Preston McEwen Takes Down Hometown RGPS Rungood Resort Tunica Main Event for $57,206
The $600 Main Event at the 2024 RGPS Rungood Resort Tunica attracted a total of 598 entries. But after three long days of action, it was Preston McEwen who was holding the ring and $57,206 at the end.
McEwen is no stranger to success on the Rungood circuit as this is his sixth ring in the tournament series. It was a dominant performance at the final table as he was atop the chip counts for the majority of the night, and the heads-up battle with John Holley lasted just one hand.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Preston McEwen | $57,206 |
| 2 | John Holley | $38,137 |
| 3 | Jonathan Turner | $28,133 |
| 4 | Donnie Phan | $20,980 |
| 5 | Ryan Garren | $15,819 |
| 6 | Todd Tucker | $12,060 |
| 7 | William Latta | $9,299 |
| 8 | Jacob Foley | $7,252 |
| 9 | Tim Garles | $5,721 |
Winner’s Reaction
When asked about his emotions following the win, McEwen was short and sweet.
“It feels really good.”
But there was a genuine quality to this answer that made it obvious how much this win meant to McEwen. He was surrounded by friends playing in a casino he calls home, and his happiness was palpable.
“There was an odd feeling of Deja Vu. It’s like I’ve been here before.”
As a native of Memphis, McEwen has had plenty of success at Horseshoe Tunica, and his experience showed. He also has a WSOP Circuit Main Event title here from January 2023.
“I grew up playing here. It helps to know all the players and their tendencies.”
This proved to be the case time and time again. McEwen looked comfortable throughout the entire day and hardly put a foot wrong as he steamrolled the final table.
McEwen was quick to give a shoutout to his family back home and was excited to share the win with them.
“Thanks to my kids, and especially my wife for letting me get out on the road to do this. I woke her up out of her sleep and she was super happy.”
McEwen also gave a shoutout to his heads-up opponent, John Holley, and surmised that it was fate for them to play heads-up.
“I had a really cool conversation with John at the end of Day 1. We’ve both been through a lot in poker. We have weird intuitions and shared stories about premonitions we’ve had in poker, so it’s weird that we ended up getting heads-up.”
McEwen said that we can expect to see plenty of him in the future and that his next stops are WSOP Circuit in Cherokee followed by WPT in Las Vegas.
The Day’s Action
71 players returned for Day 2, with all of them being in the money and guaranteed a minimum cash of $937. As expected, the bustouts came quick at the start of the day as the tournament was reduced to four tables in just a couple of hours.
Many notable players made deep runs but failed to make it to the final table. Some of these include WPT Champion Mark Davis (32nd-$1,769), Rungood Ambassadors Maggie Fox (23rd-$2,087) and Cody Stanford (14th-$3,687), and ten-time WSOPC ring winner Robert Hankins (11th-$4,566)
Final Table Action
With the elimination of Stephen Cleghorn in 10th place, the stage was set for the final nine to combine at a single final table shortly before dinner.
After dinner, the first to fall was Tim Garles in ninth. He lost a 45-55 spot to double another player then got the rest of his chips in with ace-nine against ace-queen. Garles would flop a nine but his opponent rivered a queen.
The next casualty in eighth place was Jacob Foley. He opened with aces off a short stack and was all-in on the flop against a flush draw. The flush completed on the river and Foley had to settle for eighth.
Next, there was a double elimination. Todd Tucker jammed ten big blinds from under the gun with pocket tens and William Latta called off for slightly less from the small blind with ace-king suited. In the big blind, John Holley woke up with queens and held to eliminate both players in seventh and sixth.
The final five played for some time before another elimination. Ryan Garren was the next to fall. He jammed king-eight suited for ten big blinds over a button open and was called by McEwen in the big blind with ace-ten suited which held to end Garren’s night in fifth.
After coming into the final table as the short stack, Donnie Phan laddered all the way up to fourth. He would eventually jammed his short stack with ace-eight and fell to ace-queen as he hit the exit after a valiant effort.
After another break, McEwen and Holley were deadlocked in chips with Turner lagging behind in third. However, Turner would flop quads against Holley and double to switch places on the leaderboard.
McEwen would start to pull away through his aggression before Jonathan Turner called all-in with pocket queens against McEwen’s ace-jack. McEwen spiked an ace on the turn to send Turner out in third in brutal fashion.
Heads-up play would last a single hand. Holley’s final 22 big blinds found their way into the middle with king-seven suited against the pocket threes of McEwen which held as the players shook hands and McEwen captured another title at his home casino.
That does it for PokerNews’s coverage of the 2024 RGPS Rungood Resort Tunica Main Event. Stay tuned as we continue to follow poker tournaments around the globe.