Paul Serrate Leads the Field of 144 into Day 2 of the RGPS Bay Area Main Event
Day 1cd has come to an end and Paul Serrate is the overall chip leader after a red-hot run at the end of Day 1d. The $600 Main Event at the RunGood Poker Series (RGPS) stop at Graton Resort and Casino drew 1,114 players and generated a prize pool of $594,880.
The large turnout allowed RGPS to draw it’s first-ever four-digit field, and a top prize of $100,070 is waiting for the winner at the end of Day 2. The 144 returning players are all guaranteed a min-cash of $800.
Serrate bagged 736,000 chips to take the top spot. Day 1b chip leader Tony Wasaya is second on the leaderboard with 705,000, and Day 1d runner Nick Scalise is in third with 663,000. Shaun Van Daele was the chip leader after Day 1c, and he will enter Day 2 in the fourth spot with 645,000. Day 1a chip leader Igor Sorokin rounds out the top five.
RGPS Bay Area Main Event Day 2 Top Ten Chip Counts
| *Rank | Player | Chip Count | Day 2 Big Blinds |
| 1 | Paul Serrate | 736,000 | 74 |
| 2 | Tony Wasaya | 705,000 | 71 |
| 3 | Nick Scalise | 663,000 | 66 |
| 4 | Shaun Van Daele | 645,000 | 65 |
| 5 | Igor Sorokin | 637,000 | 64 |
| 6 | Vadim Zaychik | 623,000 | 62 |
| 7 | Victor Paredes | 609,000 | 61 |
| 8 | Chad Ducharme | 565,000 | 57 |
| 9 | Billy Huynh | 557,000 | 56 |
| 10 | Megan Thomson | 531,000 | 53 |
Other top stacks from Day 1cd include Vadim Zaychik, Billy Huynh, Megan Thomson, and Matt Massaro. Thomson found her first-ever bag, and she returns with 531,000 for one of the bigger stacks. She will be joined by her husband and RunGood ambassador Ray Henson, who bagged 152,000. Also returning from the second day of opening flights is Rick Troendly, who came back for more after he failed to find a bag on Day 1b.
Josh Prager and Aaron Messmer were also among the late mover on Day 1d, and both bagged over 400,000. Prager ended the night when his ace-queen outdrew his opponent’s pocket tens.
Matt Betti will return for Day 2 with 357,000. Betti made quad sevens earlier in the evening to crack pocket aces. Alexey Laptev comes back with 324,000. Laptev was almost out earlier in the evening, but he spiked a pair of kings on the river to beat pocket queens and stay alive.
Aaron Pressman returns for Day 2 as the short stack with 27,000.
Plenty of familiar faces turned out for Day 1cd, and among those that did not qualify for Day 2 are Veronica Brill, Joe Stapleton, Jeff Walsh, and Gabrielle Tetreault. Kyle Kitagawa also returned for another shot after he failed to bag on Day 1ab, but he did not make it through to the finale.
Cards go in the air at 11 a.m. for Day 2 and players will return with 28:30 left in Level 16 and blinds of 5,000/10,000/10,000. Action will continue on Sunday until a winner is declared.
Be sure to keep it with the PokerNews team all Sunday long for live updates from the Day 2 finale of the $600 Main Event at RGPS Graton Resort and Casino in the Bay Area of California.