Jose Garcia Wins First-Ever RGPS Austin Title
The final day of the first-ever RunGood Poker Series at the Lodge Card Club was a lengthy affair as players battled for over 13 hours to decide who would be crowned the first RGPS Passport Austin $600 Main Event champion. Jose Garcia outlasted a field of 1,018 entries to earn the first-place prize of $88,007 and take home the RGPS ring and trophy.
“I’m very happy,” said Garcia. “It feels good. I’m excited.”
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jose Garcia | United States | $88,007 |
| 2 | Andrew Robinson | United States | $61,547 |
| 3 | James Black | United States | $40,069 |
| 4 | Kyle Stein | United States | $29,069 |
| 5 | Kevin Easterling | United States | $22,149 |
| 6 | Matthew Costentino | United States | $17,804 |
| 7 | James Cazin | United States | $14,742 |
| 8 | Thomas McCutcheon | United States | $11,706 |
| 9 | Zachary Evers | United States | $8,691 |
Jose Garcia had a disastrous end to Day 1a. He had approximately 800,000 in chips with just a few players left to bag for Day 2, but Garcia was the victim of an ace-high hero call by David Kim that chopped his stack down. Garcia lost an additional hand that taxed him, and he went from a potential Day 1a chip leader to entering Day 2 with 271,000.
Garcia shared with PokerNews that he regretted how the ending of Day 1a played out.
“I could have come into Day 2 with a big stack,” Garcia said, shaking his head at how it began to unravel. Thankfully for Garcia, he still had enough chips to play with, and what didn’t kill him made him stronger.
“I want to thank my wife, my parents, and my friends,” Garcia said. “They believed in me more than I did.”
His support network’s belief in him was not unfounded, as Garcia is now a poker champion.
Garcia’s underdog story continued all the way to the final table. He entered with the least amount of chips of the final nine players with 455,000, but by the first break, he had grown his stack to 2,050,000.
Garcia hit a setback when he tried to bluff Matthew Costentino, but a quick double through James Cazin got Garcia back off the mat with a stack of 3,900,000.
A pivotal hand occurred during Level 28 when Garcia eliminated James Cazin in seventh place when his pocket nines held against Cazin’s ace-king.
Garcia’s stack shrank before he doubled against the then chip leader Andrew Robinson to pull back over eleven million in chips.
The rollercoaster final table continued for Garcia when he lost an all-in to James Black, but he quickly rebounded when his pocket queens held against Robinson to close the gap three-handed.
This proved to be a turning point as Garcia regained his aggressive form when he fired all three streets with just ten-high to push out Robinson and take the chip lead.
Garcia never looked back, eliminating both Black and Robinson to take down the title.
Day 2 Action
There was a flurry of eliminations at the start of the day. Notable Nikki Limo came in with a short stack and was unable to make it out of the initial stages of the day, busting early on Day 2.
Day 1a chip leader Joe Roh and notable Joshua Hale were also unable to make it to the first break of the day. Andrew Neeme’s hopes of winning the RGPS main event title ended during Level 19.
By the time the players reached the three-table redraw it was Jackson Morisey who led all challengers, but it was Matthew Costentino who surged during this period knocking out Joshua Brower, Day 1c chip leader Terrance Reid, and James Holland.
Costentino’s momentum was stunted when Thomas McCutcheon doubled through him. Costentino rebounded when he secured the knockout of Jackson Morisey to send them to the final table. Costentino would battle, but a cooler against Andrew Robinson left him with little chips when his queens ran into Robinson’s kings, resulting in a sixth-place finish.
Robinson appeared poised to capture the title when he eliminated Kyle Stein, but his run began to unravel when Garcia began to pour it on late.
This concludes the coverage of the RGPS Passport Austin Main Event. Check back here at PokerNews for all your poker updates and news.