A total of 605 players tried their luck in the $700 RunGood Poker Series Checkpoint Main Event at The Horseshoe Casino In Council Bluffs Iowa. That tally created a prize pool worth $363,000 that only 74 players were lucky enough to see any piece of.

After the dust cleared it was local player Joshua Kopp who stood with the ring wrapped around his finger, and a sum of $68,799 for a prize. “I feel pretty good,” the newly crowned champion said after winning his ring “It’s still pretty surreal.”

Kopp is a local player who’s only prior Hendon Mob cash was his 29th place finish in the last iteration of The RGPS Main Event in Council Bluffs last October.

“I play a lot of home games, and a couple Saturdays a month I play the fat stack tournament,” he said when discussing his experience playing. “The main thing I tried was just to be calm and not do anything stupid, eliminate as many mistakes as I could.”

Kopp also becomes the latest winner of the free roll to the dream seat tournament at the end of the year, of which he says “I will be making whatever arrangements I need to for that tournament.”

RGPS Council Bluffs Checkpoint Main Event Final Table Results

Final Day Action

It did not take long for the players to start dropping. Many accomplished players saw their days end earlier than their hopes as players like Caitlin Comeskey (74th-$917), two time RGPS champion Dakotah O’Dell (64th-$1,074), Jared Ward (54th-$1,441), Kevin Berthelsen (44th-$1,641), and last year’s runner up Mark Homan (13th-$4,577) all fell on the outside of the final table. The last player to fall before the final table was Michael Brewer, who had flopped top pair top kicker on an ace-high board, only to be drawing nearly dead against Renato Spahiu’s flopped wheel. Brewer collected $5,725 for his efforts and the final nine players took their seats.

Final Table Action

The first casualty of the final table came quickly. Jared Langbehn spent most of his time at the final two tables as the shortest stack, but managed to navigate up several pay ladders. The bell tolled for him when he moved in his final four big blinds over a raise from Nick Stille, only for Renato Spahiu to isolate in the big blind. Langbehn’s jack-ten could not improve against Spahiu’s queen jack and collected $6,882 for his ninth place finish.

Angela Jordison was the next one out the door after a few hands had already passed. She defended her big blind against an open from Joshua Kopp from under the gun. She check-jammed her king-jack on a turn that gave her a pair of jacks, only to run into Kopp’s pocket kings. She was unable to improve and Jordison added a RGPS final table to her already illustrious resume. She collected $9,173 for her eighth place finish.

A few hands of jockeying over the lead occurred over the next level. At the end of it, it was one of the chip leaders at the start of the final table Matt Donaldson who ended his run in seventh place. He lost a big pot to Matt Morfitt at an earlier point in the final table which had sent him down the chip counts, but at the end of it he got in his pocket nines against Spahiu’s ace-queen, only for an ace-high board to dash his hopes and send him to the payout cage to collect $11,503.

Though he dropped out of the lead for a bit, Spahiu would regain the lead when Stille four-bet shoved in a multiway pot on a nine-high two clubs board with king-queen of clubs, only for Spahiu to call with a nine-eight for top pair. The turn queen of diamonds put Stille squarely in the lead with top pair, but the river eight gave Spahiu the lead with two pair and he once more took the lead while Stille exited the tournament in sixth place for $13,957.

In fifth place it was Terry Williams who was eliminated. He was left with under ten big blinds and moved in his final chips on the button with king-queen of clubs only for Kopp to call with pocket sixes and flop a set. Though a flush draw appeared on the turn, Williams could not find the river club to scoop and he collected $16,999 for his efforts.

Start of day chip leader Matt Morfitt was the victim of many beats throughout the day. He had actually nearly knocked out David Caron when he got in his aces in against Caron’s queens. A river queen kept Caron alive and left Morfitt with the shortest stack in the tournament. He survived even left short and a few timely double ups saw him get to four-handed play. He got in his final chips against Caron when he moved all in with ace-three, but could not improve against Caron’s pocket fours. The 2017 RGPS Council Bluffs third place finisher exited the tournament in fourth place for $22,147.

What followed was three handed battle where both Spahiu and Kopp took their shot at the chip lead. Caron eventually doubled through both of them and it was Spahiu who could not hold up against Kopp when he got in his final chips with ace-ten against Kopp’s king-four. A four on the flop sent out the decorated grinder out in third place for $31,015 and the heads up battle commenced.

Caron held the chip lead for the beginning portions of heads up, but a costly pot where Kopp held pocket queens marked the end of his lead. At the end of it all, Caron got in his final chips with pocket sixes against Kopp’s nine ten suited, but an all diamond flop gave Kopp the flush and left Caron drawing dead on the turn. Caron shook hands with Kopp and the RGPS regular finished his deep run in second place for $48,232.

RGPS Council Bluffs Series Event Winners