The Route 66 Poker Open by RunGood Events concluded on Sunday with a $366-buyin Main Event that attracted 310 players from across the region and beyond. Attendance across all the events exceeded expectations as well as the advertised prize pool guarantees.

Photos from all of the events at the Route 66 Poker Open can be found on the RunGood Events Facebook page.

Double Stack Event

The series kicked off on Wednesday, June 19, with the $166-buyin Double Stack event, which had a guaranteed prize pool of $16,000. Two Day 1 flights were scheduled, for noon and 7 p.m.; between the two flights, 269 players entered the event, creating a prize pool of $36,584.

A two-day event, players surviving Day 1 would return on Thursday to play down to a winner. With nine players left, a deal was struck to chop up the remaining prize pool, with Phillip Ryan Teel and Kelly Walters taking the largest shares of $3,766 each.


Final nine winners photo of the Double Stack event.

To view the Double Stack photo albums, click here: Day 1A, Day 1B, Day 2.

Green Chip Bounty

On Thursday, June 20, the Green Chip Bounty event kicked off at 7 p.m. The $166-buyin event offered two ways to cash in: collect $25 for every player you knock out, or finish in the top 10% of the field. A total of 78 players entered, creating a prize pool of $10,920. Eventual winner Michael Wayne Bunch (pictured, below) took home first place and $2,914 from the prize pool plus $175 in bounties.


Michael Wayne Bunch, Green Chip Bounty Winner

To view the Green Chip Bounty photo album, click here.

Main Event

The $366-buyin Main Event, which sported a guaranteed prize pool of $50,000, took place over three days, Friday to Sunday. Two Day 1 flights were scheduled for noon Friday and Saturday, with the surviving players returning at noon on Sunday to play down to a champion. In addition to the top cash prize, the winner of the Main Event would receive a custom trophy and Route 66 racing jacket.

The RunGood Events Live Reporting team covered the event, providing player profiles and hand histories, along with player chip counts and prize awards.

A total of 310 players entered the event on Day 1, creating a prize pool of $99,200--almost double the advertised guarantee. When late registration closed on Saturday, the top prize was announced as $22,811. 38 players survived Day 1, of which 36 would be guaranteed a payday.

The money bubble burst early on Day 2 with two players, Bryant Lipscomb and Jeffrey Martin, being eliminated on the same hand. As a result, the two would split 36th-place prize money--taking home $372 each. With a payday secure, the remaining players would next set their sights on reaching the final table, and then to win the event.

Of the ten players to reach the final table, three were especially notable. Kelly Walters had only just days before reached the final table of the Route 66 Double Stack Event. Larry Trimble was the reigning champion of the Route 66 Main Event, having bested the field last year to come out on top. Daniel Lowery, a RunGood ambassador, came to play after cashing in three WSOP events in Las Vegas in the past three weeks.


Route 66 Main Event Final Table: (left to right) Stan Breedlove, Casey Bauer, Daniel Lowery, Jonathan Wilson, Ha "Bill" Tran, Jeremy Rodriguez, Larry Trimble, Kelly Walters, Rob Lemke, and Dax Alexander.

Eventually, the final table played down to a heads-up match between Daniel Lowery and Ha "Bill" Tran. When heads-up play began, Lowery held 5,100,000 chips to Tran's 1,100,000. As you might expect, the battle was short. Tran, in fact, was in a hurry to take a coinflip for the title, asking Lowery to just go all in blind and let the chips fall where they may.

"You can go all in as much as you want to," Lowery replied.

In the final hand of the tournament, Tran moved all in before his cards were even dealt, and Lowery called.

Lowery - 2♠2♥
Tran - Q♠7♦

Lowery had already knocked out one player at this final table with pocket deuces, why not win it that way? The board ran out J♣8♠6♣6♥3♣, and Daniel Lowery became the Route 66 Poker Open Main Event Champion.

Tran took home $14,444 for his second-place finish; with Lowery receiving $22,811 in first place prize money, the Route 66 Main Event trophy, and a custom Route 66 racing jacket.


Daniel Lowery, Route 66 Main Event Champion

To view the Main Event photo albums, click here: Day 1A, Day 1B, Day 2.

Main Event Final Table Payouts

1. Daniel Lowery, $22,811
2. Ha "Bill" Tran, $14,444
3. Jeremy Rodriguez, $9,672
4. Jonathan Wilson, $6,746
5. Casey Bauer, $5,059
6. Larry Trimble, $3,938
7. Dax Alexander, $3,353
8. Kelly Walters, $2,778
9. Stan Breedlove, $2,391
10. Rob Lemke, $1,885

Bonnie & Clyde

The final event on the Route 66 Poker Open schedule was the $100-buyin Bonnie & Clyde event, which hit the road at 3 p.m. on Sunday, June 23. Twenty teams entered the event, each team consisting of one male and one female player. For the structure of this tournament, team members would take turns playing for 30 minutes each, until a winning team is reached.

With two teams left, a deal was struck to chop up the remaining prize pool, with the two teams collecting $672 each. As part of the deal, David Ramsey and Martha Endsley (pictured, below) were declared the event's winners.


Martha Endsley and David Ramsey, Bonnie & Clyde Winners

To view the Bonnie & Clyde photo album, click here.

Thank You Players and Staff

RunGood and Hard Rock would like to thank all the players and staff who made the Route 66 Poker Open such a success, and so much fun in the process!

Please join us here at the Tulsa Hard Rock July 12-14 for the RunGood Weekend Poker Open. RunGood will also be in Bossier City August 8-11 for the Southern Poker Open at Horseshoe Bossier City. We look forward to seeing you there!

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