The final day of the inaugural RunGood Poker Series at Lodge Card Club lasted more than 13 hours as players battled to decide the first RGPS Passport Austin $600 Main Event champion.
Jose Garcia outlasted a field of 1,018 entries to win $88,007, along with the RGPS ring and trophy.
“I’m very happy,” Garcia said. “It feels good.”
RGPS Austin Final Table Payouts
| Place | Player | Country | Prize (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jose Garcia | United States | $88,007 |
| 2 | Andrew Robinson | United States | $61,547 |
| 3 | James Black | United States | $40,069 |
| 4 | Kyle Stein | United States | $29,069 |
| 5 | Kevin Easterling | United States | $22,149 |
| 6 | Matthew Costentino | United States | $17,804 |
| 7 | James Cazin | United States | $14,742 |
| 8 | Thomas McCutcheon | United States | $11,706 |
| 9 | Zachary Evers | United States | $8,691 |
Garcia’s Route to the Title
Garcia’s run began with a setback late on Day 1a. With approximately 800,000 chips and only a few players left to bag, he lost a large pot to an ace-high call by David Kim. Another hand followed soon after, and Garcia ended the day with 271,000.
“I could have come into Day 2 with a big stack,” Garcia said.
Garcia returned on Day 2 with enough chips to rebuild and reached the final table as the short stack, holding 455,000. By the first break, he had increased his stack to 2,050,000.
After a failed bluff against Matthew Costentino, Garcia doubled through James Cazin to climb back to 3,900,000. He later eliminated Cazin in seventh place during Level 28 when his pocket nines held against ace-king.
Garcia then doubled through chip leader Andrew Robinson to move past 11 million. He later lost an all-in to James Black, before doubling again when his pocket queens held against Robinson three-handed.
Garcia took the chip lead after firing three streets with ten-high to force Robinson to fold. He went on to eliminate both Robinson and Black to win the tournament.
PokerNews PowerStack Leaderboard
The RGPS Passport Austin $200 PokerNews PowerStack event ran earlier in the week and attracted 201 entries, creating a $31,557 prize pool.
The tournament played down to the final five players, who agreed to an ICM deal to adjust the remaining payouts before continuing to play for the title and the RGPS ring.
After the final hand was dealt, Roger Franco emerged as the winner, earning $4,673 for first place. The victory also awarded Franco valuable PowerStack leaderboard points.
With the win, Franco moved into second place on the PowerStack leaderboard, trailing leader Lucas Drummonds by five points.