Day 2: A Marathon of Poker
A long day was ahead of the players who made Day 2 of the event, with the total number of entrants for the inaugural RunGood Poker Series St. Louis Main Event tallied up to 682, creating a massive prize pool of $484,220.
Into the Early Hours
With the earliest flight ending significantly earlier than the others, it seemed likely that play would continue into the hours of the morning. At 3:26 a.m., the returning players of 83 were brought down to just one sole survivor at Hollywood Casino in St. Louis, MO.
Keith Heine: A Local Legend
St. Louis poker legend Keith Heine was the champion after the dust settled, taking home a career third-best score of $88,506. “I was so out of place with that first win,” Heine remarked referring to his best career live score of $100,981 that came to him in 2016 when he won an MSPT. “I didn’t really know what I was doing. No experience at that stage. But I have been close a lot since then, and it has really helped.”
Constant Improvement
“I have been learning and watching videos,” the newly crowned champion talked about his preparation for his poker game and how it has changed over the years. “If you don’t need to admit that you need to adjust something, your game won’t be changing for the better.”
A True Poker Mindset
Heine came into the final table in the middle of the pack but bided his time patiently as the clock ticked on. “I’m not out until they take the last chip. That’s how I approach every tournament, especially at the final table. Anyone can win. It’s whoever has a little more luck and whoever has a little more determination.”
A Family Affair
A rail of support was built throughout as the family man was supported by his wife and both of his parents throughout the final table. “This is not possible without my wife who tells me sometimes to get off my butt, get in gear and start playing better. My mom and dad, they are tired, but they were here. They told me that poker is something that you can do big things in, and this was years ago.”
The Celebration Begins
The St. Louis native now takes home his first RGPS ring as well as a hefty sum to celebrate with his parents, wife, and five sons.
Final Table Results
Place Player Hometown Prize 1 Keith Heine St. Louis, MO $88,504 2 Shaun Emery Raymond, IL $59,006 3 Scotter Clark Marion, IA $43,514 4 Walker Miskelly Tupelo, MS $32,444 5 Lee Richardson Wright City, MO $24,460 6 Blake O’Brien Maryland Heights, MO $18,648 7 David Prociak Orlando, FL $14,380 8 Mario Webster O’Fallon, MO $11,216 9 Dan McNeil St. Louis, MO $8,851
Final Day Highlights
Blinds Favor the Short Stacks
With blinds returning three levels earlier than most of the flights finished up at, many of the shorter stacks in the tournament were relieved to find that the 10 big blinds that they bagged up were closer to 17 big blinds by the start of play today. This saw a slower start at the beginning of the day as the leaders of each flight made strides and gains to their own chip counts.
Notable Exits
Falling throughout the day were Grant Hinkle (74th-$1,346), Angela Jordison (64th-$1,619), Andreas Ioakimides (49th-$1,813), Tim Garles (35th-$2,362), Craig Welko (21st-$3,239), Brett Slezak (19th-$3,865), Cody Stanford (15th-$4,669), Forrest Kollar (14th-$5,710), and WSOP gladiators of poker champion Jason “The Chisler” Simon (12th-$7,067).
Hamm’s Unlucky Break
Finishing just outside of the final table was RGPS regular Daniel Hamm who moved in his final chips with ace-king, only for Prociak to wake up with pocket aces. No help was brought to Hamm, and he finished just outside of the final table, collecting $8,851 for his tenth-place finish.
Final Table Action
It was well over two hours of nine-handed play at the beginning of the final table. Walker Miskelly got short initially, then ended up doubling through Blake O’Brien to regain chips. David Prociak came into the final table with the massive chip lead, but ended up doubling both Mario Webster and O’Brien, as well as losing multiple pots to Shaun Emery and Keith Heine. This massive shifting around of chips saw the chip lead change multiple times until the top three stacks were mostly even.
McNeil’s Bold Move
A clash between Dan McNeil and Emery became the beginning of the end for nine-handed poker at the final table. McNeil opened with pocket aces in early position, and Lemery called in the hijack with ace seven suited. Emery flopped a flush draw and called when McNeil moved all in for twice the size of the pot. The turn saw the flush come in for Emery to give him the chip lead, while McNeil fell to the shortest stack left. He was forced all in from the small blind shortly after, and O’Brien would take him out after isolating with pocket jacks while McNeil’s queen three suited found no improvement. O’Brien would climb back up the chip counts, while McNeil ended his deep run in ninth place for $8,851.
Webster’s Rollercoaster Ride
Webster sat as the second biggest stack with eight left but would see multiple hands not go his way in his final table journey. He first lost a pot to Miskelly when Miskelly held aces, shortly after he doubled up Scotter “Captain Jack” Clark when Webster held queens and Clark held kings, then he doubled up Prociak as Webster held ace two against Prociak’s ace-queen. The next hand, Webster would move in his final chips with queen three offsuit from first position and Lee Richardson looked him up from the small blind holding pocket sixes. The sixes made quads as Webster wished his tablemates luck, and he exited the tournament in eighth place for $11,216.
Prociak’s Misfortunes
Despite the momentum that Prociak gained from his double-up against Webster, Prociak’s final table journey was wrought with misfortune. He fell to the shortest stack seven-handed after coming in as the chip leader. Several pots between him and Emery saw the chips go Emery’s way and his final pot was no exception. He moved in his last chips over Emery’s open from early position with pocket threes and Emery looked him up with ace queen. The turn brought an ace to leave Prociak with two outs on the river,