Linn "Grumpy" Sayre Wins Run It Up Reno $85 Big Antes ($2,224)
Linn "Grumpy" Sayre was anything but that after he won the 2016 Run It Up Reno $85 Big Antes event for $2,224. He had to grind until nearly 5 a.m. to do it, but he was still all smiles after shipping his first recorded live tournament win.
Early on, Sajid Zaidi was one of the chip leaders, and he looked like he might be a threat to repeat his win from the previous night in the turbo event. However, he saw his run end in 12th. He did walk away with some cash for his troubles as it was after the money bubble burst to pay the final 16 finishers.
Jesse Capps, who finished runner-up in last year's Run It Up Reno Main Event, also made the money, following Zaidi out the door in 11th.
The structure, which called for antes that were half of the size of the small blind, still allowed for a decent amount of play until a major pinch occurred when the blinds and antes doubled at the final table in Level 21 (8,000/16,000/4,000). With just over 1 million in play and eight left, that made for an average stack of about eight big blinds and things got wild.
Brett Gordon and Mungu Baterdene busted in quick succession, and then Sayre held with the 
against the shove of Derek Gomez, who had the 
.
Harrison Olberd busted fifth and then Sayre found a key double with sixes against the 
of Brian Ebert, who bowed out fourth in short order after Sayre three-outed him.
At that point, less than 30 big blinds were in play and more big aces started to find their way to all of the players, making for fast action. Sayre busted Rodrigo Moreira with the 
against the 
to take a big lead into heads-up play with Jon Martin.
Martin was happy to call off his last eight big blinds with the 
, only to see Sayre had yet another big ace to dominate him, the 
. A board of 
later, Sayre had little reason at all to be grumpy as he had a shiny new trophy and $2,224.