$2,500 Season Finale ($1,000,000 Guaranteed)
Day 1a Completed
$2,500 Season Finale ($1,000,000 Guaranteed)
Day 1a Completed
The first of two opening flights in the biggest RunGood Poker Series Main Event ever is in the books with RunGood and Thunder Valley Ambassador Tyler Patterson among the chip leaders of the Contenders Series Season Finale, bagging a big stack of 258,500.
The top spot of the day belongs to Lane Jacobson with 283,000. Sacramento locals Richard Peloquin and Man Pham are just behind, completing the three podium spots for Day 1a.
| Place | Name | Hometown | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lane Jacobson | Sisters, OR | 283,000 |
| 2 | Richard Peloquin | Sacramento, CA | 274,000 |
| 3 | Man Pham | Sacramento, CA | 269,000 |
| 4 | Chad Burum | Novato, CA | 263,000 |
| 5 | Tyler Patterson | Las Vegas, NV | 258,500 |
| 6 | Lam Le | Sacramento, CA | 254,500 |
| 7 | Jorgio Castro | San Francisco, CA | 196,000 |
| 8 | Liya Gerasimova | Tiburon, CA | 192,000 |
| 9 | Juan Valadez | Antioch, CA | 191,000 |
| 10 | Ray Henson | Houston, TX | 181,000 |

The $1,000,000 guaranteed event began with much pomp and circumstance as RunGood celebrated their first ever seven-figure guaranteed main event with a red carpet celebration and pre-game show streamed live on the Thunder Valley poker Twitter page.
From there it was down to business as 210 players took their seats throughout the day with 83 advancing on to Monday’s Day 2.
Eight levels were played with players having the option to re-enter once, two more bullets available Sunday for Day 1b, and a final opportunity to enter before registration closes at the start of Day 2.
Among other notables bagging up healthy stacks were RunGood Ambassadors Ray Henson (181,000) and Ben Ludlow (152,000), Andrew Moreno (169,500), and Northern California poker legend JC Tran (96,500).

Those who didn’t make it through the day but can come back again Sunday and/or Monday included RunGood Ambassadors Lexy Gavin-Mather, "Boston" Rob Mariano, Joe Stapleton, and Kris Burchfield, along with Johnnie Moreno and the top-ranked player in the 2022 GPI Female Player of the Year race, Angela Jordison.
With one successful opening flight in the books, the second will take place Sunday at noon local time with an even bigger field expected that will send the prizepool past its $1,000,000 guarantee.
Players will again have two entries available to them throughout the day and a final buy-in before Day 2 if necessary.
Stay tuned to PokerNews for continued coverage from the beautiful Thunder Valley Casino Resort until a champion is crowned on Tuesday.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
283,000
6,000
|
6,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
274,000
53,000
|
53,000 |
|
|
269,000
269,000
|
269,000 |
|
|
258,500
87,000
|
87,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
254,500
39,500
|
39,500 |
|
|
196,000
196,000
|
196,000 |
|
|
192,000
192,000
|
192,000 |
|
|
191,000
191,000
|
191,000 |
|
|
181,000
181,000
|
181,000 |
|
|
181,000
40,000
|
40,000 |
|
|
178,000
3,000
|
3,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
172,500
1,500
|
1,500 |
|
|
169,500
8,500
|
8,500 |
|
|
161,500
24,500
|
24,500 |
|
|
155,000
155,000
|
155,000 |
|
|
154,500
154,500
|
154,500 |
|
|
154,000
154,000
|
154,000 |
|
|
152,000
7,000
|
7,000 |
|
|
140,000
20,000
|
20,000 |
|
|
131,000
131,000
|
131,000 |
|
|
129,500
129,500
|
129,500 |
|
|
125,500
125,500
|
125,500 |
|
|
125,500
125,500
|
125,500 |
|
|
125,000
125,000
|
125,000 |
|
|
121,000
121,000
|
121,000 |
On a ![]()
![]()
flop, Andrew Moreno led into Don Landwirth and was raised by his opponent. Moreno moved all-in for Landwirth's last 19,000, and Landwirth called to put himself at risk.
Don Landwirth: ![]()
![]()
Andrew Moreno: ![]()
![]()
Moreno was open-ended and didn't take long to fill his straight as a
rolled off on the turn, sending Landwirth to the rail.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
178,000
14,000
|
14,000 |
The clock has been paused with ten minutes remaining and the tournament staff has announced that four more hands will be played before bagging for the night.
After Michael Rossitto raised to 2,500 in the cutoff, harry Sellers called in the big blind.
The flop came ![]()
![]()
and Sellers checked. Rossitto bet 2,000 and Sellers called.
On the
turn, Sellers again checked and Rossitto bet once more, this time for 8,500.
The river brought the
and Sellers checked a final time.
After a brief pause, Rossitto slid forward a much larger bet of 40,000, which Sellers called.
Rossitto begrudgingly showed the ![]()
for a turned straight draw that missed.
Sellers showed ![]()
for a flopped set and the winner to scoop a large pot near the end of the night.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
171,000
171,000
|
171,000 |
|
|
63,000
1,500
|
1,500 |
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
289,000
44,000
|
44,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
241,000
77,000
|
77,000 |
|
|
175,000
68,700
|
68,700 |
|
|
||
|
|
162,000
40,000
|
40,000 |
|
|
145,000
102,000
|
102,000 |
|
|
141,000
44,800
|
44,800 |
|
|
88,800
12,800
|
12,800 |
|
|
88,000
30,000
|
30,000 |
|
|
82,700
44,200
|
44,200 |
|
|
79,100
4,600
|
4,600 |
|
|
67,000
9,000
|
9,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
36,800
28,600
|
28,600 |
|
|
23,500
6,300
|
6,300 |
|
|
||
With approximately 35,000 in the pot on a completed board of ![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
, after his opponent in the cutoff checked to him, Tyler Patterson bet 30,000 on the button.
After a minute or so of thought, Patterson got a call and turned over ![]()
for a runner-runner nut flush.
His opponent showed ![]()
and tossed them into the muck as the large pot was pushed in the direction of the RunGood ambassador.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
171,500
55,000
|
55,000 |
|
|
||
Level: 8
Blinds: 600/1,200
Ante: 1,200
A huge pot was just pushed to Lam Le, while Jasthi Kumar headed toward the exits.
According to Le and his tablemates, in a limped pot on a flop of ![]()
![]()
, Kumar check-called a bet in the big blind from Kumar in middle position, then on the
turn, after Kumar checked, Le moved all in and was called by Kumar for less.
Jasthi Kumar: ![]()
![]()
Lam Le: ![]()
![]()
Kumar's trip sevens had been crushed by Le's turned full house, and the
on the river couldn't save him, sending a pot to Le that pushed his stack over the 200,000 mark.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
215,000 | |
|
|
Busted |