Home Crowd Support Fuels Cody Stanford to Victory in RGPS Tunica Main Event
Surrounded by family and friends at his home casino, RunGood Poker Series ambassador Cody Stanford clinched his eighth RGPS ring at Horseshoe Tunica. After nearly 12 hours of play, he emerged victorious in the $600 Main Event, defeating Michael Johns in heads-up play.
Along with the coveted RGPS ring, Stanford will take home the top prize of $53,988 after outlasting a field of 546 entrants, which generated a $278,460 prize pool. Among them, 69 players returned for Day 2, but in the end, it was Stanford who emerged victorious.
After his win, Stanford reflected on the moment, saying, 'It always feels great to win any poker tournament, especially a Main Event, but to do it with my wife and friends here, at my home casino, it means a lot.'
He also acknowledged the importance of his support system, adding, 'Having that support on your rail helps a lot. I took a two-outer three-handed and was the short stack at times during three- and four-handed play, so having them there definitely kept me composed and believing'
Stanford showcased his aggressive style of play to bag the Day 1c chip lead, finishing second overall—trailing only the man he would eventually defeat heads-up, Johns. However, his path to victory was far from smooth, as he acknowledged after the win.
'I definitely played aggressively in the Day 1 flights to build a big stack for Day 2' Stanford said. 'I fired two bullets on Day 1a and ended up soft bubbling. On Day 1b, I fired a lot of bullets trying to build a stack but couldn't get anything going. Then, on Day 1c, I had a solid chip stack, cracked aces with ace-queen, and things went well from there.'
Tunica Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cody Stanford | United States | $53,988 |
| 2 | Michael Johns | United States | $36,126 |
| 3 | Jonathan Pragel | United States | $26,607 |
| 4 | Kyle Cartwright | United States | $19,820 |
| 5 | Jeremy Moore | United States | $14,936 |
| 6 | LaShun Wallace | United States | $11,387 |
| 7 | Telly Lanier | United States | $8,784 |
| 8 | Russell Boyette | United States | $6,858 |
| 9 | Mike Kopczynski | United States | $5,419 |
Power Poker
Coming into Day 2 with a big stack, Stanford made his intentions clear: 'Play power poker, be aggressive, and make things hard for people.' However, he also emphasized the importance of timing, adding, 'You don’t want to put yourself in tough spots—there’s a certain time to be aggressive.'
Stanford found a prime opportunity early on Day 2 after chipping down slightly. He delivered the ultimate cooler to Steven McKuin, holding pocket aces against McKuin’s pocket kings, surging his stack to over a million chips.
From there, he maintained his momentum, later noting, 'Once it got down to about 16 players left, I was able to chip up. The table was playing pretty passive, so I just tried to pick my spots.'"
The biggest hand of the tournament prior to the final table didn’t involve Stanford, but it did feature two eventual finalists. In a massive three-bet pot, all 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. However, any suspense was short-lived as Lanier immediately turned quad tens, scooping a pot worth over a million chips.
Lanier capitalized on that momentum, riding his big stack to a seventh-place finish, earning $8,784.
Final Table Action
The three Day 1 flight chip leaders continued their dominance into the final table, once again leading the pack. Day 1a chip leader Johns managed to recover after losing a massive pot to Telly Lanier’s quads, sitting third in chips. Cody Stanford found himself in second, just behind Day 1b chip leader Jonathan Pragel.
Also at the final table was accomplished pro Kyle Cartwright, a WSOP bracelet winner with nine WSOP Circuit rings and over $3 million in career tournament earnings.
Reflecting on the final table lineup, Stanford said, ‘I felt really comfortable—it’s my home casino, and I’ve won the RGPS Main Event here in Tunica before. But it was a tough final table with solid players. Johns is leading the RGPS Player of the Year race, Kyle was there, Jonathan played really solid”
The final table started off slow, but eliminations soon came in rapid succession, with big chip swings between the leaders and short stacks alike.
Eventually, Stanford found himself battling in the final four against the very players he praised.
Cartwright saw his run end in fourth place after losing most of his stack in a crucial pot, where his ace-queen suited couldn’t overcome Johns’ pocket aces.
Fittingly, the three chip leaders from Day 1—Pragel, Stanford, and Johns—were also the last three players standing, proving their consistency throughout the tournament.
However, eventual runner-up Johns had a stroke of good fortune to even reach heads-up play. Facing elimination against Pragel, he was all in and at risk when Pragel flopped a set of jacks. But in a dramatic turn, the board ran out a straight, giving Johns a second chance—mirroring an earlier hand at the final table where he was also saved in the same fashion.
Just a few hands later, Stanford sealed Pragel’s fate, eliminating him in third place and setting up a heads-up showdown with Johns.
Stanford entered heads-up play with a commanding chip lead, holding approximately 14,500,000 of the 16,900,000 chips in play. Unlike the swings and dramatics seen throughout the final table, the heads-up battle was brief. Stanford flopped a set of nines, and the players got all their chips in on the turn. Johns, drawing to a straight, was unable to improve, securing Stanford the victory.
While Johns fell just short of the title, his impressive run earned him a career-best score of $36,126 for his runner-up finish.
As for Stanford, the celebration will be short-lived, as the RGPS ambassador confirmed he plans to be back in action soon, with his sights set on the next series in St. Louis in early April.
That ends our coverage in Tunica but be sure to stay tuned to PokerNews for live updates and coverage of tournaments from all around the world.