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Rickey Evans finished Day 1f of the $600 The Hendon Mob Mid-Major Championship at Thunder Valley Casino Resort with 740,000, good for the overall chip lead from the final starting flight. The flight drew 291 entries, and a double knockout meant 28 players advanced instead of the allotted 29.

The final flight left the tournament with a 111-player Day 2 field and a prize pool of $577,720. Players were chasing an $83,380 top prize.

Tzu Chiu bagged 646,000 for the second-biggest stack in the flight, while Anthony Murphy followed with 642,000. Victor Paredes also moved on with 468,000, the fifth-largest stack from Day 1f.

Evans still had not won an RGPS ring, and his best RunGood finish had come in 2023 when he placed 17th in the RGPS Checkpoint Graton Main Event. Murphy had already cashed in the Passport Season Finale with an 11th-place finish in the Far and Away 50K, and a victory here would have given him his first RGPS title and roughly doubled his live career earnings.

Paredes entered Day 2 with two RGPS rings already in the bag and was chasing a third. Dean Calilung and Justo Avalos were the last players out of Day 1f, and their exits brought the flight down to 28 survivors.

The tournament was part of the RunGood Poker Series Passport Season Finale in Lincoln, California, which runs from July 13 to August 3 with 20 ring events over 22 days and more than $2.3 million in guarantees. The broader schedule also included a $500,000-guaranteed Hendon Mob Mid-Major Championship, and The Hendon Mob had said the event’s second edition was meant to build on last year’s North America stop in the TV Poker Room, which drew 1,605 entries, generated an $834,600 prize pool and ended in an eight-way deal that gave Jagdeep Bal the title and $71,036.

Day 2 was scheduled to resume at 11 a.m. local time with 40-minute levels, and the final day was set to move to eight-handed play until the final table began at nine players.