The primary-ever cooperation between two thriving stay poker excursions from reverse ends of the world has been a convincing success, because the 2025 RGPS Mission RunGood Japan attracted a large area of 1,585 entries for the modest ¥25,000 buy-in (~$175). And if there was ever any participant to embody the spirit and ambiance of the RunGood Poker Collection in addition to the internet hosting Japan Open Poker Tour (JOPT), none apart from Jun Obara will surely be close to the highest of the record of candidates.
Identified to everybody on house turf as “misawa-san”, the Japanese poker fanatic with greater than $2 million in stay poker cashes is at all times a supply of pleasure with an enormous smile on his face regardless of the place and the way the playing cards fall. His first recorded stay poker money got here in 2017, and he has had a number of victories beneath his belt, but you could possibly nonetheless see the extremely pleased child in a sweet store when he defeated mashipi in heads-up play.
It did not take lengthy after his triumph till he proudly put the RunGood ring on his fingers and posed for the winner photographs earlier than dozens of mates arrived for the group winner image. Additionally proper subsequent to him have been his companion and two younger daughters, who have been cheering on their daddy throughout the remaining levels.
Each gamers earned the biggest portion of the $165,394.37 in mounted prizes, in keeping with native laws in Japan, and Obara grew to become the primary winner of a RunGood ring outdoors the USA.
Formally dubbed as Occasion #22 NLH Colossus by Mission RunGood it was one of many greatest stay occasions in JOPT historical past, becoming to the setting of the 2025 JOPT Grand Last on the gorgeous La Belle Salle in Shinjuku, which hosts greater than 160 poker tables.
Last Desk Outcome
*all prizes can be found as Net Coin or JOPT passports and have been transformed from Japanese Yen, rounded to the closest greenback
“Lastly, first, I normally end second or third,” Obara joked, however he has multiple dozen victories on the stay poker circuit beneath his belt, most of which got here in low and mid-stakes buy-ins, definitely becoming to the RunGood and JOPT manufacturers. He additionally co-hosted a stay poker sequence in Incheon, South Korea, simply two months in the past, throughout which he received 4 titles.
The most important money on the stay poker circuit was a fourth-place end within the 2022 European Poker Tour Prague Important Occasion, price €361,950. He additionally added a sixth-place end within the WPT Alpha 8 Excessive Curler this previous December throughout the WPT World Championships to his resume, incomes an extra $145,688. But, one might definitely sense that the largest pleasure at present was that he earned the following victory at house in Tokyo with many mates round to cheer him on.
Remarkably, the longest interval for a similar variety of gamers remaining on a really fast-paced remaining day was the heads-up stage, which lasted virtually 45 minutes. The motion had recommenced with 185 survivors of the 4 beginning flights, and 175 of them secured a portion of the prizes. “Misawa-san” began his journey on a mere 22 large blinds however survived the early carnage earlier than gaining momentum.
Throughout the first half an hour, the prize bubble burst, and the primary break after two hours of play had already reduce down the sphere of hopefuls in half. That very same development additionally continued for the following two-hour session, and it by no means actually slowed down, to be sincere. With fewer than 60 gamers nonetheless in competition, Obara set to work and notched up a number of eliminations with a really lively taking part in type.
The motion grew to become extra unstable on the ultimate three tables, and Obara was lucky sufficient to outlive the all-in showdowns when he was in danger. Considered one of these spots got here simply earlier than the nine-handed remaining desk was set when his ace-seven hit a four-card flush in opposition to king-queen after a queen-high flop earlier than he headed to the stage with a mean stack.
mashipi was main the ultimate 9, and in fewer than half an hour, these have been culled all the way down to solely 5. First to go was Kanasuke within the second hand of the ultimate desk when his ace-five suited failed to enhance in opposition to pocket jacks. SU__ then fell sufferer to the new run of the chip chief, who turned a flush in opposition to his set of jacks.
The ultimate desk might have properly been over for Obara a number of moments later when he jammed ace-four into the pocket kings of Nakaten. Nevertheless, an ace on the flip saved him, and Nakaten then misplaced a flip with jacks to ace-queen within the very subsequent hand. Obara then picked up kings himself and the most-cursed pocket pair in event poker – pocket jacks – was no good for PINZMAN.
After a short interval of slower motion, Ryuseiii picked the flawed spot to make a transfer with king-nine suited as second in chips as a result of he ran them smack dab into the pocket aces of mashipi to see the latter as huge chip chief. Takeshi misplaced a flip with sixes to the ace-jack of Obara, who leapt into snug second place.
Three-handed play noticed Jiro3 put up a struggle because the far shortest stack whereas Obara took over the lead, who then secured the heads-up stage with queen-jack suited in opposition to the jack-ten of Jiro3. The duel for the title was a topsy-turvy affair during which Obara doubled right into a commanding lead and cruised to victory a couple of minutes later, adopted by the roaring victory announcement for “misawa-san” to your complete room by the emcee — as a result of that is how issues work in Japan, the place poker is only one a part of the equation and the leisure follows proper behind.
