Blake Vincent emerged victorious in the 2016 Run It Up Reno $565 Main Event, scooping the amount of $46,410 and the tournament trophy. Vincent started the final table with almost half of all chips in play and did not relinquish his lead for the greater part of the tournament’s final day.
The $565 Main Event took place at Peppermill Reno Resort Spa Casino and drew a massive field of 391 entries who generated a prize pool of $195,500. The top 56 finishers were paid, with payouts starting from $980. The tournament featured three starting flights and two more days of play.
Day 3 of the event started with 8 players returning to contend for the first-place prize and the trophy. As mentioned above, Vincent started the day with a considerable chip lead over his remaining opponents. At the time cards were thrown in the air, the player had a total of 4,635,000. He was followed by Brian Ebert with 2,415,000. Poker pro Jason Somerville was also still in contention at that time. He was sixth in chips at the start of the eight-handed final table play.
Eric Shiarla was the first to be eliminated on Day 3. The player was busted in 8th place by Somerville. His payout from the tournament amounted to $2,930. Gary Kochalka was the next to go. He took home $4,300 for finishing 7th.
Brian Ebert was then eliminated in 6th place by Somerville again. His share of the prize pool totaled $5,670. Jeffrey Newman was another player to fall victim to Somerville. He hit the rail in 5th place, good for $8,210. Shortly after, Jordan Spurlin put an end to Somerville’s lucky streak and eliminated the player in 4th place. He received the amount of $13,300 for his performance in the tournament. It was Spurlin who left next. His 3rd place secured him with a payout of $21,500.
At that point, Vincent and Loren Cloninger were the only two players left at the table. Heads-up match began with Vincent as the chip leader. It took him about an hour to defeat his last remaining opponent and to scoop the lion’s share of the prize pool. The final hand in play occurred with Vincent raising to 320,000 pre-flop and Cloninger calling. The [Ah][8s][9d] ran out on the flop and Vincent bet 350,000. Cloninger then shoved all in after giving his decision a few minutes of thought. Vincent called.
Cloninger tabled [8h][5c] against his opponent’s [Ks][9c]. The [9s] came on the turn and the [4s] appeared on the river, thus securing Vincent with the better hand. Cloninger was paid $30,700 for finishing 2nd in the event.
