Snowden Surges Late; Unkel and Liu Bag Big in Day 1c In The RGPS $600 Main Event
The biggest flight of The RunGood Poker Series Checkpoint $600 Main Event at Downstream Resort and Casino in Joplin, Missouri saw a total of 241 players put their hat in the ring to secure a bag to Day 2. After 16 levels of play, it was just 30 players who moved on to Day 2 from this flight, set to return tomorrow at noon.
Daniel Snowden acquired the chip lead at the end of the day when his jacks held up against his opponent’s pocket tens on a six-high board. Snowden’s poker results date back to 2007, and his cashes have tallied up to over $500,000 in lifetime earnings. A RGPS title would be a welcome addition to his already distilled resume.
Top Ten Day 1c Chip Counts
| Place | Player | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Daniel Snowden | 732,000 |
| 2 | Zhuo Liu | 573,000 |
| 3 | Kevin Unkel | 559,000 |
| 4 | Jalen Heald | 511,000 |
| 5 | Hunter Barnett | 389,000 |
| 6 | Shantanu Garg | 385,000 |
| 7 | David Burke | 334,000 |
| 8 | Roger Bennett | 330,000 |
| 9 | Beau Wilshire | 311,000 |
| 10 | Jared Schooneover | 256,000 |
Also bagging a big stack was Zhuo Liu who ended his day with 576,000. Liu maintained a larger stack throughout the vast majority of the day. This marks Liu’s first RGPS cash and he has a chance to secure his biggest lifetime cash with a deep run here tomorrow.
Kevin Unkel also rose up the counts after bagging 559,000. Unkel is no stranger to RGPS deep runs, after finishing on the outskirts of the RGPS Tulsa final table this year in 14th, as well as last year’s iteration of this event in 12th. He looks to better those finishes tomorrow at noon when all of the players from all of the flights return to play.
Youtuber and RunGood regular Ashley “PokerFaceAsh” Frank (108,000) also found a bag. A river ace had brought her down to nine big blinds earlier in the day, but she managed to gather some chips despite the setback to add to her growing RGPS resume.
Not all were as fortunate on this day, as RGPS regulars like Joey Gargiulo, Daniel Lowery, Brian Frenzel, Preston McEwen, Ross Bybee, and Mary Bybee were unable to bag a stack. They will likely be back tonight in Day 1d for their final shot to make the second day of the tournament.
PokerNews will now be taking a break for dinner. Coverage will resume at 10:30 local time.