The RunGood Contenders Season Finale began with a celebration of its first-ever $1,000,000 guaranteed main event and concluded with another party atmosphere as friends Brett Murray and Tyler Patterson concluded the event with a spirited, playful heads-up match that saw Murray take home the title and the $172,835 first prize.
Murray, who is the all-time leading tournament money winner at the Thunder Valley Casino Resort, defeated Patterson after a light-hearted 90-minute-long match that saw them play for the final $10,000 of the prize pool, the RunGood Contenders Series championship ring, and a seat into the RunGood ProAM later this month in Las Vegas.
In the end, it was Murray’s king-jack taking down the RunGood Ambassador’s pocket jacks to claim the title.
RGPS Contenders Season Finale Final Table Results
| Place | Name | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brett Murray | $172,835 |
| 2 | Tyler Patterson | $156,835 |
| 3 | Toan Nguyen | $88,250 |
| 4 | David Ong | $61,140 |
| 5 | Michael Loncar | $46,930 |
| 6 | Trevor O'Donoghue | $39,120 |
| 7 | Lam Le | $32,570 |
| 8 | Joe Nguyen | $26,070 |
| 9 | Arthur Tanimoto | $19,580 |
A Day of Near-Comeback Stories
The day began with 32 remaining contenders, and for a while, it looked as though an improbable comeback story could be the highlight of the day as Stephen Song, who started the day with just five big blinds made an improbable run to the chip lead.
However, he would lose a critical pot to Arthur Tanimoto after correctly calling off with top pair on the turn versus Tanimoto’s flush draw, but Tanimoto would hit his flush to take a sizeable chunk from Song’s rebuilt stack.
The WSOP bracelet winner couldn’t recover from that hand and fell in 11th place.
Another incredible comeback story was brewing at the final table as Day 2 chip leader Toan Nguyen, who came into the day with more chips than the second and third largest stacks combined lost all but half a big blind worth of his stack to David Ong when five-handed.
Nguyen then came back with repeated double-ups to hold a healthy stack again and make it to three-handed play before finally being eliminated by Murray.
That left Murray and Patterson heads-up, and while Murray began the match with an overwhelming 6-to-1 chip lead, Patterson clawed back thanks to a double-up on the first hand of play and some incredible play including a correct call with just queen-high.
Ultimately, Murray would bounce back to retake his significant lead and finally claim the title.
Words From the Winner
As mentioned, the heads-up match was a light-hearted affair once Murray and Patterson struck a deal. Murray told PokerNews that it was the most fun heads-up match he’d ever played.
“It was, it was a lot of fun. The whole day was a lot of fun. After the chop, it relieves a lot of stress, so we could kind of just go for it a little more. I mean, I wanted the extra 10k and the ring of course, but it definitely relieves the stress of playing for sixty thousand rather than ten.”
On the final hand, Murray decided to gamble a bit, calling Patterson’s all-in with king-jack, later saying that while he obviously still wanted to win, he kind of wanted to end the match at that point too.
“I was just so happy taking one-hundred and sixty-two (thousand) already, I was just ready to get it over with. I mean, I was definitely still going to try, but I don’t know, I was just ready for it to end. I was just ready to river the king and just have it done and make it easy.”
Thunder Valley is Murray’s home casino, and his success here is well known. When asked what being the all-time leading tournament money winner here meant to him, the jovial Murray admitted that it indeed meant a lot to him.
“It’s nice. It’s definitely a good feeling. I’ve run really good here and it’s close to home, so it’s a great place to run great.”
RGPS Contenders Season Finale Side Event Winners
| Date | Tournament | Entries | Prize Pool | Winner | 1st Prize |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sunday, November 27 | $1,000 RunGood Take 1 NLH ($250,000 guaranteed) | 456 | $410,400 | Jeffrey Lennon | $78,040 |
| Sunday, November 27 | $300 RunGood Knockout Bounty NLH | 125 | $20,000 | Pedro Rodriguez | $5,795 |
| Monday, November 28 | $135 RunGood Bomb Pot Ambassador Bounty NLH | 164 | $16,400 | Darrell Cain | $4,320 |
| Wednesday, November 30 | $255 RunGood Fifty-Five NLH ($55,000 guaranteed) | 429 | $92,235 | Richard Troendly | $18,355 |
| Friday, December 2 | $600 RunGood PokerGO Studio Ticket NLH ($100,000 guaranteed) | 350 | $183,750 | Henry Acain | $38,270 |
| Friday, December 2 | $500 Pot-Limit Omaha | 45 | $20,240 | Bob Mather | $7,890 |
On To the 2023 Season
The 2022 RunGood season will now conclude with the RunGood ProAM at the PokerGo Studio in Las Vegas on December 15th, with announcements on details of the 2023 RunGood schedule to come in the near future.
This concludes PokerNews coverage of the historic $1,000,000 guaranteed RunGood Contenders Series Season Finale from the beautiful Thunder Valley Casino Resort in Lincoln, California.
Be sure to keep it with the PokerNews team for live updates from your favorite tournaments throughout the world.
