RunGood Ambassador Tyler Patterson Bags Big in Historic RGPS Season Finale
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.
RGPS Main Event Day 1a Top Ten Chip Counts
| 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 |
A Day of Celebration
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.
Another Opening Flight Sunday
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.
, after his opponent in the cutoff checked to him, Tyler Patterson bet 30,000 on the button.
for a runner-runner nut flush. 
and tossed them into the muck as the large pot was pushed in the direction of the RunGood ambassador.
, the small blind and a player in middle position checked to Lane jacobson in the hijack, who bet 8,000.
on the turn.
river, and this time, he bombed the river, shoving a stack of orange T-5,000 chips forward that covered his opponent's roughly 100,000 chip stack.
flop gave Ricardo the lead. 
, giving him more than a double up, while sending the popular vlogger and entrepreneur to the rail.
board with just over 22,000 in the pot.
for an open-ended straight draw that turned into a rivered two pair as the pot was pushed his way.
on the turn eliminated fours from Mather's outs, which was good for Mariano, as the river brought the 
, giving Mather his two pair, fives and fours, but Mariano's aces and sixes gave him the much-needed double-up.
