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Sergio Giha Turns Last-Minute Decision Into a Championship Ring at the RGPS Pompano Beach Main Event
Sergio Giha wasn’t even planning to play the RunGood Passport Season Pompano Beach $1,110 Main Event.
He was at another casino on Friday night playing a cash game when told about the event, the first-ever RunGood festival to be held at Harrah’s Pompano Beach. He made a last-minute decision to come yesterday, and it paid off as, two days later, Giha emerged atop the 195-player field as the inaugural RGPS Pompano Beach champion.
“I was playing cash on Friday and a good friend of mine told me, ‘Why are you not at Harrah’s playing the Main?’ And I’m like, oh, I didn’t know that it was running. Luckily, I came here Saturday. There was still another day to be able to play, and I was able to have two really good days,” Giha said after taking down the championship ring and $59,657 top prize.
RGPS Pompano Beach Final Table results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sergio Giha | United States | $59,657 |
| 2 | Art Peacock | United States | $39,770 |
| 3 | Niall Costigan | United States | $29,104 |
| 4 | Ory Hen | United States | $21,586 |
| 5 | Ian Cohen | United States | $16,230 |
| 6 | Corey Paggeot | United States | $12,372 |
| 7 | Fred Bunchan | United States | $9,564 |
| 8 | Will Underdown | United States | $7,499 |
| 9 | Rinat Dinmukhametov | United States | $5,965 |
“It’s amazing. I love playing poker, and anytime you can get some positive reinforcement for all the hard work and all the fun, then it’s great.”
The Miami native’s Day 2 nearly came to an early end. On the first hand of the day, he was all in with ace-nine but at risk against Craig Welko’s jacks. A lucky ace fell on the flop, and Giha never looked back from there. He made quick work of WPT champion Art Peacock in a short heads-up match, capping off a dream day on the felt.
“The day was just very smooth. I got lucky the first hand, a very nice play by the button and I got trapped, and I hit my 30 percent. Then everything just rolled from there. It was very easy for me,” he said.
Giha had more than $550,000 in live earnings, according to The Hendon Mob, prior to this event, despite really only focusing on tournaments within the past year. His resume included five WPT Main Event cashes and two deep runs at last year’s WSOP. He had been playing poker for 20 years, starting out by using his mom’s online account when he was just a teenager. But nothing on his record matches his win here today.
“I’ve been playing a lot more tournaments the last year or so, and this is kind of my first all-out win. I chopped a few tournaments. So winning outright is very nice, and I love it," he said.
Day 2 Action
The remaining 23 players returned to the Harrah’s Pompano Beach poker room at noon local time, having already secured a piece of the $250,000 prize pool. Giha began near the bottom of the counts with 253,000, but on the first hand he shoved from the small blind and Welko called on the button. Giha showed ace-nine and was behind Welko’s jacks until an ace fell on the flop to give him the pot and the double up.
Charles Mitchell (22nd) and Charlemagne Benjamin (20th) were among the first bustouts. Steven Buckner flopped trip nines to bust Kevin Hammer in 19th place, and the cigar-totting, loquacious “Cuz” took the chip lead with 800,000 going to the final two tables.
It didn’t last for long. Anthony Merrill opened to 40,000 under the gun and Buckner three-bet to 130,000 in the hijack. Giha four-bet to 275,000 on the button and Merrill called all in for 140,000. Buckner also called to see a jack-high flop, where Giha got in his last 569,000. Merrill and Buckner had both flopped top pair, but Giha had the lead with two aces. He held on to win the massive pot and soar into the chip lead, taking out Merrill in 16th while leaving Buckner with one big blind.
On the next hand, Welko was all in for 260,000 with two eights and up against Giha’s king-jack. Welko flopped top set, but Giha turned a flush to win yet another pot and bust Welko in 15th. It wasn’t all bad news for Welko, though, who locked up the RunGood Player of the Year title with his run in the Main Event.
Buckner eventually fell in 13th, a solid result considering his playing the event came about almost by accident. Buckner only came to Harrah’s Pompano Beach yesterday to charge his electric car in the parking lot. While waiting for the battery to power up, he happened to wander into the poker room and saw some familiar faces playing the tournament off in the corner. He decided to stay and jump in, turning that last-minute decision into a nearly $4,000 payday.
Start-of-day chip leader Ory Hen hit top set in a classic queens to ace-king coin flip to bust Tom Macey in 12th place, while Aaron Schwartz and Ardit Kurshumi were eliminated at the same time on separate tables to bring the field down to the nine-handed final table.
Giha led with 2,300,000 at the start of the final table, with Hen (1,400,000) and Peacock (1,100,000) joining him into the million-chip club. On the first hand, Ian Cohen won a flip against Corey Paggeot with sixes against ace-queen to double up.
The theme at the start of the final table was the worst hand coming from behind to win, and it started when Rinat Dinmukhametov spiked a pair of aces on the river to survive against Cohen’s turned pair of kings. Will Underdown earned two lucky double ups, first finding an ace against Giha’s pocket tens and then cracking Hen’s aces with pocket jacks after hitting a straight on the river. Dinmukhametov also cracked aces by hitting two pair with kings and eights, and Paggeot came from behind to double off Hen with two pair.
Dinmukhametov made the mistake of getting his money in good with ace-queen against Fred Bunchan’s ace-seven, and Bunchan hit a seven on the flop to win the pot and send Dinmukhametov to the rail in ninth place. Giha then took a big hit when he ran two kings into aces as Cohen doubled up again.
Underdown called Niall Costigan’s bet of 300,000 on the river of a king-high board with king-ten, while Costigan had him out-kicked with king-jack to win the pot and leave Underdown with just 150,000. He managed to double up once, but then ran ace-queen into Hen’s kings to fall in eighth.
Paggeot and Cohen exchanged double ups, Paggeott first winning a race with nines against Cohen’s ace-king. Cohen was then all in for 365,000 with king-seven and up against Paggeot’s ace-queen. Paggeot hit top pair on the flop, but Cohen caught a running straight to win the pot and take back his chips.
Bunchan’s ace-deuce couldn’t connect against Giha’s fours as he fell in seventh, while Paggeot was all in for 215,000 with ace-jack but Peacock had ace-king to send Paggeot to the rail in sixth. Costigan then three-bet to 150,000 in the small blind and Cohen called on the button. Costigan continued for 120,000 on the nine-high flop, and Cohen moved all in for 700,000. Costigan interrupted his massage to jump out of his seat and tank for a few minutes before calling with two kings. Cohen had a straight draw, but he couldn’t connect and was eliminated in fifth place.
Giha bet 500,000 on the river with two pair to win a big pot off Peacock and climb over 3,000,000. Peacock, though, pulled even after Giha bet 400,000 on the river and Peacock snap-called with a pair of tens. Giha could only show queen-high for a bluff.
Hen called off his last 700,000 with ace-deuce but didn’t catch up to Costigan’s eights to fall in fourth place. The three players were virtually even at the start of three-handed play, but Giha changed that quickly when he called for 2,140,000 after Costigain four-bet shoved. Costigan showed two fives, while Giha had him dominated with jacks and held on to double into a massive chip lead.
Costigan was left with just 700,000 but had managed to climb back up to 1,800,000 when he shoved from the big blind. Peacock called with ace-six and was racing against Costigan’s fours. Costigan was ahead and poised for the double up through the turn until Peacock spiked a six on the river to win the pot and bust Costigan in third place.
Peacock led 4,600,000 to Giha’s 3,200,000 at the start of heads-up, and with both players having more than 60 big blinds, a long heads-up match awaited them. Or so it seemed, for on the second hand of heads-up, a limped pot erupted into fireworks on the flop when Giha got in his 2,905,000 with two pair. Peacock had a straight draw, but Giha held on to double into an overwhelming chip lead.
In another limped pot a few hands later, Peacock flopped two pair and moved all in for 1,200,000. Giha, though, snap-called with a flush to secure the championship ring.
It was Giha’s first experience playing a RunGood event, but he promises to be back the next time the tour returns to South Florida. “I loved it. I only got to play this tournament, but it was so well run. The structure was amazing. The staff, everybody was incredible. So very happy to be here. I’ll be back for the next one, 100 percent,” he said.
That concludes PokerNews' coverage of the RGPS Pompano Beach Main Event as the 2025/26 tour season came to an end.