$600 Main Event
Day 2 Completed
$600 Main Event
Day 2 Completed
A wild weekend of poker is in the books 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.
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 |
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 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.
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 triumphing over Behl.
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.
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.
Shantanu Garg raised to 500,000 on the button and was called by Nikhil Behl.
On a flop of , Behl checked to Garg who bet 700,000.
Behl replied with a check-raise all-in for a bit over 4,000,000.
Garg called with a chance to win the tournament.
Nikhil Behl:
Shantanu Garg:
Garg was ahead with his pair of kings, but Behl had a ton of equity with his pair and flush draw.
The on the turn was no help, nor was the on the river to give Garg the win and send Behl home with second-place money.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Nikhil Behl | Busted |
Shantanu Garg has now taken control of the match with a series of small pots including a call down with king-high that won a decent pot when Nikhil Behl pulled the chute on a bluff attempt on the river and Garg's king high, which had flopped a gutshot was good by the end.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Shantanu Garg |
11,400,000
4,200,000
|
4,200,000 |
Nikhil Behl |
2,700,000
-4,200,000
|
-4,200,000 |
The players have agreed to play 15-minute levels for the remainder of heads-up play.
Level: 29
Blinds: 100,000/200,000
Ante: 200,000
In a limped pot, Shantanu Garg checked the flop and Nikhil Behl bet 200,000 which Garg quickly called.
On the turn, Garg again checked and now faced a bet of 600,000. Garg then check-raised to 2,300,000, which was called by Behl.
The river was the and Garg moved all in for his last 1,600,000.
Behl paused briefly then folded, to pass a slight chip lead to his tablemate.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Shantanu Garg |
7,200,000
3,100,000
|
3,100,000 |
Nikhil Behl |
6,900,000
-3,160,000
|
-3,160,000 |
Nikhil Behl has quickly extended his lead heads-up with a series of preflop raises and continuation bets that Shantanu Garg has been unable to defend against.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Nikhil Behl |
10,060,000
2,410,000
|
2,410,000 |
Shantanu Garg |
4,100,000
-2,300,000
|
-2,300,000 |
Level: 28
Blinds: 75,000/150,000
Ante: 150,000
Shantanu Garg and Nikhil Behl have agreed to take $38,000 each and play for the remaining $2,555 in the prizepool, along with the RunGood Contenders Series ring and the seat in the RunGood Pro-Am at the PokerGO studio in Las Vegas.