Surrounded by household and pals at his house on line casino, RunGood Poker Collection ambassador Cody Stanford clinched his eighth RGPS ring at Horseshoe Tunica. After practically 12 hours of play, he emerged victorious within the $600 Foremost Occasion, defeating Michael Johns in heads-up play.
Together with the coveted RGPS ring, Stanford will take house the highest prize of $53,988 after outlasting a subject of 546 entrants, which generated a $278,460 prize pool. Amongst them, 69 gamers returned for Day 2, however in the long run, it was Stanford who emerged victorious.
RGPS Tunica Foremost Occasion Closing Desk Outcomes
Winner’s Response
After his win, Stanford mirrored on the second, saying, “It all the time feels nice to win any poker match, particularly a Foremost Occasion, however to do it with my spouse and pals right here, at my house on line casino, it means lots.”
He additionally acknowledged the significance of his help system, including, “Having that help in your rail helps lots. I took a two-outer three-handed and was the brief stack at instances throughout three- and four-handed play, so having them there positively stored me composed and believing.”
Stanford showcased his aggressive fashion of play to bag the Day 1c chip lead, ending second general—trailing solely the person he would ultimately defeat heads-up, Johns. Nonetheless, his path to victory was removed from clean, as he acknowledged after the win.
“I positively performed aggressively within the Day 1 flights to construct an enormous stack for Day 2,” Stanford mentioned. “I fired two bullets on Day 1a and ended up delicate effervescent. On Day 1b, I fired loads of bullets making an attempt to construct a stack however could not get something going. Then, on Day 1c, I had a strong chip stack, cracked aces with ace-queen, and issues went nicely from there.”
Energy Poker
Coming into Day 2 with an enormous stack, Stanford made his intentions clear: “Play energy poker, be aggressive, and make issues onerous for individuals.” Nonetheless, he additionally emphasised the significance of timing, including, “You don’t wish to put your self in powerful spots—there’s a sure time to be aggressive.”
Stanford discovered a main alternative early on Day 2 after chipping down barely. He delivered the final word cooler to Steven McKuin, holding pocket aces towards McKuin’s pocket kings, surging his stack to over 1,000,000 chips.
From there, he maintained his momentum, later noting, “As soon as it bought all the way down to about 16 gamers left, I used to be capable of chip up. The desk was taking part in fairly passive, so I simply tried to choose my spots.”
The most important hand of the match previous to the ultimate desk didn’t contain Stanford, but it surely did characteristic two eventual finalists. In an enormous three-bet pot, all of the chips went in on an action-packed flop—Brian Durr flopped a set of sevens, Telly Lanier flopped a set of tens, and runner-up Johns flopped the nut flush draw. Nonetheless, any suspense was short-lived as Lanier instantly turned quad tens, scooping a pot value over 1,000,000 chips.
Lanier capitalized on that momentum, driving his large stack to a seventh-place end, incomes $8,784.
Closing Desk Motion
The three Day 1 flight chip leaders continued their dominance into the ultimate desk, as soon as once more main the pack. Day 1a chip chief Johns managed to recuperate after shedding an enormous pot to Telly Lanier’s quads, sitting third in chips. Cody Stanford discovered himself in second, simply behind Day 1b chip chief Jonathan Pragel.
Additionally on the ultimate desk was completed professional Kyle Cartwright, a WSOP bracelet winner with 9 WSOP Circuit rings and over $3 million in profession match earnings.
Reflecting on the ultimate desk lineup, Stanford mentioned, “I felt actually comfy—it’s my house on line casino, and I’ve gained the RGPS Foremost Occasion right here in Tunica earlier than. But it surely was a troublesome ultimate desk with strong gamers. Johns is main the RGPS Participant of the 12 months race, Kyle was there, Jonathan performed actually strong.”
The ultimate desk began off sluggish, however eliminations quickly got here in speedy succession, with large chip swings between the leaders and brief stacks alike.
Ultimately, Stanford discovered himself battling within the ultimate 4 towards the very gamers he praised.
Cartwright noticed his run finish in fourth place after shedding most of his stack in a vital pot, the place his ace-queen suited couldn’t overcome Johns’ pocket aces.
Fittingly, the three chip leaders from Day 1—Pragel, Stanford, and Johns—have been additionally the final three gamers standing, proving their consistency all through the match.
Nonetheless, eventual runner-up Johns had a stroke of fine fortune to even attain heads-up play. Going through elimination towards Pragel, he was all in and in danger when Pragel flopped a set of jacks. However in a dramatic flip, the board ran out a straight, giving Johns a second probability—mirroring an earlier hand on the ultimate desk the place he was additionally saved in the identical style.
Just some palms later, Stanford sealed Pragel’s destiny, eliminating him in third place and organising a heads-up showdown with Johns.
Stanford entered heads-up play with a commanding chip lead, holding roughly 14,500,000 of the 16,900,000 chips in play. Not like the swings and dramatics seen all through the ultimate desk, the heads-up battle was temporary. Stanford flopped a set of nines, and the gamers bought all their chips in on the flip. Johns, drawing to a straight, was unable to enhance, securing Stanford the victory.
Whereas Johns fell simply wanting the title, his spectacular run earned him a career-best rating of $36,126 for his runner-up end.
As for Stanford, the celebration will probably be short-lived, because the RGPS ambassador confirmed he plans to be again in motion quickly, along with his sights set on the following collection in St. Louis in early April.
That ends our protection in Tunica however remember to keep tuned to PokerNews for stay updates and protection of tournaments from all world wide.
