Will Berry Wins RunGood Poker Series Downstream Casino Resort for $25,522
At the last RunGood Poker Series event in September, Will Berry showed that he plays tournaments to win, unafraid of getting in a high-variance spot on the money bubble in which he ended up busting out. This time, at RunGood Downstream Casino Resort in Joplin, Missouri., the key flips went Berry's way as he topped a 205-player field to ship $25,522 and a $2,000 Blaycation package to the RunGood Cup Championship in New Orleans.
The win pushes the Oklahoma native's lifetime live tournament cashes to nearly $190,000.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Will Berry | $25,522 |
| 2 | Hasan Haq | $16,013 |
| 3 | Joey McCaig | $10,158 |
| 4 | Lou Barlow | $7,406 |
| 5 | Daniel Hughes | $5,554 |
| 6 | Vinodkumar Paddolkar | $4,554 |
| 7 | Chris Pearce | $3,953 |
| 8 | Bobby Nair | $3,403 |
| 9 | John Blanken | $2,802 |
Berry entered Day 2 as one of the shortest stacks in the 48-player field with just over 16 big blinds. He was able to grind his way from 49,000 to 148,000 by the time the money bubble burst at 21 players, and he then hit a key double when his 10x10x held against the 7x7x of Michael Beaty.
The final nine players all booked $2,000 Blaycation packages to the season-ending championship, and RunGood Pro Jonathan Gaviao busted on the package bubble in 10th when he lost a race to Daniel Hughes.
It was start-of-day leader Hasan Haq and fellow big stack Joey McCaig maintaining their positions on the road to the official final table, which Berry entered in eight of nine with 197,000 as blinds were set to rise to Level 20 (8,000/16,000/3,000). Eliminations came fast as John Blanken, Bobby Nair, Chris Pearce, Vinodkumar Paddolkar, and Hughes busted in quick succession during that level in ninth to fifth, respectively.
In the meantime, Berry made his move up the counts as he won two flips against Hughes, making sets both times with middle pairs. He then busted Lou Barlow in fourth, which set off a four-hour marathon of three-handed play between Berry, Haq, and McCaig. Eventually, Berry three-outed a short-stacked McCaig.
Berry and Haq then battled heads up for a few hours, and it was Berry controlling most of the action. Ultimately, it came down to one more race and Berry's Q?J? outflopped Haq's 3?3? for the win as the board rolled out A?2?J?A?9?.
All that remains for the RunGood Poker Series this season is the RunGood Cup Championship, which will take place in December in New Orleans. For more information, visit rungoodpokerseries.com.
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