Tanner Schneeweis Leads Big Day 1a Field to Open $600 RGPS San Diego Main Event
The weather was cool outside at Jamul Casino Resort, but action inside stayed heated all day at the RunGood Poker Series Passport Season San Diego. The opening flight of the $600 Main Event saw a total of 125 entries, with the top 15 players earning a spot in the money and a bag for Day 2.
The impressive entry list for the first flight of the weekend saw the event well on track to hit the $150,000 guaranteed prize pool, with two more starting days still ahead.
Leading the way through Day 1a is Tanner Schneeweis, who ran away from other big stacks in the room after finding a big double on the second-last level of the night.
The California native has seen most of his recorded results in Florida, but will look to add a hometown score to his poker resume this weekend with his stack of 597,000 chips.
Day 1a Top 10 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tanner Schneeweis | United States | 597,000 | 75 |
| 2 | Mike Zion | United States | 400,000 | 50 |
| 3 | William Wolf | United States | 330,000 | 41 |
| 4 | Kristopher Ferrara | United States | 301,000 | 38 |
| 5 | Jose Araya | United States | 295,000 | 37 |
| 6 | Di Wu | China | 280,000 | 35 |
| 7 | Jian Gutierrez | United States | 246,000 | 31 |
| 8 | Alan Jimenez | United States | 219,000 | 27 |
| 9 | Randy Sadler | United States | 218,000 | 27 |
| 10 | Daniel Sanchez | United States | 164,000 | 21 |
Among the other big stacks at the end of the opening flight is Mike Zion (400,000), who scored the final knockout of the night to send Aaron Saltzman to the rail on the money bubble.
Rounding out the top five are William Wolf (330,000), Kristopher Ferrara (301,000), and Jose Araya (295,000).
Notables Names
Two-time defending RGPS San Diego champion Maksim Tatarintsev took his shot in the opening flight, but came up short just after the end of late registration. Tatarintsev indicated his intentions to return for Day 1b, as he looks to remain hot this week at Jamul.
The opening day also saw a quartet of RGPS Ambassadors in action, with only Randy Sadler finding a bag for Day 2 with 218,000.
Corey Paggeot, Kyna England and Daniel Hughes were not as fortunate, and will need to find some momentum on Saturday in order to make the money and contend for the RGPS Main Event ring.
The second flight will kick off Saturday, February 21 at 11 a.m. local time, where a new group of hopefuls will take their seat with fresh stacks of 30,000 chips.
Day 1b will once again begin with 30-minute levels, and late registration remaining open until the start of Level 9.
That flight will be followed by Day 1c, the final shot to earn a spot in Sunday’s finale at 6 p.m. local time.
$600 Main Event Remaining Schedule
| Date | Day | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Feb. 21 | 1b | 11:00 a.m. |
| Feb. 21 | 1c | 6:00 p.m. |
| Feb. 22 | 2 | 12:00 p.m. |
Be sure to stick with PokerNews, as our live reporting coverage will continue until a champion is crowned at Jamul Casino Resort.