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Dakotah O’Dell – Photo Credit: RGPS
Dakotah O’Dell won his second RunGood Poker Series ring at the Downstream Casino and Resort near Joplin, Missouri on April 16, which gave him the top prize of $63,647. His first RGPS victory came at the Iowa stop last February. Those two RGPS rings will join the World Series of Poker Circuit gold ring O’Dell won in Choctaw in July of last year in his trophy case. O’Dell now has more than $300,000 in career earnings, an impressive total considering that the cash-game player reportedly only started seriously playing tournaments in 2019.
“It feels great, this is my hometown casino here,” said O’Dell to the PokerNews reporters after the win. He continued, “I travel to a lot of the circuit events, but doing it here feels like a dream come true. I learn by talking to players better than me, taking in a lot of content, and grind. It’s not always easy, just staying focused and playing.”
The $600 buy-in no-limit hold’em tournament attracted a field of 683 entries over four starting flights, and the total prize pool worth $348,330 easily topped the $100,000 guarantee. The top 84 players all took home at least $871 in prize money, and the notables that cashed included Mark Martin (33rd), Pete Petree (42nd), Ashley Frank (54th), Joey Gargiulo (64th), and Shantanu Garg (75th).
There were 82 players that returned for the final day of play, and it took just three hours to reach the final table. O’Dell was less than a big blind above the short stack when play began between the final nine, but he didn’t let that phase him. “When you come into the final table with five big blinds, you kinda write yourself off sometimes. I had people in my corner and this time it worked out,” said O’Dell.
The final table would take six hours to play out, and O’Dell started his rise to the top when he doubled up during eight-handed play, and then he took the chip lead a short time later. O’Dell took out Jael Lewis next, and he was rolling before three players doubled up through him. O’Dell found his footing again when he eliminated Richard Hawkins in fourth place, and he followed that up with a knockout punch to Jason Darland in third after a long battle between the final three players.
O’Dell held the lead at the start of heads-up play with 14 million against the 6.5 million of WSOP gold bracelet and five-time WSOP Circuit gold ring winner Blair Hinkle. There was one double up to be found for Hinkle, but the second time he got all in the cards were not as kind. The final hand saw Hinkle shove preflop with pocket fours, and O’Dell called to cover him holding A
5
. The board ran out A
Q6
82, and Hinkle was eliminated in second place, good for $42,427. The accomplished tournament and online professional fell just shy of winning his third RGPS ring, but he did see his career earnings grow close to $5.1 million
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Payout | POY Points |
| 1 | Dakotah O’Dell | $63,647 | 420 |
| 2 | Blair Hinkle | $42,427 | 350 |
| 3 | Jason Darland | $31,210 | 280 |
| 4 | Richard Hawkins | $23,338 | 210 |
| 5 | Jared Ward | $17,591 | 175 |
| 6 | Kevin Unkel | $13,411 | 140 |
| 7 | Danny Barnes | $10,345 | 105 |
| 8 | Jael Lewis | $8,081 | 70 |
| 9 | John Reynolds | $6,374 | 35 |
The next RunGood Poker Series event will take the tour to the Horseshoe Casino & Hotel in Council Bluffs, Iowa from April 28-30 for a $700 buy-in main event. The full tournament series will run from April 20-30, and you can find the schedule for the series right here.
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