Day 1a of the $800 RunGood Poker Series Main Event at Hollywood Casino in St. Louis, Missouri has come to its conclusion. With 84 entrants in this flight, a total of 10 players found bags at the end of the day in their journeys to secure a piece of the $200,000 guaranteed prize pool.
Leading the way is local rounder Kenny Allen, who ended the day with a whopping 654,000 in chips. This is Allen's first cash in the RunGood Poker Series. Allen would be up and down throughout the day, but saw his chip stack cross the 600K mark in a key hand with the player to his right, Jason Aken, when Aken's top two pair fell to the top set of Allen. The next closest stack being that of Aken with 378,000, followed by last year's RGPS St. Louis Main Event champ, Keith Heine, bagging up 343,000 to round out the top three stacks.
| Place | Player | Hometown | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenny Allen | St. Charles, MO | 654,000 |
| 2 | Jason Aken | St. Charles, MO | 378,000 |
| 3 | Keith Heine | St. Louis, MO | 343,000 |
| 4 | Brandon Butler | St. Louis, MO | 315,000 |
| 5 | Brian Ellebracht | St. Louis, MO | 270,000 |
| 6 | Mark Lafata | Lake St. Louis, MO | 178,000 |
| 7 | Cory Bogert | St. Louis, MO | 128,000 |
| 8 | Bradley Beetz | Hollister, CA | 101,000 |
| 9 | John Huening | New York, NY | 94,000 |
| 10 | Glen Gruner | St. Louis, MO | 94,000 |
Among the final ten were Brandon Butler, last year's Day 1a chip leader, Mark Lafata, and rounding out the field are two players who both bagged 94,000 in chips, Glen "The Cannon" Gruner, and John Huening. Anyone who didn't find a bag, and even those who did, are welcome to play the remaining flights in their quest to make Day 2. Players that bag multiple Day 2 stacks will receive a min-cash for each stack, and will play the bigger of the two stacks on Sunday.
Play ended with 20:05 minutes left in Day 1a in Level 16, with blinds at 5,000/10,000 and a 10,000 big blind ante. These 10 players will return on Sunday, May 5 at noon local time to join the players from the other flights and play down to a winner. Anyone who didn't find a bag, and even those who did, are welcome to play the remaining flights in their quest to make Day 2.
Stay tuned to PokerNews for all updates regarding the RunGood Poker Series.
