Blake Vincent Wins 2016 Run It Up Reno Main Event for $46,410
Blake Vincent came in with nearly half of the chips in play at the final table of the 2016 Run It Up Reno $565 Main Event, so anything less than first place would have undoubtedly been a disappointment. There were a few moments where things looked a bit grim for him, but he pulled through and took down the 391-entry event for $46,410.
When the final day began, though, all eyes were on Jason Somerville, Run It Up patriarch and tournament host. He came into the day with just over seven big blinds, but he got moving immediately, busting Eric Shiarla in eighth place when Shiarla shipped on the button with the 
and Somerville picked up the 
in the big blind. He hit two pair to bust Shiarla.
Many of Somerville's hard-won chips went to Vincent though, as Somerville made a nine-high straight when Vincent rivered the nut straight, and Somerville paid off a sizable river raise. The board had ran out 
, and Somerville mucked the 
face-up after Vincent showed him the 
.
Gary Kochalka was next to fall, though he ran it back up after being down to just over one ante. He got the last of it in with the 
and failed to improve against the fives of Loren Cloninger. Brian Ebert came in with the second-biggest stack by far, but was simply unable to get anything going and he ended up going down in sixth shortly thereafter.
It looked like Somerville's run was at an end when he got sixes in and found himself at risk against Jeff Newman, who woke up with kings behind him, but a six on the flop kept Somerville in it. Newman was left short and busted in fifth.
Vincent was the victim of a horrible bad beat when Jordan Spurlin jammed his last 7.5 big blinds with the 
and managed to hit trip nines against Vincent's 
. Vincent hit his low point as he was down to 13 big blinds, but he followed that up with a big double against Somerville on a 
flop. Somerville had raised Vincent's limp with the 
but Vincent had the for trips.
Somerville was left short and jammed blind versus blind with the 
, getting a call from Spurlin's 
. The board ran out 
, and Somerville took his leave to applause from the crowd.
Cloninger opened on the button three-handed with kings, and Spurlin shoved with a pair of fours in the hole. Cloninger flopped a king to effectively end things early, and heads-up play commenced with Vincent narrowly in the lead.
The match ended up being a one-sided affair, as Cloninger was unable to mount much resistance. Vincent ended things in Level 30 (60,000/120,000/15,000) when Cloninger limped and Vincent raised to 320,000. Cloninger called and the flopped. Vincent bet 350,000, and Cloninger shoved for about 1.4 million more. Vincent called with the , and Cloninger had the 
.
The king-nine that caused Vincent anguish earlier was his ticket to victory this time, as he banged off a on the turn to seal the win.