The Run It Up employees are pretty good at Taiwanese poker. There have only been three in the history of the RIU Reno series and two of the trophies have been brought back to the RIU offices in Las Vegas
RIU employee Andre Hengchua won the first-ever Taiwanese poker tournament at RIU Reno last spring and this fall, fellow RIU employee Joe Wegner took down the $125 Taiwanese double board event on Monday night to put a wrap on RIU Reno VII.
When longtime RIU warrior Deb Swift busted in third place, it was guaranteed that the title was going back to the office. Heads-up was a battle between co-workers Jimmy Cappucci and Wegner. Wegner pulled away and dispatched of Cappucci to take bragging rights back to Las Vegas.
By defeating Cappucci, Wegner defeated a field of 85 entries to earn $2,270 and his first RIU trophy. Cappucci, who already owns multiple RIU titles, took home $1,445 for his runner-up finish. Despite multiple trophies, it doesn’t seem like Wegner is going to let Cappucci live down this second-place any time soon.
“Oh my gosh. This is actually going on his desk the day we get back,” said Wegner with a laugh about his trophy. “I’m actually replacing his computer with this. I’ll put in a USB and the mouse and stuff.”
Wegner and Cappucci weren’t the only RIU employees at the final table. Will Butcher is an employee as well and finished fifth for $475. The office is where a lot of Taiwanese poker takes place.
Wegner and Hengchua spend a lot of time battling the game heads-up, which might be why they own two of the three Taiwanese trophies.
“Andre and I, we play every week,” said Wegner. “Not that often. Okay, every day. Okay, three times a day. Just enough to take the edge off. It’s like ‘Oh man, I’m pretty tired from playing Taiwanese. So, let’s play some Taiwanese.'”
The 85-entry field paid out the top 15 spots. Here are the full results:
1st: Joe Wegner – $2,270
2nd: Jimmy Cappucci – $1,445
3rd: Deb Swift – $960
4th: Christopher Albanese – $660
5th: Will Butcher – $475
6th: Harry Corvese – $360
7th: Rory MacDonald – $280
8th: Chip Tutu – $280
9th: Pete Mall – $245
10th: William Dippel – $245
11th: Gail Sarett – $220
12th: Nathan Van Felix – $220
13th: Jesse Capps – $195
14th: Albert Ng – $195
15th: Steven Filipovic – $195