DJ Fenton wins 2018 RIU Reno Spring Main Event
After the final card was dealt, and DJ Fenton officially took down the 2018 Run It Up Reno Main Event and the $56,200 that comes with the biggest trophy of the series, there was very little emotion.
Fenton was stoic, shook the hand of Paul Sampson, and acted like it was no big deal that he just bested 500 entries. After the rail cleared out a little bit, Fenton felt comfortable enough to show his raw emotion.
“Do you know what my best live cash is before now?” asked Fenton. “Like $1,800. I’ve only been playing live since like August.”
Fenton and his wife both are in the Air Force and are stationed just across the state line at Beale Air Force base in Marysville, CA. He’s new to the live arena, but has been a big fan of host Jason Somerville’s Run It Up Twitch stream for some time.
After making a deep run in this series’ main, he learned more about other streamers and learned more about the Run It Up community and the different personalities that make it out to every series at the Peppermill.
“I obviously watch this guy,” said Fenton, pointing towards Somerville. “I started watching Jaime [Staples] too. But a lot of the people here are like ‘Oh yeah, he streams, he vlogs, he’s a pro, he’s an online pro.’ I’m not in the scene, I don’t know most of the people, you know? But yeah, I’m in the scene now.”
The native of Illinois recently started watching Staples’ steam and even got to make his debut on the stream en route to his win. Staples finished third to cap off a great week for himself, but streamed the whole final table from his seat on Twitch.
“He’s got his whole posse and all that,” said Fenton. “It’s great. It’s true. Thousand and thousand of people [on Twitch] were watching.”
Staples finished in third place, taking home $26,320 to leaving Fenton heads-up with Sampson. Sampson started the heads-up match with about a 5-to-1 chip advantage and extended it to 11-to-1 at his peak.
Over the course of several hands, the tables were turned and Fenton, after winning several all in pots in a row, took the chip lead. In the end, his pocket jacks held up against Sampson’s middle pair to complete the most epic comeback of the series and secure his first major live score.
“It’s cause the Cardinals got their first win today,” joked Fenton, linking his own good fortune to that of his hometown baseball team.
With his comeback win and the biggest score of the series in just his first time playing a RIU event, Fenton seems hooked on the experience that is Run It Up Reno and plans on coming back in October.
“I have to defend my title, right?”
Here is a look at the results:
1st: DJ Fenton – $56,200
2nd: Paul Sampson – $38,770
3rd: Jaime Staples – $26,320
4th: Nathan Manuel – $17,030
5th: Peter Lynn – $10,840
6th: Ryan Carter – $7,600
7th: Daoud Majid – $5,500
8th: Daniel Jones – $3,700
9th: Ryan Leonis – $2,620
10th: Jeremy Schoenberg – $2,620
11th: Chris Moneymaker – $2,620
12th: David Spurr – $2,620
13th: Jimmy Cappucci – $2,150
14th: Matt Betti – $2,150
15th: Paul Holder – $2,150
16th: Mason Rosenberg – $2,150
17th: Brandon Butler – $1,780
18th: Jake Rosenstiel – $1,780
19th: Mary Swafford – $1,780
20th: Sung Song – $1,780
21st: Gilberto Villa – $1,780
22nd: Ian Steinman – $1,780
23rd: Kim Stone – $1,780
24th: Richard Gross – $1,780
25th: Brandon King – $1,520
26th: Vincent Newland – $1,520
27th: Jonathan Pawlson – $1,520
28th: Bob Rose – $1,520
29th: Blake Cavanaugh – $1,520
30th: Theodore McNeely – $1,520
31st: Steven Friedlander – $1,520
32nd: Logan Chun – $1,520
33rd: William Gitmed – $1,310
34th: Nick Kiley – $1,310
35th: Ronnie Bardah – $1,310
36th: Dalton Ream – $1,310
37th: Jed Hoffman – $1,310
38th: Zachary Gilbert – $1,310
39th: Kyle Levicki – $1,310
40th: Nicholas Guevara – $1,310
41st: Ed Yang – $1,150
42nd: Lynda Pham – $1,150
43rd: Jagadeesh Vallabhaneni – $1,150
44th: Preston Beer – $1,150
45th: Nik Chinell – $1,150
46th: Adam Johnson – $1,150
47th: Lindon Sayre – $1,150
48th: Dwight Ross – $1,050
49th: Wes Cutshall – $1,050
50th: Kyle Zech – $1,050
51st: Lex Veldhuis – $1,050
52nd: Matt Staples – $1,050
53rd: Hayden Fortini – $1,050
54th: Patrick Testoni – $1,050
55th: Heather Hardie – $1,050
56th: Aaron Schoch – $1,050
57th: Jake Irvin – $970
58th: Baptiste Chavaillaz – $970
59th: Hunter Malcolm – $970
60th: Jeff Chapman – $970
61st: Eric Shiarla – $970
62nd: Sean Morton – $970
63rd: Patrick Preston – $970
64th: Anthony Medler – $970
65th: Gregg Wilkinson – $920
66th: Mark Mazza – $920
67th: Albert Ng – $920
68th: Gary Mick – $920
69th: Leon Khochayan – $920
70th: Arlie Shaban – $920
71st: Mathew Silveira – $920
72nd: Garry Gates – $920
73rd: Andrew Neeme – $920
74th: Brett Gordon – $920
75th: Michael Martinez – $920
76th: Tim Malone – $920
77th: Mark Hutcheson – $920
78th: Noel Edwards – $920
79th: Adam Poulack – $920
80th: Jesse Capps – $920
