Jack Hays Wins RGPS Southern Indiana Main Event
Hays topped 393 entries for $57,054 after a final table in Elizabeth, Indiana.
Jack Hays won the RunGood Poker Series Golden Expedition Southern Indiana $800 Main Event, topping a 393-player field at Caesars Southern Indiana for $57,054 and a championship ring. He beat Craig Welko heads-up after a final table that kept shifting before Hays finally pulled away.
As reported on Aug. 21, the Main Event was already underway at Caesars Southern Indiana with a $200,000 guarantee and four starting flights on the schedule. The series ran Aug. 18-23 in Elizabeth, Indiana, and Hays said his January win at The Barrel in Franklin, Kentucky was his first title outside his home court.
According to PokerNews, Hays said the win felt unreal. He said he had been playing for 21 years, and that this was his second live tournament title after a January victory in a $500 event at The Barrel in Franklin, Kentucky, where he earned $26,000.
He came into the event with more than $63,000 in live tournament winnings, according to The Hendon Mob. The heads-up matchup looked like a mismatch on paper, and Hays knew it as Welko began to dominate and the duel started to swing against him.
Day 2 began with the final 46 players back in action and five RunGood ambassadors still in the mix. Delilah Lerner was the first to go, finishing 28th when her straight ran into Welko’s kings full. Libby Wilson went out in 21st, Taylor Howard in 25th and Matthew Lawrence in 16th, and Defending champion Jasper May bowed out in 13th when his ace-queen lost to Tim Burden’s ace-jack after Burden paired his jack.
At the nine-handed final table, Mike Scarborough held the chip lead with 2.3 million, while Hays sat second with 1.6 million. Hays grabbed momentum in a key hand against Patty Till when he doubled through with two pair against her kings, then moved past 7.5 million after making a set of deuces against Welko. Scarborough later busted Burden in fifth with a rivered full house, and Hays then knocked out Scarborough in third when Scarborough shoved a straight into Hays’ nut straight.
That left Hays with a 9.7 million to 2 million lead over Welko at the start of heads-up play. Welko fought back with a king-eight flip against Hays’ pocket sevens and then took the lead after calling down Hays with a pair of deuces, but Hays recovered by jamming blind and spiking a jack on the turn for a double-up.
The title ended when Welko moved all in for 5 million with ace-jack, Hays called with king-seven, and the flop paired Hays’ sevens. Welko, who already had three RunGood rings and had finished runner-up in this same event to Nick Rigby a year earlier, was denied a second straight title.
