muck. With that, Wiora is up to 45,000.

Player Chips Progress
Ben Wiora us
Ben Wiora
45,000
15,000
15,000

Tags: Ben Wiora

Good Start for Sanders

Level 3 : 100/200, 0 ante
Michael Sanders on Day 1a.
Michael Sanders on Day 1a.

Michael Sanders is no doubt hoping to follow in the footsteps of his fellow RunGood Ambassadors Ryan Tepen and Joe Hebda, the Day 1a and 1b chip leaders respectively, by bagging up the biggest stack in the room. There's still a lot of play before that will happen, but he's certainly off to a good start.

In a recent hand, five players paid 500 each to see a {5-Diamonds}{9-Clubs}{8-Hearts} flop. Three checks saw an older gentlemen move all in for 6,550, and Sanders, the preflop raiser, put in a call. The three checkers folded, and the cards were turned up.

Sanders: {a-Diamonds}{9-Diamonds}
Opponent: {8-Diamonds}{7-Diamonds}

Sanders was ahead with top pair, but his opponent had a gutshot straight draw to go with his middle pair. The {4-Clubs} turn didn't change anything, and neither did the {2-Clubs} river. Sanders held and laid claim to yet another pot.

Player Chips Progress
Michael Sanders us
Michael Sanders
55,000
15,000
15,000

Tags: Michael Sanders

The Third and Final Flight is Set to Begin

RunGood Poker Series
RunGood Poker Series

The RunGood Poker Series Horseshoe Casino $675 buy-in, $100,000 guaranteed Main Event in Council Bluffs, Iowa, is down to its last starting Flight. Right now, the field stands at 315 entries (149 from Day 1a and 166 from 1b), which means the guarantee has already been smashed.

There is a little overlap with Day 1b, which began at 12:00 p.m. local time, and we'll switch our coverage to Day 1c just as soon as its predecessor concludes. The plan for the night is to play 13 levels (12 of which will be 30 minutes, and the last one 45 minutes), and we expect to see a slew of players take their final shot at Day 2.

Among those to player either Day 1a, 1b, or both — who may or may not fire again — are Wisconsinites Josh Reichard and Ben Wiora; World Series of Poker bracelet winner Eric Rodawig; RunGood Downstream champ Saied Moradi; and of course representatives from RunGood Gear including team members Bernard Lee, Jordan Morgan, Bryan Campanello, Clint Tolbert, and Justin Gardenhire.

One RunGood Ambassador we won't see today is Ryan Tepen. That's because the Missourian finished Day 1a with a stack of 330,000, which was enough to make him the Day 1a chip leader. He will return at 12:00 p.m. local time alongside all the Day 1 survivors to play down to a winner, who will receive a nice payday as well as a $10,000 seat into the 2015 World Series of Poker Main Event. Before that happens though, there's still one more flight to play out.

Cards will be in the air shortly, so stay tuned!