button in SafariJustin Arnwine Does It Again in the RGPS Maryland Main Event
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Death, taxes, and Justin Arnwine winning a poker tournament. Those are the three big certainties in life.
Arnwine, less than a year after winning the inaugural RunGood Poker Series stop here at MGM National Harbor, again prevailed today over a field of 329 entries to claim his second RGPS championship ring and take down the Golden Expedition Maryland $1,300 Main Event for $78,501.
“It actually feels great. I rarely let myself enjoy the win, but I told myself if I won this one, again, straight up, no chop, again, then I was going to let myself enjoy the moment, and it feels good,” Arnwine said after dominating Maclaren Chatham in a short heads-up match.
RGPS Maryland Main Event Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Justin Arnwine | United States | $78,501 |
| 2 | Maclaren Chatham | United States | $50,212 |
| 3 | Jimmy Chen | United States | $38,481 |
| 4 | Nathan Farlow | United States | $28,637 |
| 5 | Casey Hatmaker | United States | $21,568 |
| 6 | Michael Stroman | United States | $16,443 |
| 7 | Valentin Lita | United States | $12,691 |
| 8 | Mark Wahba | United States | $9,917 |
| 9 | Boris Kravets | United States | $7,849 |
Arnwine Set a New Goal For Himself This Year
Arnwine was already regarded as the unofficial record holder for most career tournaments won, with well over 150. But he’s outdone himself over the last few months. He won a ring at the last RGPS stop here in Maryland in April, then took down a Mystery Bounty at the ARIA in June. He won a WSOP Circuit event in July, and another tournament at the Venetian as he continued to add to his vast collection of trophies. Just a few weeks ago, he took first place after a three-way chop in the Maryland State Poker Championship.
With a new baby at home, Arnwine dedicated himself to a singular goal this year. He wants to be the Mid-Stakes Player of the Year, and he’s well on his way to accomplishing it. “I had won so many tournaments before people knew who I was, but then I felt kind of disrespected that people were like, they’re just dailies. And my wife was always encouraging me to travel. She was like, you got to travel. I knew that in order to win the multi-day tournaments, I was going to have to kind of get out of my comfort zone and play in other places,” he said.
“And so this was the year, especially since my daughter’s still a newborn, I was like, okay, this is the year that I’m just gonna go all out and try to win the Mid-Stakes Player of the Year. So we won two rings here. Then I won Aria. Then I won Venetian. Then I won the Monster Stack circuit at Horseshoe. Then I won Borgata, and now I won this. So when all the Borgata stuff updates with this, I’ll be the number one Mid-Stakes Player of the Year.”
When he won this tournament last year over a field of 251 players, he held up a sign that read “1 Buy-In Haters.” He wasn’t quite able to claim that this time, instead going through eight buy-ins on Day 1, but he’s learned the best way to win a poker tournament is to go all out and play with a fearless mentality. It worked for him today.
“It definitely helped today. There were multiple times when I had the chip lead, then I lost the chip lead, and Mac was like kind of running the table. And I just was willing to keep myself in it because I was willing to lose earlier than ICM dictated I should have been putting myself at risk. But I just decided, no, I want to win, and in order to win, I’m gonna have to be willing to go out earlier than, quote, unquote, I’m supposed to,” he said.
Raymer, Rigby Fall Early on Day 2
Arnwine came into the day as the chip leader over the final 43 players and the only player above the million-chip milestone. Greg Raymer (40th), Nicholas Rigby (36th), John Major (30th), Day 1c chip leader Ivan Tomic (29th), defending champion Arash Asadabadi (28th), and Kash Corpening (17th) were among the first bustouts. Russ Dunlevy, runner-up to Arnwine last year, fell victim to him again this year to fall in 16th.
Nathan Farlow went on a tear near the final table bubble, spiking a flush on the river to bust Ari Katz in 14th, and then turning a straight against Christopher Caruso. “My man, you’re catching some cards,” George Karmires told him, and Karmires would soon find that out himself after Farlow spiked a straight on the river to send him out in 12th. Jimmy Chen set the final table when his full house took out Nathan Bomey in 10th.
Final Table Action
Arnwine was still the big chip leader at the start of the final table with 4,900,000, more than double Chen and Farlow. Boris Kravets began with less than two big blinds and busted on the first hand, while Farlow’s good fortune would continue when he was on the right side of a set-over-set cooler against Mark Wahba. He also hit two pair to bust Valentin Lita in seventh.
Michael Stroman and Chen played a classic flip, with Chen spiking top pair of aces on the flop against Stroman’s two queens to earn the knockout. Casey Hatmaker then got in his short stack with a pair of fives, but Arnwine had top pair of aces to bust Hatmaker in fifth.
Farlow cooled down significantly from his spectacular heights and had whittled down to less than 1,000,000 when he shoved with jack-four, only for Chen to wake up with ace-king. Chen hit two pair on the turn, and Farlow was sent to the rail in fourth. Chatham, meanwhile, had taken over the chip lead from Arnwine when he got paid on the river holding trip tens.
Chatham continued his ascent and moved up past 10,000,000, while Arnwine was down to just over 2,000,000 before turning a straight to double up off Chatham’s two pair. Arnwine then shoved from the button with two deuces, and Chen called for 2,500,000 with ace-nine. Chen flopped trips and was poised for the double up to take a big portion of Arnwine’s stack, but Arnwine spiked another deuce on the turn to make a full house and bust Chen in third place.
Chatham led 10,000,000 to 6,400,000 at the start of heads-up, but the match went entirely Arnwine’s way. He took back the chip lead early when he called Chatham’s 1,000,000 bet on the river with two pair. He then snap-called for 1,700,000 on the river with a pair of aces, and Chatham could only show a missed straight draw. An unfortunate misclick left Chatham with only 1,100,000, and he got in his last chips holding ace-seven against Arnwine’s two eights. Arnwine’s pair held on, and the title was his yet again.
Arnwine's Prep For Another Title Began at Home
It was a long, grueling day here at the MGM National Harbor. The final table itself took more than six hours as the clock went past midnight. Arnwine was fully prepared to handle the grind. “I literally forced myself to get eight hours of sleep just in case this happened. My wife helped a lot, too. She made sure that the baby was asleep, and the whole house was quiet so that I could get the full eight hours. Then I woke up, and I ate breakfast, and I got here on time, and I was just prepared to go the distance,” he said.
Life off the felt is a little different for Arnwine these days. He and his wife, Caityn, have a seven-month-old daughter at home, forcing Arnwine to balance his poker career with the responsibilities of fatherhood. He prepared for it, writing up a playbook so that he was ready for the challenges ahead. “It’s funny. My wife is actually loading up the book now. It’s not available, but it will be by the end of the year. i wrote a whole book, like, three weeks before she was born, about how we were gonna go about parenting her. Just so that I wouldn’t have to be lost. And her and I, we like work together to make sure that we follow the path to try to make sure our daughter has an extraordinary life,” he said.
