RunGood Pro Jonathan Gaviao Surges Late To Bag Lead
Jonathan Gaviao spent Day 1a of the 2015 RunGood Poker Series Hard Rock Tulsa Main Event grinding a short stack. During Level 11 (1,000/2,000/300), he had 30,200, but 50 minutes later he put 192,500 in the bag to lead the 21 survivors from the 94 players who entered.
Gaviao, a sponsored RunGood Pro, is seeking his second main event cash on the tour after getting fifth here in April for $10,601. He has more than $530,000 in total live cashes and a World Series of Poker Circuit gold ring.
Gaviao had worked his stack up a bit when he opened from the cutoff seat during the night's final blind level of 1,200/2,400/400. Both blinds called, bringing a 
flop. Gaviao bet after they checked, and the small blind shoved all in. Gaviao called off his 52,800 with the 
and his top two held against the 
.
His rush continued shortly after that against the same opponent when Gaviao opened on the button for 5,000 and saw the player ship all in from the big blind for his last 80,000. Gaviao called with the 
and the big blind had 
and found no improvement with his dominated holding.
Others who bagged after the 12 levels of Day 1a were Curtis Edens (177,000), Robert Barker (165,000), Jason Kinder (162,000), AP Phahurat (123,000), and Gaviao's fellow RunGood Pros Ray Henson (107,000) and Clint Tolbert (48,500). Tolbert got eighth here last fall for $7,855, and both he and Henson are coming off cashes in the WinStar River Poker Series Main Event that was recently held.
Some of the players who took shots on Day 1a and didn't bag included Justin Gardenhire, Greg Jennings, Rodney Spriggs, Ben Reason, Mike Tang, and Will Berry.
Two more Day 1 flights remain, both to be played Saturday, one at noon and one at 7 p.m. PokerNews will again be handling live reporting duties, so be sure to check in as the tournament continues.