Morfitt's Million Leads The Way; O'Dell With Eyes On Third Title
The second of three starting days of The RunGood Poker Series $700 Main Event at The Horseshoe Casino in Council Bluffs, Iowa has come to a close with just 30 of the 247 entrants making it through the day. The prize pool has already met the $100,000 guarantee and with the final flight still yet to conclude its registration period, it could still grow rather significantly before the nights’ end.
Bagging the chip lead on the Day and the overall lead is Iowa resident Matt Morfitt who ended his day with 1,083,000. Morfitt’s rise came a little bit later in the day. In a confrontation with larger stack Jack Do (98,000), he made a wheel on the turn while Do turned a set of fours to take a pot worth over 800,000. After that he continued to apply pressure to medium stacks and stacked pot after pot to himself at over 1 million chips. Morfitt’s hendon mob speaks for itself as he possesses over $200,000 in lifetime earnings, with fantastic results on poker tours all around the country.
Morfitt has also received a large amount of success on The RunGood Poker Series tour, with a third place in the Council Bluff’s Main Event in 2017, and a ninth place in 2021. This week alone he has came in second and third in two preliminary events and with a chip lead of over one million, he looks to be one of the most dangerous players in the field.
RGPS Council Bluffs Main Event Top Ten Day 1b Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Count |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Matt Morfitt | 1,083,000 |
| 2 | Dustin Schlickau | 833,000 |
| 3 | Mike Vanier | 761,000 |
| 4 | Dakotah O'Dell | 469,000 |
| 5 | Nick Stille | 417,000 |
| 6 | Logan Harrold | 290,000 |
| 7 | Alex Wheeler | 226,000 |
| 8 | Donald Nimneh | 222,000 |
| 9 | Adam Tolander | 221,000 |
| 10 | David Caron | 215,000 |
Another player with not only success in Council Bluffs but around the country is two-time RGPS Main Event Champion Dakotah O’Dell who ended his day at 469,000. It was just last week when O’Dell was crowned only the fourth two-time main event champion at Downstream Casino in Joplin, Missouri, and his drive up to this spot and chase a third title.
O’Dell ended the registration period with just above starting stack, but as time went on, he amassed the piles of chips he’s known for bagging in these events, knocking out plenty of players along the way to become his table captain and in the top 10 of chips in the tournament. No player in RGPS history has ever been crowned a three-time champion, with Blair Hinkle coming close last week in Joplin. Will the 2022 RGPS Council Bluffs champion and 2023 RGPS Joplin Champion change that tomorrow?
Also making it through the day were Mike Vanier (761,000), Alex Wheeler (226,000), David Caron (215,000), Kevin O’Donnell (197,000), Caitlin Comeskey (149,000) and WSOP 2001 third Place finisher Stan Schrier (134,000). Each one of them is looking to carve their own piece in RGPS history.
Not all found fortunes this day, as many notables fell throughout the day including Taylor Howard, Heather Alcorn, Duster Ellis, Mo Nuwwarah, Mark Fink and Ashley “PokerFaceAsh” Frank. With registration still open on Day 1c, these players and more will likely fire one more time in the hopes of advancing to Day 2.
Play ended with 8:31 left on the clock in Level 15. The blinds in this level are 5,000/10,000 with a 10,000 big blind ante. The tournament will return on Sunday at noon, with players returning at this level unless the following flight ends earlier than this.
At this time, PokerNews will be taking a break. Updates will resume around 11:30 pm local time. Be sure to check back in then for all updates regarding The RunGood Poker Series Checkpoint.