Justin Arnwine Repeats as RGPS Maryland Main Event Champion
Eight Day 1 bullets turned into a $78,501 victory as Arnwine rallied past Maclaren Chatham heads-up at MGM National Harbor.
Justin Arnwine defended his RunGood Poker Series Maryland Main Event title at MGM National Harbor, winning the $1,300 Golden Expedition Maryland finale for $78,501. He beat Maclaren Chatham heads-up after the tournament drew 329 entries and built a $375,060 prize pool.
Arnwine’s victory gave him a second RGPS championship ring and a second straight Maryland Main Event win. As we reported in May, RunGood had brought its Golden Expedition stop back to MGM National Harbor with a $250,000 Main Event guarantee.
The 2026 series ran Sept. 21-27. Its $1,300 buy-in was lower than the $1,700 price for the inaugural MGM National Harbor stop in 2025, while the field grew from 251 entries to 329. Arnwine won that earlier RGPS Grand Prix Maryland Main Event for $80,646 after defeating Russ Dunlevy heads-up.
This time, Arnwine needed eight Day 1 entries before putting together the winning run. He had busted on the money bubble in an earlier opening flight, then bagged 1.2 million chips from Day 1b, the overall lead among its 14 survivors. By the start of Day 2, he led the final 43 players and was the only one above 1 million chips.
The final table ran for more than six hours and finished after midnight. Arnwine eliminated Jimmy Chen in third place for $38,481 when his pocket deuces made a full house against Chen’s flopped trip aces.
Chatham began heads-up play with 10 million chips to Arnwine’s 6.4 million, but Arnwine recovered to take the title. The last hand saw Arnwine’s pocket eights hold against Chatham’s ace-seven; Chatham collected $50,212 for second.
Arnwine said he was prepared to take risks rather than play solely around ICM considerations because he wanted the outright win. “I was willing to lose earlier than ICM dictated I should have been putting myself at risk,” he said. “But I just decided, no, I want to win.”
The result reversed a striking contrast with his 2025 win, when Arnwine needed only one buy-in and celebrated with a “1 Buy-In Haters” sign. He has been described as an unofficial career tournament-win record holder with more than 150 victories, and said his current goal is to become 2026 Mid-Stakes Player of the Year.
