With Day 9 of RIU Reno Centered Around Main Event Day 1B and Short Deck, ‘Igotabanana’ Steals the Spotlight

With the completion of Saturday’s action, Run It Up Reno VII is nearing an end with just two more days on the schedule. Saturday’s schedule was centered around Day 1B of the $600 main event and some no-limit hold’em short deck action.

The second and final starting flight of the main event kicked off at noon and drew another 374 entries, bringing the total field size from both flights to 687 and generated a prize pool of $377,850, which is nearly double the $200,000 guarantee.

Like the first day, the main event drew some very tough players. At the end of the day, only 91 survived with Kyle Besan leading the way. He’ll start Day 2 second in chips behind Day 1A chip leader Dylan Hortin. There will be 154 players returning for Day 2 and cards will get back in the air at noon.

The payouts will be released at the start of the day and the chip counts have already been posted on the blog.

Chris Moneymaker on Day 1B of the main event

Main Event Day 1B chip leader Kyle Besan

Mini Main Event winner Bill Casey on Day 1B of the main event

Derek Gomez on Day 1B of the main event

While the second starting flight of the main event kicked off, there was a no-limit hold’em short deck cash game streamed on RunItUp.TV between some of the RIU team.

Jaime Staples all in in the short deck cash game

Jeff Gross in the short deck cash game

Jaime Staples tosses chips into the middle with Andrew Neeme behind him

The short deck cash game lineup

Jason Somerville commits chips in the short deck cash game

And last, but certainly not least, was the $125 no-limit hold’em short deck event. It was the first of its kind and it was taken down by one of the most beloved members of the RIU community.

William ‘Igotabanana’ Lousa Alvin satellited his way to Reno on PokerStars for $55 and took down the first-ever short deck event in RIU history. He defeated John Lindley heads-up to best the 122-entry field and take his first RIU trophy all the way back to Sweden.

Antonio Abrego’s photos show the joy better than words can express it. Make sure you check out all of his work on the RIU Flickr library.

William Lousa Alvin wins $125 NLH short deck

‘Sparky’ celebrates with ‘Igotabanana’

‘Igotabanana’ celebrates with his rail

William Alvin Lousa (left) and RIU’s own Jesse Fullen (left), who finished fifth for $1,000