Greg Himmelbrand Atop the Leaderboard on a Massive Day 1c of the RGPS Atlantic City Main Event
The third starting flight of the inaugural $800 RunGood Passport Season Atlantic City Main Event promised to be the biggest one yet, and it lived up to the billing as a massive field gathered inside the Borgata Hotel, Casino & Spa for Day 1c today.
Greg Himmelbrand ended up atop the leaderboard as 36 players survived out of 290 entries to secure their spots on Day 2 tomorrow. Himmelbrand, who already has nearly $2.8 million in live earnings, busted a player in a big pot when his ace-queen hit top pair against his opponents’ ace-king on his way to 1,175,000.
Day 1c Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Greg Himmelbrand | United States | 1,175,000 |
| 2 | Justin Bianco | United States | 1,068,000 |
| 3 | Michael Cheng | United States | 974,000 |
| 4 | David Lu | United States | 908,000 |
| 5 | Cenk Cerci | Germany | 783,000 |
| 6 | Nan Min | United States | 775,000 |
| 7 | John Alexander | United States | 739,000 |
| 8 | Joe Foote | United States | 703,000 |
| 9 | Yusuf Buber | United States | 668,000 |
| 10 | Nicholas Rigby | United States | 646,000 |
Justin Bianco is the other member of the million-chip club after cracking aces with two pair. He ended up with 1,068,000, while Michael Cheng (974,000) and Cenk Cerci (783,000) are also in the top five. David Lu earned the most spectacular double up of the day. Lu was all in for 445,000 with ace-king but ran right into MR’s two aces. With a potential chip-lead pot at stake, Lu flopped a miracle straight and ended the day with 908,000.
Nan Min scooped a three-way all in when she woke up with two queens. The poker nomad, who sold her home in New York last year to travel around playing poker, has cashed everywhere across the United States and even in the Bahamas and Brazil over the last year. She ended up with 775,000 in her pursuit of a RunGood Poker Series championship ring.
Other top stacks include Nicholas Rigby (646,000) and Chris Conrad (545,000), while PokerNews PokerStack runner-up Alberto Sabogali (207,000), WSOP November Niner Eric Buchman (147,000), MR (144,000), Christian Mazzarelli (121,000), and WSOP bracelet winner Ryan Eriquezzo (106,000) will also return tomorrow.
The 290 entries on Day 1c brought the field up to 593 through three starting flights. There are currently more than 100 players in the turbo Day 1d flight as the event went well past the $300,000 guaranteed prize pool. All surviving players will return tomorrow at noon local time for Day 2 already in the money. The action will pick up on the earliest finishing time from one of the opening flights, which is currently projected to be 5,000/10,000 with a 10,000 big blind ante.
The first-ever RGPS stop here at Borgata has already been a smashing success, and all that’s left is to hand out the championship ring tomorrow. Stay tuned as PokerNews returns to follow all the action down to a champion on Day 2.