2023 RGPS Iowa

$700 Main Event
Day: 1bc
Event Info

2023 RGPS Iowa

Final Results
Winner
Winning Hand
jj
Prize
$63,305
Event Info
Buy-in
$700
Prize Pool
$327,600
Entries
546
Level Info
Level
29
Blinds
100,000 / 200,000
Ante
200,000
Players Info - Day 1bc
Entries
366
Players Left
45

Laughlin Leads The Final 23 Players Of Day 1b; Kopp Looking for Back To Back

Level 16 : Blinds 5,000/10,000, 10,000 ante
Mark Laughlin
Mark Laughlin

The RunGood Poker Series Road Trip $700 Council Bluffs Main Event has seen its second flight of play conclude at The Horseshoe Casino in Council Bluffs, Iowa. This first flight saw 180 entrants come out for their shot at a bag and the second flight saw 189 players go for a piece of the $200,000 guaranteed prizepool. After the dust settled, just 23 players remained with their hopes intact while all others will have one final chance tonight in the final flight.

Leading the way is Mark Laughlin who ended their day with 513,000. Laughlin spent much of the early chunk of the tournament on the short stack. It wasn��t until a triple up he had through defending champion Joshua Kopp (279,000), and knocking out Brian Winter shortly afterwards where he defined himself as one of the flight chip leaders. Laughlin final tabled this event in 2020, finishing in 6th place for $7,990. With this stack today, he looks to better the finish he had back then with a massive score.

Day 1b Top Ten Chip Counts

PlacePlayerChip Count
1Mark Laughlin513,000
2Lionel Jiang496,000
3Robert Whitney426,000
4Robbie Kent404,000
5Tyler Bock351,000
6Ben Ludlow322,000
7Andre Allen315,000
8Joshua Kopp279,000
9James Girouard265,000
10Shane Fuller260,000

Kopp also found a bag and will be looking to match Derrick Plumage��s feat of winning two RGPS main events in a row. Others that found bags included Ben Ludlow (322,000), RGPS St. Louis Champion Andre Allen (315,000), Yashveen Mudireddy (242,000), Angela Jordison (215,000), and Maxx Holland (195,000). Each one of them looking to carve a piece of RG history as the season winds to a close.

Not all saw fortune favor them. Players like Mark Lafata, Michael Marder, Mallory Johnson, Mo Nuwwarah, former RGPS Council Bluffs main event champion Nate Steuer and WSOP bracelet winner Blair Hinkle. With one more opportunity tonight in the final flight, they will try once more to secure a bag to make Day 2 of this event.

Joshua Kopp
Defending champion Joshua Kopp found a bag to keep his chances at a back to back title alive.

Play ended with 25:57 left in Level 16 with blinds at 5,000/10,000 and a 10,000 big blind ante in the prior flight. This flight went longer than the previous flight, so all will be returning to this level barring an early end on the final flight.

PokerNews coverage will now go on a pause. Check back in later tonight for coverage of the final flight. Also be sure to check out all updates with the concurrent RGPS main event that is running in San Diego at Jamul Casino.

Tags: Andre AllenAngela JordisonBen LudlowBlair HinkleBrian WinterDerrick PlumageJoshua KoppMallory JohnsonMark LafataMark LaughlinMaxx HollandMichael MarderMo NuwwarahNate SteuerSan DiegoYashveen Mudireddy