Pete Petree Dominates to Win RGPS Hard Rock Tulsa Main Event ($62,911)

The RunGood Poker Series at Hard Rock in Tulsa, Oklahoma, came to an end Sunday night with the conclusion of the $600 Main Event. The guaranteed prize pool of $100,000 was blown out of the water as a total of 649 entrants (a venue record) came out to make a total purse of $337,480, which was paid out to the top 81 players.

After the dust settled, it was Oklahoma resident Pete Petree who dominated the final table to win his first RGPS main event for a career-best score of $62,911.

“I was fortunate enough to have a chip lead at the final table,” remarked the newest champion after the win, “I bet it when I had it, and I got lucky.”

Prior to this win, Petree had lifetime earnings of $125,225, and victories that included a WSOP circuit ring, and a RGPS Pot-Limit Omaha title in 2017 in Tulsa. With this win, Petree triples his biggest prior cash, and becomes the first player to win the free seat to the Thunder Valley freeroll, where he will have an opportunity to play in The PokerGO Tour $1,000,000 freeroll.

“A trip to California, it sounds awesome. My wife will love it,” Petree responded when asked about the seat.

RGPS Tulsa Final Table Results

Action of The Day

The eliminations started out slow at the beginning of the day, but once the clock ticked down to 60 players, a flurry of competitors headed to the exit. Among the fallen were Keith Jeffrey (58th-$1,215), Brian Frenzel (40th-$1,384), Duster Ellis (31st-$1,654), start of day chip leader Kris Burchfield (28th-$1,856), Ashley “PokerFaceAsh” Frank (22nd-$2,430), Caitlin Comeskey (19th-$2,835), and Sandra Main (13th-$4,084). On the final table bubble, it was Kyle Michael who ended up going to the exit when his ace-five could not hold against Jeff Tolbert’s king-queen. Michael ended the tournament in tenth place for $4,961.

Final Table Recap

Joseph Gargiulo started off the week by winning the RGPS ambassador bounty, and he ended it by making an appearance at the $600 Main Event final table. His run was cut short when he doubled up Sam Panzica, with ace-nine against Panzica’s ace-king, leaving him with just two big blinds. Shortly after he found himself all in and holding king-queen suited. He was unable to improve against Mark Martin’s ace three suited and the colorful RGPS ring winner exited the tournament in ninth place for $6,176.

The next eliminations came together in the same hand. Tolbert came into the final with a larger-than-average chip stack, but an ace-king to kings confrontation with Petree left him with just two big blinds. He moved all in from first position getting called by Petree and Martin. The short-stacked Travis Speck then moved all in from the small blind, which folded out Martin, but Petree called. Petree’s ten-nine suited was able to improve against both Tolbert’s ace-jack offsuit and Speck’s ace-king suited, adding to Petree’s growing chip stack while eliminating Tolbert in eighth place for $7,728, and Speck in seventh place for $9,821.

It was James Herderhorst who was eliminated next in a multiway pot that saw both Grant Hart and Herderhorst make a flush. Herderhorst held jack-eight of hearts looking at a board with three hearts on it. He moved all in for his last eight big blinds, only for Hart to move all in over the top with king-ten of hearts for the second nut flush. Herderhorst wished his table mates well as he exited the tournament in sixth for $12,622.

Nikhil Behl fell next in fifth place for $16,469. Behl started as one of the shorter stacks at the final table, but managed to ladder up multiple spots to see his stack make it to five-handed play. When he moved in his final four big blinds, he was called by three players who checked down a board and his ace-high was unable to best Martin’s rivered pair of sevens and he left the tournament area.

Mark Martin doubled through Hart when his queens held against ace-king suited, which saw Martin put himself in a clear second place while Hart fell very short. What seemed like a high likelihood of a Martin versus Petree heads-up match, vanished in an instant when Martin held ten-nine suited and flopped a straight, only for Petree’s king-ten off to make a superior straight on the turn. Both players got in their chips on the turn and Martin could not find a river chop to survive and the RGPS Joplin champion ended his impressive run in fourth place for $21,767.

Hart fell very shortly after his confrontation with Martin and he got in his final chips with pocket fours, flipping with Panzica’s ace-jack. A jack on the flop and an ace on the river ensured a victory for Panzica and the RGPS regular finished in third place for a career-best cash of $29,091.

Panzica hung around at the bottom of the chip counts most of the final table, but by the time he had gotten to heads up, he was at his tournament peak. Despite that, just two hands into heads up, the chips went all in with Panzica holding king-queen against Petree’s ace-king. A nine-high board did not change anything for the hand rankings and the most experienced tournament player at the final table ended his run in second place for $39,350 to add to his $4,700,000 in lifetime earnings.

RunGood Poker Series Tulsa Side Event Results