Thomas Wikoff may not have much tournament experience, but it seemed to bring out the best of him this weekend at Horseshoe Council Bluffs.
Some 461 hopefuls made their way to the 2025 RGPS Mission RunGood Council Bluffs $800 Main Event with their eyes on the ring. After three long days of play, Wikoff is walking away with the beautiful RunGood ring and the $64,869 first-place prize.
Wikoff is an Iowa native who lives three hours away from the casino. He came into town on Friday, and after an unsuccessful day of cash games, he decided to try his luck in a $190 satellite on Saturday morning. Thirty-six hours later, he is the Main Event champion.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Thomas Wikoff | $64,869 |
| 2 | Nick Hall | $45,465 |
| 3 | Eric Kyle | $29,237 |
| 4 | Nicholas Stille | $19,798 |
| 5 | Robert Renaud | $15,215 |
| 6 | Walt Lustgraaf | $12,634 |
| 7 | Nick Barksdale | $10,585 |
| 8 | Corey Paggeot | $8,535 |
| 9 | Ryan Phan | $6,486 |
Winner's Reaction
"It's an amazing feeling. It definitely hasn't fully kicked in yet," described Wikoff after the biggest victory of his career.
"It has been a really fun two days. I ran really good and had a great time."
Wikoff is primarily a cash game player, but he has plenty of experience in poker.
"I have been playing for almost twenty years. I'm primarily a cash game and home game player, and I've always loved it."
Tournament poker can be difficult to schedule, as he explained, "My wife and I both own businesses, so tournaments are hard. I usually only play two per year."
If this weekend can be used as evidence, Wikoff should consider playing more often.
Wikoff got off to a hot start on Day 1 and never looked back.
"On the first day, I was all-in with ace-jack against ace-queen and pocket queens. I told the dealer I needed a lot of jacks and he put two on the flop."
Wikoff entered Day 2 as the biggest stack in the room and remained close to the lead for the duration of the day. He said that he owes much of his success to pocket sixes.
"I had them five times. Twice I folded, but all five times there was a six on the flop. I'm never folding them again."
The Day's Action
56 players returned for Day 2 action, all of which being in the money and guaranteed a minimum cash of $1,178.
The eliminations came quickly to start the day, as many short stacks returned for Day 2. However, the pace of play eventually slowed down as the money became more serious.
Many notable players cashed the event but were unable to make it to the final table, including RunGood regular Brent Gregory (54th-$1,371), WSOP Bracelet winner Mo Nuwwarah (35th-$1,778), and defending champion Abbas Pasha (29th-$1,778).
Final Table Action
After over two hours of 11-handed play, Jack Do and Jian Le Huang were eliminated, and the final nine players combined at a final table with Nick Barksdale holding the chip lead.
The first elimination was Ryan Phan. He jammed his last ten big blinds with pocket sevens over an open and was called by ace-queen. An ace fell on the turn, and Phan was the first to go.
Shortly after, RunGood Ambassador Corey Paggeot fell in eighth place. He got the rest of his short stack in from the small blind with king-three but ran into the ace-queen of Nick Hall. Paggeot could not improve as his run came to an end.
Play would continue seven-handed for some time until a pivotal double elimination occurred. Nick Barksdale jammed under the gun with pocket nines, and Nick Hall rejammed with ace-king. Walt Lustgraaf woke up with kings in the big blind and called to put himself at risk as well. However, an ace fell on the turn and Hall scored the double knockout.
The next casualty was Robert Renaud in fifth. He jammed his final 13 big blinds with king-queen but ran into the ace-queen of Eric Kyle. Renaud did not find any help as he hit the rail in fifth.
In fourth place was Nicholas Stille. The Omaha native lost a pivotal hand with pocket aces against queen-ten suited. The very next hand, he jammed his short stack with king-six suited and could not connect with the board as he fell to Nick Hall's ace-eight.
The final three discussed a deal during a break, but they eventually decided that they wanted to play for all the glory.
Shortly after, Eric Kyle was eliminated in third place. He jammed ten bigs over a button open with ten-eight and was snapped off by Nick Hall's ace-queen.
The heads-up battle between Hall and Wikoff did not last long. A massive confrontation occurred when Hall flopped top pair against the aces of Wikoff. All the chips went in on the turn, and Wikoff held to take a commanding lead. A couple of hands later, the rest of Hall's chips were in the middle with nine-seven against king-seven suited. Wikoff's dominating hand held up as the two opponents shared a sporting handshake after a great run.
That does it for PokerNews's coverage of the 2025 RGPS Mission RunGood Council Bluffs $800 Main Event. Stay tuned as we continue to cover poker tournaments around the world.