Late Cooler Ships Meyer Huge Overall Lead After Day 1b/c
RunGood Poker Series Council Bluffs continued on Saturday with the second and third Day 1 flights at the Horseshoe, which drew 125 and 78 runners, respectively, pushing the total to 283 after registration ended. Day 1b chip leader Shawn Meyer finished with 350,000 after his 13-level flight played out. That put him well in the lead ahead of Day 1c leader Ryan Phan (243,000).
A classic aces-over-kings confrontation with fellow big stack Jeff Epstein in Level 13 (1,500/3,000/500) enabled Meyer to rocket to the lead. We didn't see when the money went in, but both players flopped sets and turned boats on a 
board. Epstein was forced to send Meyer 130,800.
Epstein found himself on the wrong end of the cooler after initially dragging a monstrous pot at his previous table when he opened aces under the gun and saw Joel Wahlert three-bet from the small blind. Colin Perry shoved for 82,000 from the big blind, Epstein moved all in as well, and Wahlert called off with jacks. Perry tabled kings and nobody improved from there.
Epstein still managed to put 130,000 in the bag despite the late setback to Meyer.
Other players surviving Day 1b included former World Series of Poker Main Event final table finisher Stan Schrier (146,000), Jeff "mrrain" Banghart (124,500), Brandon Fish (103,000), and Matt Sztamburski (67,500).
Phan, meanwhile, found the third bullet to be the charm on Day 1c after busting both Day 1a and Day 1b. He was joined by Jim Devaney (215,000), Tim Killday (196,500), and Kelly Vandemheen (178,000) atop the Day 1c counts.
Notable players who took shots and failed to advance included Ross Bybee, Justin Gardenhire, Jose Montes, Jeff Bryan, Mike Lang, Mark Fink, Dustin Dirksen, Bernard Lee, and former RunGood Council Bluffs champ Henry Gingerich.
In total between the two flights, 34 players advanced to Sunday's Day 2. They'll join the 15 survivors of Day 1a to create a 49-player field, of which 36 will be paid a minimum of $1,117. The final day of the tournament will see a winner crowned who will take home $34,267 and a $2,000 Blaycation package to the season-ending RunGood Championship Cup. All players who advance to the final table will also receive a package.
Cards are scheduled to be in the air noon local time, and since Day 1c reached a hard stop at 12 players, the clock will roll back to 11 minutes and 25 seconds left in Level 13 for everyone.
Be sure to return to PokerNews to see who emerges as champion as this event plays down to a winner.