Michael Chilton Bags the Day 1b Lead of the $800 RGPS St. Louis Main Event; Brian Jones Close Second
After 16 levels of play, the field of 150 hopefuls was whittled down to just 18 in Day 1b of The $800 RunGood Poker Series Main Event at Hollywood Casino in St. Louis, Missouri. These players will join those from yesterday��s flight, as well as the two groups of players from flights 1c and 1d, to play Day 2 on Sunday for their chance at the biggest piece of the $200,000 guaranteed prize pool.
Leading the way is Michael Chilton, who put 567,000 in the bag to end the day. The Mississippi native started building a stack early on when he became the first player to cross the 300k mark in chips. This is Chilton's first RGPS cash and he'll look to make a deep run come Sunday.
Day 1b Top Ten Chip Counts
| Place | Player | Hometown | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michael Chilton | Paducah, MS | 567,000 |
| 2 | Brian Jones | Louisville, KY | 550,000 |
| 3 | Mike Hurley | St. Louis, MO | 494,000 |
| 4 | Tanner Pray | Lake St. Louis, MO | 380,000 |
| 5 | Jeff Levinson | St. Louis, MO | 378,000 |
| 6 | Britt Williams | St. Charles, MO | 336,000 |
| 7 | Tyler Buhlig | St. Louis, MO | 295,000 |
| 8 | Paul Fehlig | St. Louis, MO | 248,000 |
| 9 | Justin Coliny | Wentzville, MO | 238,000 |
| 10 | Ryan Rogers | St. Louis, MO | 226,000 |
Followed closely behind is Brian Jones, who bagged up just about a big blind less than Chilton. Jones, a long-time tournament veteran with more than $350k in cashes according to The Hendon Mob, will be looking to top his prior best RGPS finish of 31st at RGPS Bossier City, and become a part of RGPS history.
A few players who may be looking to give it one more go tomorrow in hopes of finding a bag are RGPS regs Craig Welko and Jerod Smith, as well as Jason Mendoza, who went out on the Day 1a bubble.
Play ended with 32:00 minutes left in Level 16, with blinds at 5,000/10,000 and a 10,000 big blind ante. These 18 players will return on Sunday, May 5 at noon local time to join the players from the other flights and play down to a winner. Anyone who didn't find a bag, and even those who did, are welcome to play the remaining flights in their quest to make Day 2.
Players that bag multiple Day 2 stacks will receive a min-cash for each stack and will play the larger of the two stacks on Sunday.
Stay tuned to PokerNews for all updates regarding The RunGood Poker Series.