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Lodge Local Bohuai Jiang Claims First Tournament Win in RGPS Summer Series
When Bohuai Jiang moved to Austin, Texas less than six years ago, he found The Lodge Card Club as a place where he could learn poker and compete in his new home.
Jiang did not have many tournaments on his resume prior to registering the RunGood Summer Series $600 Main Event this week, but bagged up a stack on the final flight to earn a spot in the money. The native of China was one of 71 returning players as Day 2 began, and it took almost 12 hours for Jiang to collect all of the chips and take down his first poker tournament title.
"I don't have much tournament experience," Jiang told PokerNews following his victory. "I have been playing cash for a few years and I'm pretty new. It feels very good, it gives me more confidence. I feel like I need to learn more, and hopefully can play more poker tournaments."
Jiang started playing cash games in 2023 at The Lodge, making it his home club and earning the nickname Ginger as a direct translation of his last name. After running hot at the final table, he defeated Benjamin Anderson in a short heads-up battle to claim a career-best score of $55,416.
The first-ever RGPS Summer Series attracted 582 entries for the Main Event, cruising past the guarantee to post a prize pool of $292,746.
2026 RGPS Summer Series $600 Main Event Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bohuai Jiang | China | $55,416 |
| 2 | Benjamin Anderson | United States | $38,843 |
| 3 | Jeffrey Nowling | United States | $24,974 |
| 4 | Jared Wolfe | United States | $17,772 |
| 5 | Cameron Mixson | United States | $13,642 |
| 6 | Francis Deesing | United States | $11,213 |
| 7 | Matthew McDowell | United States | $9,256 |
| 8 | John Jacob | United States | $7,380 |
| 9 | Matthew Bray | United States | $5,537 |
Navigating Day 2
Action was fast and furious for those returning on Day 2, and Jiang began the day in the bottom third of the leaderboard before earning ladder after ladder as eliminations occurred around the poker room.
It took just over three hours to trim the field down to the last three tables, and another two hours to reach the final nine. Jiang stayed out of trouble to gradually climb the leaderboard, and explained that his aim earlier in the day was to be patient around players with shorter stacks.
"I was waiting for them to bust, playing passively. Yeah, it went pretty well."
Once the final table was determined, a special RunGood bonus was in store for the remaining contenders. Players took part in a PLO high hand flip to secure a $2,000 RunGood in Aruba travel package for another inaugural RGPS stop coming in September. Jiang did not even know he had won, but was thrilled to take the flip and felt it may have foreshadowed his fortunes for the next few hours.
"I don't know much about PLO, so I didn't even realize I had straight and I had nuts. So the dealer had to tell me that. At that point I felt like I was lucky today, and yeah, it gave me some kind of hint."
Game-Changing Moment
The biggest moment of the day came during four-handed play, as Jiang four-bet his stack and held with pocket jacks to take a commanding chip lead. Jiang pointed to that hand as the spot where he allowed himself to think about the trophy.
"When I had jacks over tens, I was thinking about winning," Jiang said after recalling the big double. From there, he adjusted his play and used those chips to open a larger lead.
"Yeah, my strategy definitely changed. I think I had half of the chips, and I remember I opened like in like five or six times in a row."
Jiang won all of those pots, culminating in the elimination of Jared Wolfe in fourth place. Jeffrey Nowling was sent out in third shortly after, leaving Jiang with two-thirds of the chips entering heads-up play.
Anderson battled back to event the stacks, but Jiang quickly increased his lead once again. After using pocket jacks to take control of the final table earlier, Jiang defeated that same hand to send Anderson out in the runner-up position.
"Need some luck to win, yeah."
When asked if he was glad that his home club reopened just in time for the first RunGood Summer Series, Jiang was all smiles.
"Yeah, definitely."
That concludes our coverage of the RGPS Summer Series at The Lodge. RunGood heads to California next month for the Passport season-ending series, and you can find more PokerNews live reporting for events around the poker world.