Mauricio Miranda Leads RGPS Dallas Main Event After Day 1a
He burst the bubble at Palace Poker and topped the first flight with 992,000 chips.
Mauricio Miranda led Day 1a of the RGPS Golden Expedition Dallas $600 Main Event after bursting the bubble and finishing with 992,000 chips at Palace Poker. Halit Ozaltun was second with 890,000, and the opening flight sent 12 players on to Day 2 in the money.
According to PokerNews, the first of eight opening flights drew 100 entries and played all the way to Level 20 before the bags came out. As covered earlier this month, the series returned to Palace Poker after a stop in the Passport Season came to a close in March. The event carries a $200,000 guarantee, starts players with 60,000 chips, and allows unlimited reentry across the eight opening flights.
Hand-for-hand play dragged on for more than two full levels near the bubble. David Poblacion survived the stone bubble with 239,000 chips, and Miranda then won the final-bubble hand against Dora Coyle to end the night. The showdown was A♠J♥ for Coyle against A♦K♦ for Miranda, and Miranda improved on the runout to send Coyle out.
Nikola Mircetic finished third with 766,000, Jackson Morisey bagged 623,000, and Paul Taskalos rounded out the top five with 532,000. Morisey was the only other player to finish above ten starting stacks, while Taskalos’ surge came after a big river call with top pair a few levels earlier.
The field also included two RGPS Ambassadors, but neither made the money. Alexandra Loveless made an early run with pocket queens before fading after late registration closed, Bart Bogard joined the field and was eliminated, and defending Dallas champion Daniel Lowery took two shots before running top pair into Michael McBarron’s set of sixes. The tournament continues Friday with Day 1c, and six more flights were still to be played this weekend.
