$1,200 Main Event Day 1a | 2023 RGPS Jacksonville

03-31-2023 00:18 UTC-4

Josh Wang Holds Massive Chip Lead in Day 1a

Kirk Brown

Level 14 : Blinds 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante

After over 10 hours of play, Josh Wang is the undisputed chip leader after a wild opening flight of the RunGood Poker Series Jacksonville Main Event saw 28 survivors advance to Day 2 here at bestbet Jacksonville.

Wang's stack of 689,000 places him well above the pack average of 206,867 with Matthew Johnson coming in second with 471,000.

Day 1a Chip Counts

Rank	Player	Hometown	State	Chip Count
1	Josh Wang	Orlando	FL	689,000
2	Matthew Johnson	Smyrna	TN	471,000
3	Geoffrey Blum	Jacksonville	FL	353,000
4	Ronald Slucker	Ponte Vedra	FL	294,000
5	Nghia Le	Jacksonville	FL	240,000
6	Alan Wentz		OH	158,000
7	Kelly Andrews	Florence	SC	156,000
8	Jeremy Gaubert	St. Johns	FL	114,000
9	Nicholas Chong	St. Augustine	FL	114,000
10	Tarun Gulati	Tampa	FL	102,000
11	Raminder Singh	Delray Beach	FL	98,000
12	Alan Franco	Jacksonville	FL	97,000
13	Steve Zhang	Jacksonville	FL	94,000
14	Christopher Long	Jacksonville	FL	65,000
15	Hunter Wroten	St. Augustine	FL	58,000

A field of 103 entries took their shot at advancing to Sunday’s Day 2, starting the tournament well on its way to eclipsing the $300,000 guaranteed prize pool.

Play wrapped up at the end of level 14 as scheduled, with just under 15% of the field remaining.
Some of the other notables to survive the day include Raminder Singh (98,000), Tarun Gulati (102,000), and Kelly Joe Andrews (156,000).

Among those not fortunate enough to find a bag were RGPS Jacksonville ambassador Kris Burchfield and 2022 bestbet Jacksonville Summer Heater Series runner-up James Leonard.

The second of three opening flights will take place Friday, with a starting time at noon. Players who failed to advance Thursday will have another shot at making it to Sunday’s final day of play, and even those who did make it through Day 1a can hop in again in hopes of accumulating a bigger stack to take into Sunday instead of their total from this flight.

Stay tuned to PokerNews for our continuing coverage of the event until a champion is crowned on Sunday at the action-packed bestbet Jacksonville!

Tags: Alan Franco Alan Wentz Christopher Long Geoffrey Blum Hunter Wroten James Leonard Jeremy Gaubert Josh Wang Kelly Joe Andrews Kris Burchfield Matthew Johnson Nghia Le Nicholas Chong Raminder Singh Ronald Slucker Steve Zhang Tarun Gulati

03-30-2023 22:55 UTC-4

Aces for Long; Stellar Fold from Miller

Kirk Brown

Level 14 : Blinds 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante

Pete Miller opened under-the-gun to 20,000 and action folded around to Christopher Long who then shoves all in for a total of 43,000.

When it got back to Miller, who was sitting on 200,000, the table expected him to make a quick call and the cards would be tabled. But instead, he paused and went into the tank for a good while.

After about a minute, he finally shook his head and threw his cards away, much to the shock of the table, especially Long.

"How the hell do you fold that?!" Long exclaimed in disbelief as he flipped over ," it was a min-raise!"

"I had pocket fives man, I mean, come on now," Miller replied.

The table was still shocked at the impressive fold as the next hand was dealt around.

Player	Chips	Progress
Pete Miller	195,000
Christopher Long	70,000 52,000	52,000

Tags: Christopher Long Pete Miller

03-30-2023 22:29 UTC-4

Slucker Forces Gulati to Decision

Kirk Brown

Level 13 : 2,000/3,000, 3,000 ante

On a heads-up flop of , Ronald Slucker led out for 6,000 but was then raised to 19,000 by his opponent Tarun Gulati.

Slucker then snap-jammed all in for around 200,000, covering Gulati and sending him deep into the tank.

"Only two hands beat me," Gulati finally said after some time, "...I'm never supposed to fold this,"

After another minute or so, Gulati folded face-up, "This is the nuts, but nice hand".

The table had mixed feelings about the hand, but their opinion didn't matter as the pot was shipped to Slucker to boost his stack to 240,000.

Player	Chips	Progress
Ronald Slucker	240,000 50,000	50,000
Tarun Gulati	110,000 35,000	35,000

Tags: Ronald Slucker Tarun Gulati

03-30-2023 20:17 UTC-4

Burchfield Loses Flip; Frenzel Exits

Kirk Brown

Level 10 : Blinds 1,000/1,500, 1,500 ante

After being faced with a raise from Geoffrey Blum, Kris Burchfield moved all in preflop and was called by Blum, who covered.

Kris Burchfield:
Geoffrey Blum:

Burchfield needed some help going into this flip, but the board of did him no favors and he was sent to the rail as Blum increased his stack to almost 200,000.

Meanwhile. on another table, Brian Frenzel was also eliminated when he got it all in with versus and couldn't improve when his opponent spiked a deuce.

Player	Chips	Progress
Geoffrey Blum	195,000 50,000	50,000
Kris Burchfield	Busted
Brian Frenzel	Busted

Tags: Brian Frenzel Geoffrey Blum Kris Burchfield

03-30-2023 18:29 UTC-4

Singh Shoves into Slay

Kirk Brown

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

On a heads-up turn board of , Kelley Slay checked over to his opponent, Raminder Singh, who then bet 14,000 into the quickly swelling pot of 22,000.

Slay made the call, and the duo went to the river , which saw another check from Slay.

Singh then paused for a second before moving all in, covering Slay, and sending him into the tank.

"I feel like ace-high is good here, Rami," Slay said after several minutes of painful deliberation, to which Singh said nothing.

After another minute or so, Slay finally decided to lay it down, and Singh was kind enough to show him that a call would have been the wrong move as he flipped over for the top full house.

"Wow," Slay replied, as he and the rest of the table were stunned while Singh was pushed the sizeable pot to boost him to 175,000.

Player	Chips	Progress
Raminder Singh	175,000
Kelley Slay	50,000

Tags: Kelley Slay Raminder Singh

03-30-2023 18:04 UTC-4

Jie Liu Wins RGPS bestbet Event #1: $400 Series Opener Ring Event

Kirk Brown

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

The first event of The RunGood Poker Series in Jacksonville was Event #1: $400 Series Opener Ring Event which kicked off on Thursday, March 23rd. A whopping 962 players found their way to enter this tournament, creating a massive prize pool of $312,650, absolutely destroying the $100k GTD.

100 players found their way to a payout and at the end of it all, Jie Liu took home his first RGPS ring and the grand prize of $48,495.

Place	Last Name	First Name	Payout
1	Liu	Jie	$48,495
2	Costello	Kevin	$39,380
3	Vasilescu	Alexandru	$33,782
4	Theiling	Henry	$24,976
5	Andrews	Kelly	$10,317
6	Hazzard	Kevin	$8,754
7	Blankenship	Nathaen	$7,504
8	Crenan	Jesse	$6,253
9	Minger	William	$5,315
10	Holmes	John	$4,377

03-30-2023 17:20 UTC-4

Teal Vs Scrogins

Kirk Brown

Level 7 : Blinds 400/800, 800 ante

After a raise to 2,000, Ben Scrogins three-bet to 8,500 but then Brad Teal moved all in for much more.

The original raiser quickly got out of the way and Scrogins snap-called, putting himself at risk of elimination.

Ben Scrogins:
Brad Teal:

Scrogins was ahead going into this battle, and the runout of was good for him as he secured the big double-up.

Two hands later, short-stacked Teal moved all in for around 9,000 and Scrogins made the call to put him at risk.

Brad Teal:
Ben Scrogins:

Fortunately for Teal, the runout of was in his favor as he paired his six and was awarded the double-up.

Player	Chips	Progress
Ben Scrogins	59,000 59,000	59,000
Brad Teal	17,000 17,000	17,000

Tags: Ben Scrogins Brad Teal

03-30-2023 15:36 UTC-4

Griffin Gets There

Kirk Brown

Level 5 : 300/500, 500 ante

Matthew Griffin raised to 3,500 from the button and found one call from Christopher Long from under-the-gun.

Long checked dark as the flop came out and Griffin checked behind.

The turn was the and Long fired out a bet of 5,000, which Griffin called and the two saw the appear on the river.

Both players decided to check and Long flipped over for a pair of eights but then Griffin rolled over for a superior pair of queens to win the pot.

"Ahhhh, shouldn't have pre-checked, why did I do that?" Long was kicking himself as he was left with one-half of the starting stack.

Player	Chips	Progress
Matthew Griffin	55,000 55,000	55,000
Christopher Long	18,000 -24,000	-24,000

Tags: Christopher Long Matthew Griffin

03-30-2023 14:52 UTC-4

Bottom Straight Good for Barnett

Kirk Brown

Level 4 : Blinds 200/400, 400 ante

On a heads-up turn of , Jeff Barnett bet 3,000 and was called by Ryan Scott after a brief stint in the tank.

The river came out the and both players decided to check, and Barnett showed for the bottom end of the straight, but it was good enough as Scott quickly mucked his hand.

Barnett was then pushed the pot to boost his stack to 65,000, one of the largest in the room.

Player	Chips	Progress
Jeff Barnett	65,000 65,000	65,000
Ryan Scott	34,000 9,000	9,000

Tags: Jeff Barnett Ryan Scott

03-30-2023 12:51 UTC-4

McNulty Works Hard to Get There

Kirk Brown

Level 1 : Blinds 100/200, 0 ante

On a multi-way turn of , Nicholas Chong bet out 600 and was called by Thad McNulty and Ryan Scott.

The players then saw the river fall the and action was checked to McNulty, who then announced a bet of 2,500. The action was then on Scott who went onto the tank for a bit before making the call, followed by a quick fold from Chong.

"Nuts," McNulty announced as he tabled for the nut flush, which prompted a quick muck from Scott.

"Man, I flopped the nuts," Scott said, shaking his head.

"Well, I had to work hard to get there!" McNulty laughed as he raked in the pot.