Level 24 (5000/20000/40000)
Entrants: 199
Players remaining: 1
Average chips: 3,980,000
RunGood's trip to Downstream was another party on the felt with plenty of old and new faces among the crowd. The action wrapped up with RG Ambassador Grant Hinkle taking home the Main Event trophy and the $28,260 top prize. The Overland Park, Kansas, native triumphed over a field of 199 entrants to take home first-place after leveraging his chip lead to whittle down his heads-up opponent, then flopping a set of threes against his opponent's pocket fours.
A WSOP bracelet holder, the RunGood Ambassador joined the team in 2016, having a solid resume with $1,614,499 in lifetime tournament winnings. Still, Hinkle remains employed outside his poker career as a Governance Risk and Compliance Consultant. He'll return to work Monday morning as though a Main Event win is just a matter of course.
Hinkle built his stack all at once toward the end of Day 1 after nursing his starting stack for the first 9 levels. He came into Day 2 second in chips with stack of 221,000 chips, right behind the Day 1 chip leader and eventual second-place finisher Jesse Jones. He personally eliminated JD Hays, Matt Ellis, and Li Wu at the final table.
In the final hand with Jones, Hinkle held a commanding lead with over 3 million chips to Jesse Jones's 600,000. With the blinds at 20,000/40,000, Jones limped on the button and Hinkle moved all in from the big blind. Jones immediately called for his remaining 560,000 chips. Hinkle tabled 3♦3♣ while Jones held 4♣4♦. Jones even had Hinkle's suits covered. But drawing slim is not the same as drawing dead, as evidenced by the K♠9♠3♥ flop. Hinkle's set would hold through the 7♥ turn and J♥ river to take it down.
This tournament marks the conclusion of the RGPS USA at Downstream Casino Resort. On behalf of RunGood, thank you to all of the Downstream tournament staff, ambassadors, and players for a great series. We'll see you next at the RunGood Poker Series in Kansas City on May 1.
Full final table results are below.
1. Grant Hinkle - $28,3602. Jesse Jones - $19,654
3. JD Hays - $12,188
4. Joyce Thomas - $7,462
5. Craig Dick - $5,721
6. Jim Indiveri - $4,726
7. Matt Ellis - $3,731
8. Dustin Hill - $2,736
9. Li Wu - $1,990
10. Byron Tipton - $1,741