button in SafariBlair Hinkle's Magical Week Continues, But Dustin Helmuth Steals the Chip Lead Late on Day 1b of the RGPS Council Bluffs Main Event
RunGood ambassador Blair Hinkle has been on quite the run so far this week at the RunGood Passport Series Council Bluffs. He first won the PokerNews PowerStack event. Yesterday, he made the final table of the Black Chip Bounty event before ending up in fifth place. He then jumped into the field on Day 1b of the $800 Main Event and picked up right where he left off.
Hinkle bagged up a massive stack of 713,000 as 24 players survived the second starting flight. The WSOP bracelet winner won a big pot when he shoved the river with a flush and got Logan Cate to call off his last 90,000 with a set. Hinkle then spiked the nut straight on the river to bust fellow RGPS ambassador Jeff Copeland, and finally brought the night to a close when he went from worst to first in a three-way all in to bust Javier Terrazas and Jared Grayson on the money bubble.
Day 1b Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dustin Helmuth | United States | 791,000 | 132 |
| 2 | Blair Hinkle | United States | 713,000 | 119 |
| 3 | Mark Homan | United States | 370,000 | 62 |
| 4 | Terry Williams | United States | 322,000 | 54 |
| 5 | Mark Fink | United States | 311,000 | 52 |
| 6 | Jeremy Hendricks | United States | 274,000 | 46 |
| 7 | Todd Hyder | United States | 266,000 | 44 |
| 8 | Taylor Howard | United States | 225,000 | 38 |
| 9 | Vincent Meyer | United States | 224,000 | 37 |
| 10 | Daniel Hamm | United States | 222,000 | 37 |
Hinkle was running away with the chip lead for much of the day, but one hand changed all that. While Hinkle was dominating his table, Dustin Helmuth and Kelly Cortum were involved in a massive pot near the end of the night on another table. Helmuth was all in for 300,000 on the turn with a flush, while Cortum had an overpair and a higher flush draw. “I can’t watch this,” Helmuth said, turning away from the table as the dealer turned over the river. It was a harmless three, and Helmuth doubled up in the biggest pot of the day and jumped over Hinkle atop the leaderboard with 791,000.
Mark Homan (370,000), Terry Williams (322,000), and Mark Fink (311,000) round out the top five, but still far behind the two big stacks. RGPS ambassador Taylor Howard bagged up 225,000, while Day 1a bubble boy Ben McCoy managed to survive today with 162,000.
A total of 198 players came to the Horseshoe Council Bluffs today for Day 1b. Notables who couldn’t make it through the day included Grant Hinkle, two-time RGPS Main Event champion Andre Allen, Brett Slezak, Danielle Renaud, and Nick Barksdale.
The 198 entries brought the total field up to 328 through two starting flights. There is also the Day 1c flight that is ongoing with 116 entries as late registration remains open for another hour. The 40 survivors from the first two flights, as well as those from Day 1c, will combine tomorrow at noon local time to play down to a champion. The action will pick up on the earliest finishing time from one of the flights. Day 1b ended with 11 minutes remaining in Level 14 with blinds of 3,000/6,000 and a 6,000 big blind ante, a few minutes later than Day 1a yesterday.
Stay tuned as PokerNews returns tomorrow to provide live updates from Day 2 down to the crowning of a new RunGood champion.