ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — Oliver Simon came into the Borgata Hotel, Casino & Spa with $15,000 in lifetime tournament earnings. He left with a championship ring, $47,375, and a title he wasn't shy about putting into words.
"This is like a fairy tale right now," Simon said as the ring and chips were arranged on the table for his winner's photo.
Simon was named the official champion of the inaugural RunGood Passport Season Atlantic City Main Event after the final four players agreed to an ICM deal, bringing an early end to what had been building into a long night at the Borgata poker room. As the short stack at the four-handed table, Simon gave up $1,000 to each of his three opponents in exchange for the RunGood Poker Series ring and the title.
Michael Cohen, the chip leader at deal time, took home the largest share at $58,480. Michael Cheng received $55,385 and Cenk Cerci $54,745. Simon's $47,375 came out of a $497,000 prize pool generated by 710 entries. His previous biggest career score stood at $6,500.
Simon declined to be interviewed after posing with his new jewelry, but Cerci had plenty to say.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Oliver Simon | United States | $47,375* |
| 2 | Michael Cohen | United States | $58,480* |
| 3 | Michael Cheng | United States | $55,385* |
| 4 | Cenk Cerci | Germany | $54,745* |
| 5 | Ilya Ashmyan | United States | $18,980 |
| 6 | Soukha Kachittavong | United States | $14,825 |
| 7 | Yusuf Buber | United States | $11,835 |
| 8 | Wooyang Lin | United States | $9,525 |
| 9 | Travis Hartshorn | United States | $7,660 |
* denotes four-way ICM deal
Cerci's Week
Cerci had already won the Super Stack event earlier in the week, topping a 74-player field to take home $11,270 and a ring. He brought that ring to the Main Event final table and showed it off to his opponents before adding another deep run to his week.
"It was a great experience. I love playing here at Borgata because I can focus here purely on poker, forgetting family and responsibilities. That's why I can make deep runs. I almost cashed every event. I made two deep runs. Perfect, perfect week," Cerci said.
It was also his first time playing an RGPS stop, and the experience left a clear impression.
"This is my first RunGood event. I think it's a very well-organized event. The staff here is always great. I think I'm going to play every other event in the future."
Cerci was also the one who put the deal on the table when four-handed play tightened up.
"Basically, we were pretty even stack-wise. It was more or less a coin flip. All four players are more or less at the same skill level. That's why I offered it and the guys accepted it, and I'm glad we made the deal."
Day 2: Chip Leaders Fall, a No-Show Blinded Out
Day 2 brought 87 survivors back to the Borgata poker room at noon. Start-of-day chip leader Lucas Vergara ran into trouble early, losing with pocket kings twice to Yusuf Buber. First, Buber connected with a running straight; then, Buber turned a pair of aces to send Vergara to the rail in 53rd place.
Three-time WSOP bracelet winner Ryan Eriquezzo went in 78th, joined by Mukul Pahuja (79th), Nan Min (61st), Eric Buchman (56th), Chris Conrad (54th), Nicholas Rigby (50th), and Vinny Pahuja (40th) among the notable exits.
Day 1c chip leader Greg Himmelbrand made it to 30th before running into Simon. Himmelbrand tank-called a river shove holding a set of sevens, only to see Simon table a flush.
Opening-flight chip leader Alen Habib never made it back for Day 2 at all. His million-chip stack was steadily blinded down over more than five hours before he was officially eliminated in 21st place.
NFL player Avery Williams bowed out in 20th, jamming the turn with a set of queens into Hartshorn's set of kings. Keith Becker fell in 18th to Simon. Cheng cracked Federico Castro's kings by spiking trip queens on the turn. Joe Foote got his chips in ahead with ace-king against Cerci's king-queen, flopping top pair, but Cerci made a running flush to eliminate Foote in 14th.
Cheng kept his momentum when both he and Chris DeQuatro flopped top pair of jacks. DeQuatro held the lead with his ace kicker until Cheng rivered two pair to bust DeQuatro in 12th. Simon then won a flip with pocket jacks against Aytumen Akyildiz's king-queen to set the nine-handed final table.
Final Table: Cohen and Cheng Control Early Play
Cheng arrived at the final table with 11,500,000, more than double Cohen's second-place stack. Hartshorn was the first out in ninth, his ace-five dominated by Cohen's ace-queen as Cohen flopped top pair.
Cohen picked up another elimination in eighth. After raising under the gun and getting called by Cheng and Wooyang Lin, the three saw an eight-high flop. Lin moved all in for 2,400,000 and Cohen reshoved. Cheng folded ace-eight. Lin tabled nine-eight and bricked the turn and river against Cohen's pocket queens.
Buber ran a bluff against Cohen with seven-deuce and got looked up, then called off his last 1,300,000 against Cerci with king-seven. He was ahead until a ten on the river paired Cerci's ten to send Buber home in seventh. Cheng flopped a full house with pocket threes to bust Soukha Kachittavong in sixth. Simon called Ilya Ashmyan's 2,025,000 shove with two tens; Ashmyan held ace-six and couldn't improve, exiting in fifth.
Four players remained with relatively even stacks and blinds pressing hard. Cerci raised the idea of a deal. All four agreed. Cohen took the biggest check, Simon took the ring and the title, and the first-ever RGPS Main Event at the Borgata was in the books.
