Shantanu Garg Wins RGPS Tulsa Main Event ($40,555)
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A wild weekend of poker has come to an end at the RunGood Series Tulsa $600 Main Event with a very deserving champion in Shantanu Garg of Springfield, Missouri.
Garg defeated a field of 472 entries to take home the $40,555 first prize, a prestigious RunGood Contenders series ring, and a trip to Las Vegas for the RunGood Pro-Am at the PokerGO studio in December.
Garg won the title after a short heads-up match with runner-up Nikhil Behl, who took home $38,000 for second place after the pair agreed to a deal before heads up play began.
The win is Garg’s first-ever live tournament victory, and in fact is just his second-ever cash following a 29th place finish in the RunGood Main Event in Joplin, Missouri in February 2020 for $1,245.
“It’s awesome. It’s really awesome,” said the champion after his win. Garg also said poker is mostly a hobby for him and that he mainly plays small-stakes cash and rarely plays tournaments.
When asked why he decided to play this event he said simply “because it was close to my home in Springfield, so why not?”
It’s as good a reason as any to take a shot at turning $600 into over $40,000 and Garg did just that.
Final Table Results
| Place | Name | Hometown | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Shantanu Garg | Springfield, MO | $40,555 |
| 2 | Nikhil Behl | Tulsa, OK | $38,000 |
| 3 | Ryan Bevenue | Tulsa, OK | $23,440 |
| 4 | Christopher Livesay | Siloam Springs, AR | $17,451 |
| 5 | Daniel Sleeper | Bentonville, AR | $13,156 |
| 6 | John Millsap | Broken Arrow, OK | $10,014 |
| 7 | Kris Burchfield | Spring, TX | $7,731 |
| 8 | Andrew Kinder | Imperial, MO | $6,038 |
| 9 | Devin Arnone | Bella Vista, AR | $4,786 |
The Day’s Action
With the final 60 players already in the money and 30-minute blinds, it was the perfect recipe for an incredible fast-paced day of action that saw almost half the remaining field fall before the first break two hours in.
Among those eliminated early was the overwhelming chip leader entering the day, Dakotah O’Dell.
While O’Dell entered the day with over 200 big blinds, he was in reverse from ‘shuffle up and deal’ and a table change that put him up against Daniel Lowery in a pair of big hands that saw him exit in 38th place for $1,325.
Lowery was unable to spin O’Dell’s chips to the final table however, falling just shy in 10th place for $4,786.
Other notables to fall short of the final table included Day 1a chip leader Marsha Adams (11th place - $3,829), and Day 1b chip leaders Preston Roberts (25th place - $1,522) and Yahya Aamer (32nd place - $1,522).
RunGood Ambassadors Kris Burchfield and Julie Cornelius managed to spin their short stacks up the payout ladder, with Burchfield making the final table and finishing 7th for $7,731, while Cornelius earned herself 26th place money of $1,522.
The shortest stack in the room to start the day made an incredible run to the final table himself, as the very aptly named Daniel Sleeper gave opponents nightmares all the way up to a fifth-place finish for $13,156.
Garg’s Run Through the Final Table
The pace of play didn’t slow down once the final table was reached either, as Garg quickly eliminated Devin Arnone with a classic cooler to start his ascent to the title.
Once play got down to four-handed play, it was Garg who eliminated Christopher Livesay in fourth place, then Ryan Bevenue in third place, each time with queen-jack and behind, but he got there both times to get to heads-up before he triumphed over Behl.
Next Stop, Council Bluffs!
The RunGood team is now off to Council Bluffs, Iowa for a week of events there starting October 18th before hitting the open seas for their weeklong Royal Caribbean Cruise and tournaments starting on October 29th.
This concludes PokerNews’ coverage from RunGood Tulsa series here at the incredible Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Tulsa.
RGPS Tulsa Side Event Winners
| Date | Tournament | Entries | Prize Pool | Winner | 1st Prize |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tuesday October 11 | $200 Seniors NLH | 163 | $26,080 | Ricky Gebhart | $2,554 |
| Tuesday October 11 | $160 Ambassador Bounty NLH | 198 | $24,750 | Byron Abernathy | $3,615 |
| Thursday October 13 | $250 PokerGO Studio Ticket NLH | 211 | $42,200 | John Reynolds | $9,711 |
| Thursday October 13 | $200 One-Day NLH | 115 | $18,400 | Skyler Roberts | $4,898 |
| Thursday October 13 | $300 Pot-Limit Omaha | 68 | $17,000 | Sam Lee | $5,373 |
Stay tuned to PokerNews for full coverage of the RunGood stop in Council Bluffs next weekend.
