Tyler Barnes Takes Down the RGPS Tulsa Main Event for $52,692!
After three days of play, the RunGood Poker Series $600 Main Event here at Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Tulsa, Oklahoma has come to a close after over 12 hours of play on the final day. The total number of players from all three flights came to 499 entries, creating a $260,000 prize pool that almost tripled the $100,000 guarantee that the event promised.
After navigating through a tough final day, Tyler Barnes stood alone atop the field, claiming the title, the championship ring and the $52,692 first-place prize. Adding to the champion's purse in a big way is the addition of the Dream Seat package, which provides a full travel package and a seat to the Dream Seat Invitational, the winner of which will be entered into the televised PokerGo Tour Championship $1,000,000 Freeroll which is a 64-played capped field meaning that Barnes could parlay this win into some serious life-changing money.
Final Table Payouts
| Rank | Player | Hometown | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tyler Barnes | Miami, OK | $52,692 |
| 2 | Mark Barrientos | Wichita, KS | $32,331 |
| 3 | Miguel Degollado | Garden City, KS | $23,587 |
| 4 | Brazos Roberts | Greenbrier, AR | $17,463 |
| 5 | Kami Hudson | Edmond, OK | $13,104 |
| 6 | Dustin Messner | Joplin, MO | $9,990 |
| 7 | Liam Gannon | LaGrange Park, IL | $7,707 |
| 8 | Justin Barraza | Tulsa, OK | $6,046 |
| 9 | Bryce Laymance | Lawton, OK | $4,826 |
Action of the Day
When the 63 players who returned to play the Day 2 session took their seats, the action started from the onset and showed no signs of slowing down as a flurry of eliminations saw the field cut from 63 to all the way down to 36 within just a couple of hours. From there, stacks were a little deeper, and play began to find a slightly slower pace. The final table of nine was still reached relatively early in the night but would take up the majority of the day as everyone was eyeing the title, and no one was willing to go out easy.
Final Table Action
The final table got off to a fast start with the first few eliminations happening in short order, the first of which being Bryce Laymance, who fell in ninth place when he lost a flip versus the eventual champion. Next to hit the rail a short ten minutes later was Justin Barraza, whogot the last of his stack in on a flop that gave him a straight flush draw but ultimately finding no improvement on the turn or river against the flopped top set of Kami Hudson.
Then, another short 15 minutes later, PokerNews' own Liam Gannon found the exit in seventh place when he ran into aces and couldn't get lucky to extend his run at an RGPS main event title just a few short days after a runner-up finish in the Flip'n'Go event. One level later, Dustin Messner would exit the tournament area in sixth place after getting his money in good but getting out-flopped in a preflop all-in confrontation.
Kami Hudson would be next to hit the payout desk after getting in a flopped top pair against a set and failing to find runner-runner to survive. Next out would be Brazos Roberts, who was forced to the rail after jamming to steal the blinds from the button and running into a big hand in the blinds.
From there, the final three players would discuss an ICM chop but ultimately couldn't come to an agreement and ended up trading chips, stealing pots, and doubling up through each other for over three hours, with everyone holding the chip lead at least once. On a number of occasions, stacks were close to dead even and it looked like the three-way battle could drag on forever, but eventually, after losing a number of pots to find himself short, Miguel Degollado would fall in third-place when he jammed from the small blind, getting called by the big blind and remaining unimproved through five cards to make way for what promised to be a highly contested heads-up battle.
Although Tyler Barnes would enter heads-up play with roughly a 3:1 chip lead, Mark Barrientos would not make closing out the title easy on him as he jammed over a number of opens and battled to take down every pot he could. In the end, it would be a classic flip that would decide that champion, and Barrientos would find himself on the losing end, taking second place in the same casino where just six weeks ago he took down a WSOP Circuit main event for almost $127,000.
The victory marks Tyler Barnes's first RGPS ring, and he certainly proved himself a worthy champion with solid play, well-time aggression, and absolute control throughout the entirety of the event.
The next RunGood Poker Series kicks off on October 19th at Graton Casino Rohnert Park in Rohnert Park, California, and with the fun and friendly atmosphere that the RGPS stops consistently provide, this is a stop that you want to visit and a series tour that should absolutely be on your to-do list as a poker player!
That closes out coverage from this stop, but as always, keep it locked to PokerNews for up-to-date coverage of all major tours and news stories within the poker industry!