John-Paul Portal Wins the $235 Progressive Knockout for $8,911
John-Paul Portal scored the biggest tournament win of his career Monday night, taking down the $235 Progressive Knockout event at Run It Up Reno IX. Portal outlasted a final table that included Timothy Guilford, last year’s defending champion in this event, and took the championship after besting second-place finisher Chris Choy in the heads-up battle from the Peppermill Resort in Reno, Nevada.
Portal takes home a total payday of $8,911, with $5,111 coming as the first-place prize, along with $3,800 in progressive bounties. The win is just the second career cash for Portal, who hails from south Florida and plays poker as a hobby.
“I saw this tournament and I wanted to come out and play it,” Portal said. “This progressive bounty is awesome.”
The final hand saw Choy go all in with ace-five offsuit, and Portal call with ten-eight of hearts. Portal got a nine on the flop and the pair held up, securing the championship. Choy takes home $5,111 for the runner-up finish.
| Place | Winner | Country | Prize (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | John-Paul Portal | United States | $5,111 |
| 2 | Chris Choy | United States | $5,111 |
| 3 | Timothy Guilford | United States | $2,530 |
| 4 | Rian Mullins | United States | $1,800 |
| 5 | Adam Owen | United Kingdom | $1,380 |
| 6 | Heather Hardie | United States | $1,100 |
| 7 | Alex Brakebill | United States | $900 |
| 8 | Michael Trivett | United States | $750 |
*John-Paul Portal won $3,800 in bounties in addition to the first-place prize.
Fast, Festive Fun
With a fast blind structure and the bounties in play, the action was fast and aggressive, as expected. The progressive knockout system assigned $100 from each $235 buy-in to player bounties. With every knockout, the player executing the knockout receives half of the player bounty, with the other half being added to their own bounty.
A total of 273 entries registered in the unlimited re-entry tournament, easily surpassing the $20,000 guarantee. The total prize pool ended up at $25,662, with another $25,662 distributed throughout the bounties.
Some of the names showing up at the Peppermill Resort in Reno, Nevada, included Matt Stout, Andy Milonakis, Arlie Shaban, Priestley Leng, Ricky “ratedGTO” Guan, Brittney Barnes, Joe Stapleton and Jesse Sylvia.
Of the aforementioned group, only Milonakis and Sylvia made it into the money. The television star, comedian and poker streamer Milonakis finished in 24th place, taking home the min cash of $300.Sylvia also added a $300 min cash payday to his resume of more than $7.4 million in tournament cashes, finishing in 19th place.
The tournament took less than nine hours to play down to the final two tables. By the time the tournament was down to 10 players, Guilford had grinded his way to the chip lead, and was the first player in the field to hit the one million chip mark.
The Final Table
Going into the official eight-handed final table,Adam Owen, Portal and Rian Mullins were all close at the top of the chip leaderboard.
Michael Trivett, the shortest stack of the final eight, was the first to go out, hitting the rail at the hands of Mullins and going home with $750. Alex Brakebill went next, also eliminated by Mullins, taking home $900 for his seventh-place showing.
Six-handed play went on for about a half hour, before two quick eliminations trimmed the field down to four. Sixth-place finisher Heather Hardie ($1,100) got her chips in good against Choy, but Choy’s ace-nine bested Hardie’s ace-ten to end her tournament run.
Fifth-place finisher Owen ($1,380) saw his run end in similar fashion, with his pocket eights losing out to the king-eight suited of Portal when a king hit on the turn.
Portal’s run to the championship continued with the eliminations of Mullins in fourth ($1,800) and Guilford ($2,530). Both players shipped the last of their chips to the eventual champion, with Guilford coming up two places short of a repeat championship in this event.
The next event in Run It Up Reno IX begins Tuesday at noon, with the $235 Black Chip Bounty.