Moore and Frank Lead The Way; Panzica, Frenzel and Speck Move On
After just under eight hours of play, the starting field of 157 was whittled down to just 20 players in The RunGood Poker Series $600 Main Event at Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The field in question generated a prize pool of $81,640, making it all but a certainty that tomorrow’s flights will pass the $100,000 guarantee for the prize pool.
End of Day 1a Chip Counts
| Place | Name | Chip Count | Hometown |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ryan Moore | 599,000 | Sapulpa, OK |
| 2 | Ashley Frank | 424,000 | Scottsdale, AZ |
| 3 | Dale Wilson | 343,000 | Miami, OK |
| 4 | Robert Muckleroy | 315,000 | Tulsa, OK |
| 5 | Trent Wilson | 315,000 | Strafford, MO |
| 6 | Roger Bennett | 292,000 | Columbia, MO |
| 7 | Keith Jeffrey | 276,000 | Noble, OK |
| 8 | Stephen Guy | 252,000 | Osage County |
| 9 | Sam Panzica | 251,000 | Deadwood, SD |
| 10 | Nikhil Behl | 240,000 | Tulsa, OK |
Leading the way was Oklahoma resident Ryan Moore, who ended the day with 599,000. Moore spent most of the day as one of the largest stacks in the room, but most of his chips came in a queens versus ace-king confrontation, where his queens held up to scoop a massive pot. Moore ended the night when he sent out Edward Welch on the bubble, when he cracked Welch’s nines with queen-six. The newcomer to the RGPS circuit has made a striking first impression in this event, with significant stack chasing his first RGPS title.
Following him is poker player and YouTuber Ashley “PokerFaceAsh” Frank who ended the day with 424,000. Frank hopped into the tournament slightly later, but found quick success and spun up to a top ten stack quickly. She also found many of her chips coming to her in one hand, when in a three-way all in, she correctly called with kings on an eight high board, and held against her opponent’s flush draw. Frank is no stranger to deep runs in tournaments, with over $90,000 in lifetime earnings, as well as a few deep runs in RGPS events. With this stack, she’s put herself in a good position to make another deep run in her quest for her first RGPS Main Event title.
Others that found their way to bags by the end of the day included Roger Bennett (292,000), Keith Jeffrey (276,000), Sam Panzica (251,000), the newly crowned Tulsa Deepstack champion Brian Frenzel (138,000), and Raymond Speck (134,000). Not all were as fortunate, as the day saw many players fall such as; Daniel Pigago, Kris Burchfield, Derek Gomez, Brent Harrington, and Edward Welch, the last of which ended as the unfortunate bubble boy. They will have their opportunity to re-enter tomorrow in either flight.
Play ended and 15:29 was left in level 14 with blinds at 3,000/6,000 and a 6,000 big blind ante. The 20 players will start play again on Sunday, January 29th at 12 pm with these levels in mind unless one of the following flights ends prior to that time. They will be joined by the survivors of the upcoming two flights.
Stay tuned to PokerNews for all updates on the upcoming flights and the eventual winner of this event.