Happy Mother's Day: Jeri Sieber, Mother of Two, Wins RunGood Tulsa Main Event
In a fitting ending, Jeri Sieber, a mother of two, won the 2016 RunGood Hard Rock Tulsa $675 Main Event for $44,458 after chopping with RunGood team pro Justin Gardenhire in the wee hours of Mother's Day. The two took $40,000 apiece, including their respective shares of a $10,000 seat to the World Series of Poker Main Event, and Sieber prevailed heads up against Gardenhire for the remainder of the prize pool $4,458, a trophy, and a plaque on the RunGood Champions Cup.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jeri Sieber | $44,458* |
| 2 | Justin Gardenhire | $40,000* |
| 3 | Rodney Spriggs | $19,328 |
| 4 | Michael Sanders | $13,480 |
| 5 | Vic Harris | $10,110 |
| 6 | Sam Abernathy | $7,929 |
| 7 | Mina Greco | $6,701 |
| 8 | Ron King | $5,551 |
| 9 | Cherie Baber | $4,778 |
*Denotes a heads-up deal.
The tournament drew 336 runner across three starting flights, with 74 advancing to Saturday's Day 2. Thirty-six of those would be paid, and the money bubble burst a few hours into play. Just before that, Sieber got her last 10 big blinds or so all in with the A?A? against the QxQx of Michael Sanders, surviving after neither player improved. Both players would see plenty more of each other when they each made the final table.
Before that, 27 players busted out in the money. Among them were Greg Jennings (28th), Olivier Busquet (24th), Terry Karn (21st), Duma Lowery (19th), Chris Conrad (18th), and Tripp Kirk (16th).
Busquet came into the day as the overwhelming chip leader, but faltered after running hot initially. After Rodney Spriggs three-outed him with AxQx against KxKx in a big pot, Eric Bunch finished him off by flopping a set of threes against Busquet's aces.
Sieber was the second-shortest stack when the final table kicked off, with RunGood pros Sanders and Samantha Abernathy leading the way. However, with six players left, Sieber had worked her way to second place in part thanks to a lucky win with ace-ten against the ace-queen of Cherie Baber.
Then, a huge pot went down between Abernathy, who had been leading most of the final table, and Sieber that changed the course of the tournament.
In Level 24 (20,000/40,000/5,000), Abernathy opened for a raise and called a three-bet to 300,000 from Sieber, who had already three-bet her a few times. The flop came 4?A?Q?, and Abernathy checked. Sieber shoved for about 1 million effective, just covering Abernathy, who tanked a bit and called with the Q?J?. Sieber showed down the A?A? and took the pot after a 10? turn and 3? river.
That gave Sieber about 40 percent of the chips five-handed, and she eliminated Vic Harris next. Then, Sanders fell to a three-outer from his fellow RunGood pro Gardenhire, and that left Sieber, Gardenhire, and Spriggs, the RunGood regular.
Spriggs got it in good with bottom set on a K?5?3? flop, but Sieber's 6?4? found a 7? on the river to make a winning straight and send him packing.
After that, Sieber and Gardenhire wasted little time before striking their deal, and heads-up play was a quick affair. Gardenhire lost a chunk to Sieber when she flopped trips with the 8?5? on a 5?5?6?2?9? board, and then he tried check-shoving with the 5?3? after a J?2?6? flop. Sieber called with the J?8? and held up on the J? turn and 6? river.
"Congratulations," Gardenhire told her. "You played great."
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