Brandau Soars Into Day 2 of RGPS Joplin Main Event
Two flights of the $600 Run Good Poker Series No-Limit Hold’em Main Event at Downstream Casino in Joplin, Missouri were played today which saw 306 entrants in Day 1B and 253 entrants in Day 1C, which saw a massive 559 entrants play on Saturday the 21st.
The final number of players totals out to 794, smashing the guarantee and creating a prize pool worth $412,880.
Scott Brandau dominated the final flight of the day to end with a monster chip stack of 937,000, the only player throughout the whole tournament to bag over 700,000. Brandau began to knock out many players towards the end of the night including bracelet winner Grant Hinkle. He now comes into the largest stack in the biggest poker tournament ever run on the property of Downstream Casino.
Day 2 Chip Counts
| Place | Name | Chip Counts |
| 1 | Scott Brandau | 937,000 |
| 2 | Jason White | 698,500 |
| 3 | Michael Lech | 593,000 |
| 4 | Joseph Dodson | 589,000 |
| 5 | Jesse Jones | 583,000 |
| 6 | Dustin Hill | 551,500 |
| 7 | Stacy Bush | 509,000 |
| 8 | Derrick Young | 498,500 |
| 9 | Chris Fraley | 488,500 |
| 10 | James Wells | 469,500 |
Behind Brandau is Jason White who bagged the lead of Day 1b with a stack of 698,500. The chip leader of Day 1a was Jesse Jones who bagged 583,000 which also cracked the top five. Other players that found their way to bags also included WSOP Bracelet Winners Michael Lech (593,000) Mike Cordell (373,000) and Travis Baker (220,500), Ross Bybee(461,000), Mary Bybee (105,500), Papa Karn (104,000) and Matt Riffel (26,500).
Some players who were not on fate’s side today included Rob “Boston Rob” Mariano, Duster Ellis, Grant Hinkle, and Michael Sanders. Kerry Hildebrand and Jared Ward bubbled the flights of today and were last players of their flights to miss out on making Day 2.
The final 97 players will return on Sunday, May 22nd at 11 a.m. with 15:34 left on Level 14 with blinds at 3,000/6,000 with a 6,000 big blind ante. After the level is completed, the tournament will alter the blinds from 30-minute levels to 40-minute levels. The players will play down to a winner and the winner will not only take home the title, but at seat at the RGPS Pro/Am that will occur in Las Vegas, Nevada at the end of the year. Stay tuned to PokerNews for all of the updates.