Jeremy Gaubert Takes Down the RGPS Grand Prix New Orleans Main Event for First RunGood Ring
The first RunGood Poker Series stop in New Orleans since 2015 has crowned a champion, with Jeremy Gaubert outlasting the 307-entry field in the RGPS Grand Prix New Orleans $800 Main Event.
While Gaubert has been grinding live tournaments in the South for over 15 years, this is only his third cash at a RunGood event and he made sure to make it count, claiming his first RunGood ring and the top prize of $45,897.
“Feeling good," Gaubert told PokerNews following the win. "I just got second place in Coushatta like three weeks ago. Took a bad beat heads-up. So this was a good feeling to finally win it.”
Gaubert, who came in two days ago and played one PLO Tournament before hopping in the Main Event, spoke about his beginnings in poker as an online player pre-Black Friday.
"A lot of people in this area know me by Chemist83, that’s my online screen name. I was well known in Louisiana in the online poker scene. I had a lot of health problems in College, so I found online poker. That’s been my profession since 2005. Then online poker got taken away and it forced me into the live scene a little bit more.”
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jeremy Gaubert | United States | $45,897 |
| 2 | Zackary Poll | United States | $30,559 |
| 3 | Brian Senie | United States | $22,343 |
| 4 | Charles Bartlett | United States | $16,547 |
| 5 | Ronald Inman | United States | $12,431 |
| 6 | Chris Audrain | United States | $9,476 |
| 7 | Michael Chilton | United States | $7,331 |
| 8 | Dee Wampler | United States | $5,757 |
| 9 | Frank Alpandinar | United States | $4,590 |
Day 2 Action
Day 2 saw 36 survivors return from the first three starting flights, all of whom were in the money. Jeremy Gaubert began the day with the fifth-largest stack and by the time there were two tables left Gaubert was leading the field. Gaubert described facing little resistance from that point to the final table.
"My stack kind of just kept going up. At the beginning of the final table I did get a little bit of resistance, so I decided to play a little bit tighter, sit back and see what everyone else is doing. I tried to take control of the final table initially, and it wasn’t going so well.”
Ronald Inman briefly overtook Gaubert for the chip lead in the early goings of the final table. By the time there were five players left Inman held more than one third of the total chips in play, while Gaubert was down to 20 big blinds, the shortest he had gotten since the day began. Gaubert managed to take the lead back after turning a set of kings to crack Inman's two pair while Inman lost another pivotal all-in soon after and was out in fifth. Gaubert knocked out Charles Bartlett in fourth soon after before the biggest hand of the tournament played out between Gaubert and Brian Senie.
In a blind-on-blind battle, Gaubert defended the big blind with ace-four and after flopping top pair he called down Senie on the flop and turn only for Senie to shove the river. The two players had roughly 90% of the chips in play between them with three players remaining, and Senie put Gaubert to the ultimate test with a massive shove. Gaubert spoke about his thought process facing such a pivotal spot with top pair and a weak kicker.
"On the turn, I kind of felt like he could have some kind of semi-bluff. He’s very capable, I don’t think he’s just gonna give up after one barrel. So I called again, knowing that I’d probably be facing a pretty tough decision on the river. I just don’t expect him to give up on the river the way he plays. King on the river and then he shoves. The diamonds miss, the straight that got there was jack-ten. I guess he could have that. His range was pretty polarized, so he’s either gonna have a really huge hand or I’m gonna be good. I just decided to flick it in”
Following Senie's elimination Gaubert held a 6:1 lead over Zackary Poll heads-up. Poll was able to take down a few small pots but Gaubert whittled him back down before winning one last preflop race, making a full house with ace-eight to take down the final hand of the night along with the Main Event title.