Hanley Takes Monster Lead Into Day 2 of the Thursday Thrilla
Run It Up Reno IX held the biggest edition of the $1,100 Thursday Thrilla in the history of Run It Up today, with 224 entrants hitting the felt, blowing past the advertised $150,000 Guarantee. After the dust had settled from just over 18 levels of play, just nine players will return tomorrow at 2 p.m. local time. Valerie Hanley will be returning with the chip lead, as her 1,316,000 stack is the only one cresting a million heading to the final day.
Hanley's path to the final table was littered with big names, as she first sent Run It Up Founder Jason Somerville home in 15th in a crazy three-way hand. Later, she hit a straight to crack CSOP founder Matt Stout's set of jacks, before eventually eliminating him in 13th, then later, she hit a set to send popular poker vlogger Andrew Neeme out in 11th.
The rest of the final table is all fairly close together chipwise, with Phil Beesley, Adam Johnson, Ashley Sleeth, and Jeremy Pekarek all within two big blinds of each other. Lucas Hill and Max Young both are making their second appearance at a Run It Up Reno IX final table, while Patrick Preston and Ryan Meyer round out the final table of nine. All nine players start with over 20 big blinds for Day 2 action, promising viewers on Twitch plenty of action all day long.
Final Table Seat Draw
| Table | Seat | Name | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feature | 1 | Adam Johnson | 490,000 |
| Feature | 2 | Ashley Sleeth | 490,000 |
| Feature | 3 | Jeremy Pekarek | 483,000 |
| Feature | 4 | Ryan Meyer | 259,000 |
| Feature | 5 | Patrick Preston | 282,000 |
| Feature | 6 | Lucas Hill | 399,000 |
| Feature | 7 | Valerie Hanley | 1,316,000 |
| Feature | 8 | Max Young | 262,000 |
| Feature | 9 | Phil Beesley | 501,000 |
Plenty of stars came out to try their hand at snatching a few $500 bounties, and some of those that failed to earn a cash out of the regular tournament prize pool include a plethora of WSOP bracelet winners, including Chad Holloway, David "Bakes" Baker, Kevin Gerhart, and Ronnie Bardah. Former Thursday Thrilla champ Mark Mazza also was unable to cash, and Garry Gates, Adam Owen, and Jamie Kerstetter were some other notables to fall short.
Tomorrow's Day 2 will begin at 2 p.m. local time, with the Run It Up Twitch stream starting at 5 p.m. local time. The PokerNews live blog will sync up with the dynamic live stream, so follow all the action both on Twitch and right here on the blog as we crown this year's Thursday Thrilla champ!