Million Dollar Main Event
Day 2 Completed
2023 RGPS Checkpoint Thunder Valley
Million Dollar Main Event
Day: 2
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
Players Info - Day 2
2023 RGPS Checkpoint Thunder Valley
Buy-in
$2,500
Prize Pool
$1,064,187
Entries
477
Level
29
Blinds
75,000 / 150,000
Ante
150,000
Entries
124
Players Left
17
Sampson Leads Final 17 into Day 3 of RunGood Million Dollar Main
Level 20
: Blinds 10,000/20,000, 20,000 ante
Another full day is in the books here in the RunGood CheckPoint: The Last Kilometer Million Dollar Main Event here at the wonderful Thunder Valley Casino Resort. On Day 2, 124 remaining players came back out of the 477 total entries, but now only 17 finalists remain in contention for the title.
Dominating the pack is Paul Sampson who entered the day as the chip leader, and he sure finished the day out in style by bagging 3,600,000 in chips, which is over a million more than Darren Rabinowitz in second place with 2,315,000.
Sampson just kept the pressure up all day long and even though several players were tied with him at one point, like Phatseluck Yang, he was the one who made a statement on the day and will return for Day 3 tomorrow with a lot of momentum. Rabinowitz caught some heat towards the end of the night and scored a nice pot when he eliminated Jared Jaffee in 19th place.
Day 3 Restart Top 5 Chip Counts
| Place | Player | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Paul Sampson | 3,600,000 | 144 |
| 2 | Darren Rabinowitz | 2,315,000 | 93 |
| 3 | Alexander Rodriguez | 1,870,000 | 75 |
| 4 | Shijia Liu | 1,660,000 | 66 |
| 5 | Anubhav Jolly | 1,510,000 | 60 |
Among those who managed to avoid Sampson the Steamroller to also advance to Day 3 is last year’s runner-up Tyler Patterson who bagged 640,000 and is hungry for another chance at a first-place finish.
Plenty of big names made the money but were unable to advance including Stephen Song(39rd - $4,840), Jeff Platt (26th-$6,695), Jaffee (19th-$9,460), Ben Ludlow (21st-$9,460), and Ethan Yau (31st-$5,565). Yau had built a large stack very quickly and took down several large pots, including one where he held pocket jacks and managed to bust Allen Kessler with pocket kings by spiking a set of jacks on the turn to send him to the rail. Unfortunately, his aggressive play style caught up to him and he was eliminated himself after losing a sequence of big pots.
The Champion Will be Crowned Tuesday
The majority of the largest prize pool in RunGood history ($1,064,187) will be handed out on Monday with the winner collecting a massive $200,422.
Each of the remaining 17 players will take home at least $11,205, but they’ll all have their eyes on that six-figure first prize, the RunGood CheckPoint Series ring, and a free entry into the DreamSeat invitational at the PokerGO Studio in Las Vegas.
Play will resume at 11 a.m. local time with Level 21, which will see blinds of 15,000/25,000 and a 25,000 big blind ante and will continue until one player is left standing.
Keep it right here with PokerNews for complete live reporting coverage until the champion is crowned here at the beautiful Thunder Valley Casino Resort.
End of Day Counts and Day 3 Seating Chart (full)
Level 20
: Blinds 10,000/20,000, 20,000 ante
| Table | Seat | Player | Chips | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23 | 1 | John Kenner | 480,000 | 19 |
| 23 | 2 | Phatseluck Yang | 580,000 | 23 |
| 23 | 3 | Tyler Patterson | 640,000 | 26 |
| 23 | 4 | Adam Dunkle | 625,000 | 25 |
| 23 | 5 | Shijia Liu | 1,660,000 | 66 |
| 23 | 6 | Kevin O'Donnell | 660,000 | 26 |
| 23 | 7 | Adam Hannula | 1,365,000 | 55 |
| 23 | 8 | Tongzu Ding | 815,000 | 33 |
| 23 | 9 | Aaron Overton | 430,000 | 17 |
| 27 | 2 | Daniel Turner | 295,000 | 12 |
| 27 | 3 | Darren Rabinowitz | 2,315,000 | 93 |
| 27 | 4 | Paul Sampson | 3,600,000 | 144 |
| 27 | 5 | Alexander Rodriguez | 1,870,000 | 75 |
| 27 | 6 | Deven Cannon | 410,000 | 16 |
| 27 | 7 | Anubhav Jolly | 1,510,000 | 60 |
| 27 | 8 | Gregory Flowers | 690,000 | 28 |
| 27 | 9 | Michael Zimmer | 905,000 | 36 |
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
3,600,000
-25,000
|
-25,000 |
|
||
|
2,315,000
115,000
|
115,000 |
|
1,870,000
255,000
|
255,000 |
|
1,660,000
185,000
|
185,000 |
|
1,510,000
-90,000
|
-90,000 |
|
1,365,000
415,000
|
415,000 |
|
905,000
530,000
|
530,000 |
|
815,000
80,000
|
80,000 |
|
690,000
-10,000
|
-10,000 |
|
660,000
-380,000
|
-380,000 |
|
640,000
90,000
|
90,000 |
|
||
|
625,000 | |
|
580,000
-170,000
|
-170,000 |
|
480,000
-30,000
|
-30,000 |
|
430,000
-485,000
|
-485,000 |
|
410,000
-160,000
|
-160,000 |
|
295,000
-155,000
|
-155,000 |
End of Day 2; Players Bag
Level 20
: Blinds 10,000/20,000, 20,000 ante
The clock has reached zero in Level 20 which means that play is over for the day and the remaining players will bag up to return tomorrow for Day 3.
Stay tuned as end-of-day chip counts and a Day 2 recap will be released shortly.
Jolly Flops Set to Double
Level 20
: Blinds 10,000/20,000, 20,000 ante
After a preflop betting war, Gregory Flowers moved all in and Anubhav Jolly made the call to put himself at risk of elimination.
Anubhav Jolly: 9♦9♣
Gregory Flowers: A♥K♥
Jolly was in the lead going into this flip, and the flop was very favorable for him as it came 9♠5♠J♥ to give him a set of nines. The turn 7♦ left Flowers drawing dead and the meaningless 5♣ completed the board to award the pot to Jolly for a big double-up at the end of the night.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
1,600,000
410,000
|
410,000 |
|
|
700,000
-400,000
|
-400,000 |
Final Two Tables
Level 20
: Blinds 10,000/20,000, 20,000 ante
With the elimination of Jared Jaffee in 19th place, the remaining 18 players have been reseated at the final two tables as follows:
FInal Two Table Redraw
| Table | Seat | Player | Chips | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23 | 1 | John Kenner | 510,000 | 26 |
| 23 | 2 | Phatseluck Yang | 750,000 | 38 |
| 23 | 3 | Tyler Patterson | 550,000 | 28 |
| 23 | 4 | Adam Dunkle | 625,000 | 31 |
| 23 | 5 | Shijia Liu | 1,475,000 | 74 |
| 23 | 6 | Kevin O'Donnell | 975,000 | 49 |
| 23 | 7 | Adam Hannula | 950,000 | 48 |
| 23 | 8 | Tongzu Ding | 580,000 | 29 |
| 23 | 9 | Aaron Overton | 915,000 | 46 |
| 27 | 1 | Man Pham | 175,000 | 9 |
| 27 | 2 | Daniel Turner | 450,000 | 23 |
| 27 | 3 | Darren Rabinowitz | 2,200,000 | 110 |
| 27 | 4 | Paul Sampson | 3,625,000 | 181 |
| 27 | 5 | Alexander Rodriguez | 1,615,000 | 81 |
| 27 | 6 | Deven Cannon | 570,000 | 29 |
| 27 | 7 | Anubhav Jolly | 1,190,000 | 60 |
| 27 | 8 | Gregory Flowers | 1,100,000 | 55 |
| 27 | 9 | Michael Zimmer | 375,000 | 19 |
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
3,625,000
2,014,000
|
2,014,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
2,200,000
1,165,000
|
1,165,000 |
|
|
1,615,000
815,000
|
815,000 |
|
|
1,475,000
335,000
|
335,000 |
|
|
1,190,000
108,000
|
108,000 |
|
|
1,100,000
90,000
|
90,000 |
|
|
1,040,000 | |
|
|
950,000
585,000
|
585,000 |
|
|
915,000
295,000
|
295,000 |
|
|
750,000
-851,000
|
-851,000 |
|
|
735,000 | |
|
|
625,000
-175,000
|
-175,000 |
|
580,000
580,000
|
580,000 |
|
|
570,000
355,000
|
355,000 |
|
|
550,000
40,000
|
40,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
510,000
-80,000
|
-80,000 |
|
|
450,000
-625,000
|
-625,000 |
|
|
375,000
-100,000
|
-100,000 |
|
|
360,000
360,000
|
360,000 |
|
175,000
-69,000
|
-69,000 |
Last Level of the Night
Level 20
: Blinds 10,000/20,000, 20,000 ante
This will be the last level of the night with players bagging to return tomorrow for Day 3.
Level: 20
Blinds: 10,000/20,000
Ante: 20,000
Ludlow Hits the Rail
Level 19
: Blinds 10,000/15,000, 15,000 ante
PokerNews missed the hand but was informed by the busted player, Ben Ludlow, what had transpired.
After three players limped to Ben Ludlow in the big blind, who decided to check to see the flop of K♠J♦5♦. After a check from the small blind, Ludlow jams for his remaining 70,000 and received two callers to put him at risk.
His opponents then checked it down through the runout 9♥3♠ and Ludlow tabled Q♦9♦ for a bricked flush while the cutoff tabled AxJx for a pair of aces to win the pot while Ludlow was sent to the payout desk in 21st place.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
Busted |
Platt Runs into It
Level 19
: Blinds 10,000/15,000, 15,000 ante
Action folded to Jeff Platt in the small blind and he shipped it for his last 100,000 to be called by John Kenner in the big blind to put him at risk.
Jeff Platt: K♣6♠
John Kenner: A♦A♥
Platt would really need some help as he ran into Kenner's aces, but the flop of A♠2♠8♣ was not his friend as it left him drawing very slim. The turn K♠ gave him a nice sweat with a spade draw, but the K♥ on the river was just an insult to injury as he made trips but also gave Kenner the nut full house. Kenner was then pushed the pot while Platt made his way to the payout desk in 27th place.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
590,000
265,000
|
265,000 |
|
Busted |