PokerNews is not offering live coverage of this RunGood Poker Series event, but we will be keeping readers informed with updates on chip counts, core event statistics and player stories, including entries, prize pool, payouts, and final table hands. Scroll down to see more.
Kathy Waterhouse does not fit the image of a tournament grinder, but her opponents would do well not to underestimate her. A native of Port Richmond, Philadelphia, Waterhouse now lives in Brigantine, NJ, just across the bridge from Atlantic City.
“My family growing up, we were all game players. Board games, card games, you name it. If it was raining, we’d all be on the porch playing games,” Waterhouse says.
After meeting her husband, Barry, at Temple University, completing her degree in what was then called Personnel Administration (better known today as Human Resources) at University of Texas, and raising two children, Waterhouse went on to a 30-year career in Marketing and Recruiting for technical roles in both the corporate and academic sectors. Retiring in 2012, Waterhouse says, “It wasn’t long before I found myself in need of a hobby.”
“My mother and father,” she says, “were gamblers. My aunts and uncles, too. And my father was one of those who believed women couldn’t do what men could, you know, like playing sports. Well, I defied him. I played soccer ‘til I was 38.”
Like many, Waterhouse found her way to poker through like-minded friends. She played cash at first but found the swings a bit much and turned to tournament poker. Over the years she has amassed over $61,000 in career earnings in the past decade, but confesses that her love for the game is all about the competition.
“During the Covid shutdown, everything around here was closed. My best friend, Marie, and other friends would all go down to Maryland Live together to play. They had the mask rule and plexiglass dividers, but at least we could play.”
Waterhouse started Day 2 of the $400 PokerNews PowerStack as the shortest stack in the room with just 16,000 chips. After an early double-up, Waterhouse finished 113th out of 981 runners for a payday of $875 when she ran her Ax8x into an opponent holding AxKx.
When not on the felt, the 72-year-old enjoys time with Bruno, her chihuahua, and two grandchildren.
With 59 remaining players showing on the clock, they have gone for their first 15-minute break of the day while the 1,000-value chips will be taken out of play.
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Almost all players below cashed for $920 except for Ryan Mostafa, he bagged twice which meant he collected a min-cash for his smallest and continued playing with the bigger one until busting in 100th place for a total cash of $1,795.
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The following players have all cashed for $875 to bring the field down to 103 remaining players.
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With the button in Seat 6, the floor has instructed the dealers to shuffle up and deal. All 118 returning players have cashed at least $875 but are all looking to claim that $55,165 first-place prize.
The RunGood Poker Series, the three-time GPI Best Mid-Major Poker Tour, is at the Borgata Casino Resort for the first time in its 13-year history this week through March 15. Kicking off the series is the $400 PokerNews PowerStack multi-day event sporting a $250,000 guarantee.
A total of 981 players joined the fray over five Day 1 flights, generating a prize pool of $323,730. Day 2 begins at noon local time today with 118 players returning to compete for the top prize of $55,165.
Leading the way is Hongli Ding with 1,143,000 chips, a virtually unknown player from Macau. Close on his heels is Michael Hermoza Laverde (984,000), a local grinder with a long list of cashes in area tournaments, including a third-place finish in the $560 Mega Rush in Philadelphia in 2022 for $46,196.
Filling out the podium is the most experienced player of the three, Arnaldo Gordon, with 903,000 chips. Gordon has garnered over half a million in tournament winnings in the past five years, including $95,534 in the last twelve months alone.
Players returning for Day 2 are guaranteed a minimum prize of $875, the full payouts can be seen in the payouts tab.
In addition to the prize money, the players are automatically entered into the PokerNews PowerStack Leaderboard competition. The PokerNews PowerStack Leaderboard will run across the entire 2026 RGPS Passport Season, with a dedicated PokerNews PowerStack event taking place at every RGPS stop. When the Passport Season wraps up, the top ten players on the PokerNews PowerStack Leaderboard will each earn a $1,100 seat to the RGPS Passport Thunder Valley Main Event, along with two nights of accommodation, running July 16 to August 2 at Thunder Valley Casino in Lincoln, CA.
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hongli Ding | Macau | 1,143,000 |
| 2 | Michael Laverde | United States | 984,000 |
| 3 | Arnaldo Gordon | United States | 903,000 |
| 4 | Eder De Sousa | United States | 807,000 |
| 5 | Denise Remick | United States | 774,000 |
| 6 | Elijah Garcia | United States | 762,000 |
| 7 | Mikhail Patish | United States | 749,000 |
| 8 | Frank Nelson | United States | 738,000 |
| 9 | Meshesha Truesaw | United States | 694,000 |
| 10 | John McGuinness | United States | 644,000 |
Day 2 will resume with six minutes and 22 seconds remaining in Level 15, with blinds of 4,000/8,000 and an 8,000 big blind ante. Levels are scheduled to last 30 minutes until a champion is crowned. Action will resume at 12 p.m. local time.
PokerNews will be providing limited coverage of this event including chip count updates, photos, and player interviews throughout the day.
| Place | Prize | Place | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $55,165 | 12-15 | $2,850 |
| 2 | $38,105 | 16 - 23 | $2,335 |
| 3 | $26,250 | 24 - 31 | $1,875 |
| 4 | $17,215 | 32 - 39 | $1,570 |
| 5 | $11,860 | 40 - 55 | $1,315 |
| 6 | $9,205 | 56 - 71 | $1,115 |
| 7 | $7,300 | 72 - 87 | $990 |
| 8 | $5,825 | 88-103 | $920 |
| 9 | $4,635 | 104-119 | $875 |
| 10-11 | $3,545 |
| Table | Seat | Player | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Hal Neeman | 381,000 |
| 1 | 2 | Thomas Farrell | 53,000 |
| 1 | 3 | Daniel Williams | 159,000 |
| 1 | 4 | Michael Ryan | 323,000 |
| 1 | 5 | Michael Mercaldo | 314,000 |
| 1 | 6 | Jiraj Hampton | 230,000 |
| 1 | 7 | Kathleen Waterhouse | 16,000 |
| 1 | 8 | Christopher Basile | 345,000 |
| 2 | 1 | Mohammad Rahman | 133,000 |
| 2 | 2 | Meshesha Truesaw | 694,000 |
| 2 | 3 | Timothy Amoroso | 213,000 |
| 2 | 4 | Michael Novins | 185,000 |
| 2 | 5 | Thomas Laessig | 198,000 |
| 2 | 6 | Gerald Johnson | 195,000 |
| 2 | 7 | Philip Saracino | 423,000 |
| 2 | 8 | Carl Schroeder | 158,000 |
| 2 | 9 | Vincent Basilicata | 169,000 |
| 3 | 1 | Joseph Colamaria | 316,000 |
| 3 | 2 | Michael Cologna | 228,000 |
| 3 | 3 | Denise Remick | 774,000 |
| 3 | 4 | Mark Simon | 35,000 |
| 3 | 5 | Matthew Lope | 292,000 |
| 3 | 6 | Alex Paredes | 609,000 |
| 3 | 7 | William Zakrinski | 437,000 |
| 3 | 8 | Skender Alicka | 147,000 |
| 3 | 9 | Giuseppe Lomuscio | 455,000 |
| 4 | 1 | Christopher Shum | 440,000 |
| 4 | 2 | Ji Lee | 88,000 |
| 4 | 3 | Kashka Corpening | 132,000 |
| 4 | 4 | Michael Zhang | 170,000 |
| 4 | 5 | Arnaldo Gordon | 903,000 |
| 4 | 6 | Nikhil Soorej Nair | 180,000 |
| 4 | 7 | Ronald Kampert | 146,000 |
| 4 | 8 | Justin Saxman | 156,000 |
| 5 | 1 | Aaron Hendi | 613,000 |
| 5 | 2 | John Dunn | 170,000 |
| 5 | 3 | Mukul Pahuja | 311,000 |
| 5 | 4 | Albert Santarelli | 630,000 |
| 5 | 5 | Ryan Mostafa | 503,000 |
| 5 | 6 | Leonard Miller | 243,000 |
| 5 | 7 | Petru Cuzuioc | 65,000 |
| 5 | 8 | Anthony Wong | 238,000 |
| 6 | 1 | Edward Hoffmann | 86,000 |
| 6 | 2 | Vineet Pahuja | 131,000 |
| 6 | 3 | Mark Weber | 107,000 |
| 6 | 4 | Thomas Cretella | 275,000 |
| 6 | 5 | Corey Whitaker | 371,000 |
| 6 | 6 | Elijah Garcia | 762,000 |
| 6 | 7 | Ravi Bayanker | 530,000 |
| 6 | 8 | Alberto Sabogali | 451,000 |
| 7 | 1 | Daniel Wach | 321,000 |
| 7 | 2 | Yiming Cao | 290,000 |
| 7 | 3 | An Pham | 424,000 |
| 7 | 4 | David Kilcoyne | 393,000 |
| 7 | 5 | Kyle Norton | 306,000 |
| 7 | 6 | Joseph Muldoon | 341,000 |
| 7 | 7 | Sean Byars | 583,000 |
| 7 | 8 | Daniel Collins | 532,000 |
| 7 | 9 | Michael Hager | 286,000 |
| 8 | 1 | William Chonka | 264,000 |
| 8 | 2 | Adam Capellan | 543,000 |
| 8 | 3 | Victor Munoz | 284,000 |
| 8 | 4 | Hongli Ding | 1,143,000 |
| 8 | 5 | Mikhail Patish | 749,000 |
| 8 | 6 | Michael Hermoza Laverde | 984,000 |
| 8 | 7 | Cleiton Junior-Barbosa | 531,000 |
| 8 | 8 | Sergio Loureiro | 176,000 |
| 9 | 1 | Arthur Schiavo | 338,000 |
| 9 | 2 | Michael Marder | 109,000 |
| 9 | 3 | Alexander Rocha | 225,000 |
| 9 | 4 | Shailesh Kamat | 176,000 |
| 9 | 5 | Richard Milo | 593,000 |
| 9 | 6 | Terrance Corrigan | 170,000 |
| 9 | 7 | Eric Ladny | 142,000 |
| 9 | 8 | Robert Marsiello | 285,000 |
| 9 | 9 | Marut Bhargava | 238,000 |
| 10 | 1 | Jason Loss | 148,000 |
| 10 | 2 | Bartlomie Glab | 195,000 |
| 10 | 3 | Michael Mattia | 541,000 |
| 10 | 4 | Robert Wood | 321,000 |
| 10 | 5 | Michael Moore | 177,000 |
| 10 | 6 | Anthony Cicali | 351,000 |
| 10 | 7 | Stephen Rozanski | 178,000 |
| 10 | 8 | Richard Palumbo | 226,000 |
| 10 | 9 | Joseph Fermane | 204,000 |
| 11 | 1 | Alan Liu | 268,000 |
| 11 | 2 | Keith Saunders | 454,000 |
| 11 | 3 | James Lauer | 431,000 |
| 11 | 4 | Thomas Macari | 228,000 |
| 11 | 5 | Joseph Rapp | 154,000 |
| 11 | 6 | Samuel Renauro | 407,000 |
| 11 | 7 | Rishi Mehta | 438,000 |
| 11 | 8 | Eder De Sousa | 807,000 |
| 12 | 1 | Frank Nelson | 738,000 |
| 12 | 2 | Daniel Buzgon | 116,000 |
| 12 | 3 | William Mccollum | 52,000 |
| 12 | 4 | Christopher Conrad | 137,000 |
| 12 | 5 | Chun Sun | 204,000 |
| 12 | 6 | Jeff Wolochowicz | 278,000 |
| 12 | 7 | Jamie Latinsky | 451,000 |
| 12 | 8 | Caroline Pent | 202,000 |
| 13 | 1 | Matthew Sullivan | 103,000 |
| 13 | 2 | Joseph Greene | 397,000 |
| 13 | 3 | Jordan Williamson | 120,000 |
| 13 | 4 | John Mcguinness | 644,000 |
| 13 | 5 | Onofrio Reina | 564,000 |
| 13 | 6 | Julie Schwartz | 246,000 |
| 13 | 7 | Victoria Shar | 71,000 |
| 13 | 8 | Stuart Moss | 450,000 |
| 14 | 1 | Nicholas Febbraio | 439,000 |
| 14 | 2 | Rajath Tangam | 262,000 |
| 14 | 3 | Mario Rodriguez | 270,000 |
| 14 | 4 | Vincent Masino | 493,000 |
| 14 | 5 | Cody Sadreameli | 488,000 |
| 14 | 6 | Vincent Santagata | 201,000 |
| 14 | 7 | Glenn Chernigoff | 420,000 |
| 14 | 8 | Jacob Hiller | 156,000 |
| 14 | 9 | Edric Nicoli | 401,000 |
$400 PokerNews PowerStack
Day 2 Started
