Chad Links Bursts Bubble En Route to Big Stack on Day 1a
The action kicked off on Day 1a of the $600 Main Event at the 2025 RunGood Poker Series Grand Prix Tunica II with an overwhelming 184 entries taking to the felt. It's one of the largest opening flights on the RGPS Tour which bodes well for reaching the $200,000 guaranteed prize pool, nearly half of that already contributed.
By the day's end with just a few minutes remaining in level 14, the field was whittled down to just 23 players who will return on Sunday for Day 2 in the fight for the title. Near the top of the leaderboard, you could find Chad Link who was just cruising around at an average stack for the majority of the day. However, a late-night surge plus the elimination of Brad Wilkerson on the money bubble gave Link the boost he needed.
The Day 1a chip lead belonged to Mike Cordell who amassed a stack of 538,000 chips. Cordell has a previous WSOP bracelet under his belt already, and is now looking to add a RGPS Grand Prix ring to his jewelry collection. The only other player with a stack north of 500,000 chips belonged to Josh Borders who also claimed his fair share of victims en route to the bubble bursting. Borders will return with a stack of 512,000 when Day 2 gets underway.
Top 10 Chip Counts After Day 1a of the Main Event
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mike Cordell | United States | 538,000 | 90 |
| 2 | Josh Borders | United States | 512,000 | 85 |
| 3 | Chad Link | United States | 494,000 | 82 |
| 4 | Brian Durr | United States | 479,000 | 80 |
| 5 | Rafael Lopez | United States | 404,000 | 67 |
| 6 | Jeremy Moore | United States | 396,000 | 66 |
| 7 | Dylan Lemery | United States | 338,000 | 56 |
| 8 | Vincent Freeman | United States | 308,000 | 51 |
| 9 | Tyler Burke | United States | 282,000 | 47 |
| 10 | Brandon Mayo | United States | 279,000 | 47 |
The field was littered with hometown regulars residing on both sides of the Mississippi River in Mississippi and Tennessee. There were also some notable names from across the United States, making their way to Horseshoe Casino Tunica specifically for this series. The likes of Chris Moneymaker (202,000), Matthew Higgins (150,000), and Cody Stanford (190,000) bagged up chips for Day 2 while Nicholas Rigby, John Holley, and Jacob Foley will have to return tomorrow in hopes of moving on.
The cards will be back in the air at 11 a.m. local time for Day 1b and the third flight will commence at 6 p.m. Both flights will mirror the first with 30-minute levels and play to 12.5% of the field (rounded down). Registration will remain open until the start of level nine for both of the flights and there will be flip 'n go satellites taking place throughout the day on a first-come, first-served basis.
The PokerNews live reporting team will be back to cover all of the action throughout the day so keep it locked here for all of your up-to-date information.