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Ronnie Day Turns a Max Late Reg into $180,854 at The Reserve Club Fifth Anniversary
What started eleven days ago as just one of the many starting flights has come to a close today. The $620 Million Dollar Guarantee, a celebration of five years of The Reserve Club in Toledo, Ohio, has come to a close today. Just nine players returned to play at 4:00 p.m. and after ten levels of play, just one player remained.
It was a swingy day for WSOP bracelet winner Ronnie Day, who at one point was down to just six blinds with six players remaining. The Ohio poker player spun it back up and turned his short stack into the last one standing, taking home his first title at The Reserve Club as well as $180,854.
“I bagged the Friday flight last week. I found a max late reg and spun it up,” Day said as far as how his tournament began. He came into Day 2 holding 765,000 chips and managed to make it deep into the day before losing a sizable pot to Dustin Bowling to leave himself short with two tables left.
“It’s all about timing,” Day said as far as keeping his head up. “Just never really panic, play your big blinds, whatever that is no matter how short it is and hope for the best. It’s pretty simple.”
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ronnie Day | United States | $180,854 |
| 2 | Danny Moreland | United States | $114,317 |
| 3 | William Givens | United States | $68,777 |
| 4 | Jordan Mcknight | United States | $51,139 |
| 5 | Spencer Wright | United States | $38,634 |
| 6 | Joshua Lambert | United States | $30,609 |
| 7 | Lorenzo Morales | United States | $24,077 |
| 8 | Courtney Kennedy | United States | $19,411 |
| 9 | Dustin Bowling | United States | $15,211 |
Day’s first tournament cash came back in 2018 when he came in 425th place in the WSOP Main Event for $29,625.
“That was my first tournament actually. That’s what got me hooked. Start the sun run in the beginning, then you battle from that point on.”
This six-figure score is Day’s second of his career, sitting just behind his WSOP bracelet win in 2023. At the moment, Day says he doesn’t have any super big plans for the money.
Unlike most of the tournaments that Day plays, this one had the small blind ante where the size of the ante was equivalent of the small blind, still being paid by the big blind.
“Personally I’m not a fan of it, because you should defend your big blind less and steal the big blind less. There’s less incentive to do so. But, later in the tournament at the final table when the blinds are getting higher, I enjoyed it.”
“It probably kept me alive in there after how short I got with the kings versus the king jack. If it was a full big blind ante maybe I don’t survive with the six big blinds. I adjusted in my head about five big blinds as a rule, then went from there. I’d think ‘Ok I got six bigs? I probably have eleven bigs’ That’s just my own system.”
When it comes to tournament preparation, Day has a particular habit that he mentioned.
“Sometimes I’ll get stuck on a song on YouTube and if things are going well I will get up and play that song everyday. Lately it’s been The Cranberries. So I get up, listen to The Cranberries everyday, and I don’t change things.”
A rail of many friends came to support Day in his tournament endeavors today, with Day remarking how fortunate he is to have the support he has.
“I can’t explain it. This is going to sound arrogant, but ever since I started doing tournaments people love me. I don’t know why and I don’t know how it happened, but everyone is very supportive of me and it never feels like a jealousy or envy thing. Me and Will(Givens) played in the Prime together in December and we spent a whole day battling each other, then I saw him again here and we are buddies now.”
With his score here today, Day now holds over seven-figures in lifetime earnings as he creeps higher up the Ohio all-time money list. His next poker plans for the next chunk of time are FireKeepers in May, then it’s off to Las Vegas for the WSOP.
Final Table Action
A double up with pocket kings for William Givens against Joshua Lambert saw Givens sit with the chip lead at the final table, where he would soon come to blows with Dustin Bowling. Both players sat with some of the bigger stacks at the table, and Givens held seven-six suited in the small blind while Bowling held ace-queen with the queen of hearts. Givens had made his flush on the turn, with Bowling drawing to a royal and better flush. All of the chips went into the middle for over a third of the remaining chips in play. A three of spades river changed nothing to see Givens take down a huge pot while the start of day chip leader found himself eliminated in ninth place for $15,211.
WSOP bracelet winner Courtney Kennedy could not find any momentum at the final table and found her run ending just minutes after Bowling. Givens would open ace-queen and find himself racing against Kennedy’s pocket jacks. An ace-high board would render the jacks second best and Givens would rake in another massive pot while Kennedy collected $19,411 for her eighth place finish.
After losing an early all in confrontation to Jordan McKnight, Lorenzo Morales found himself floating around the bottom of the counts for the remainder of his duration at the final table. Despite finding one double against Danny Moreland, he found himself short at the final table once more. His all in confrontation against Givens saw him get in nine-eight suited against Givens’ aces. No backdoor help came home for Morales and he was eliminated from the tournament in seventh for $24,077.
Despite taking a massive pot off of Givens to bring him up to second place in chips, next to go would be Lambert in sixth place. He would play a blind on blind confrontation holding six-four suited against Givens’ queen-five suited, with the flop rolling out queen-high. The turn brought Lambert an open-ended straight draw while bringing two pair to Givens and both players got their chips into the middle for another pot with a third of the chips in play. Nothing changed on the river and Givens continued his ascent while Lambert collected $30,609.
Spencer Wright had made this tournament’s final table last year and now adds a score worth $38,634 to his back to back runs at The Reserve Club. He managed to find himself in a kicker issue with Ronnie Day as he moved in his final chips holding king-nine, only to find himself up against Day’s king-ten. A ten on the board would lock things up for Day to take down the pot and Wright would finish the tournament in fifth place.
Fourth place would end up going to Jordan McKnight as he would get in his last chips holding king-eight against Givens’ jack-nine. A Jack on the turn would lock things up for Givens to add more to his chip lead while McKnight would collect a career best $51,139 for his efforts.
Turbulent waters would manifest in front of Givens as his big stack was shortened after he doubled up both Day and Moreland in the three-handed battle. The three podium finishers began to level the playing field with themselves, with each one within striking distance of the others. Givens would lose many all-ins and see himself fall down to the bottom of the counts while Moreland sat in second and Day held the chip lead.
Givens would be unable to claw back as he found himself all in holding queen-nine up against Ronnie Day’s ace-six. An ace-high board would render the queen-high second best to see Day take a sizable lead at the beginning of the heads up match while the WSOP bracelet winner finished in third place for $68,777.
Day would begin the heads up match with the lead, but Moreland would see the gap close to 1.5:1 between the two of them. However, many of Day’s plays would push him further ahead and Moreland found himself with just 10 big blinds. He eventually called off his final chips holding king-seven, up against Day’s queen-six. A river heart brought the flush to eliminate Moreland, who collected a career best score of $114,317 and he shook hands with Day. Moreland collected his biggest ever lifetime score with this cash.
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