Matt Stouts Ships 2018 Run It Up Reno Main Event

The 2018 Run It Up Reno Main Event attracted 687 entries and outlasting them all was Las Vegas-based pro Matt Stout (cover image) who won the event for a cool $70,000.

The event featured a buy-in of $600 and was hosted at the Peppermill Casino located in northern Nevada. Stout cruised into the final table where he defeated popular vlogger and Team Run It Up ambassador Kevin Rob Martin in heads-up play to claim the title.

“I feel great right now. It’s a lot of hard work and a lot of heartache in a tournament and once a year or every two years you get to feel like a genius again,” Stout, who has $4 Million in lifetime tournament earnings, said after the win. He has recently started shifting focus to playing PLO cash games and building his non-profit venture, the Charity Series of Poker.

For soon-to-be-father Reno, the win added a reason to celebrate. “She actually wanted to come up here even though she’s eight months pregnant because she’s always wanted to play Run It Up,” Stout wrote later on the RIU blog, talking about his girlfriend Britney Barnes. “I wanted to at least appease her and fire one before the baby comes and it’s a little tougher to travel, but it worked out just fine.”

Barnes accompanied Stout on his trip to the Peppermill Casino and the duo entered the Main Event. While Stout eventually took the event down, Barnes scored with an 87^th place finish worth $1,020.

Talking about his heads-up confrontation with Martin, Stout said, “If I were to rank all the players and who I wanted to play heads-up in this tournament with, he [Martin] would definitely come up at the bottom of the list. He played great the whole tournament.”

Run It Up Reno shared news of Stout’s win on its Twitter handle.

#RunItUpReno Main Event

Matt @MattStoutPoker Stout Wins the $600 Run It Up Main Event ($70,000); Kevin @KevinRobMartin Martin Eliminated in 2nd Place ($48,210)

A full recap will be posted shortly. https://t.co/nMWeXFlv6Lpic.twitter.com/MOWKLY7xSI

— Run It Up Reno (@runitupreno) October 29, 2018

Final Table Recap

The final table saw its first elimination when William Chevrie ran his ace-five into Stout’s ace-jack to return to the rail in eighth place.

Stout went on to score another knockout when Deborah Swift moved all in for 16 big blinds with ace-five and Stout woke up with pocket eights to scoop the pot, sending Swift to the rail in seventh place.

Ilana Creed was short-stacked by now and became the next player to leave the final table in sixth place.

It was Stout again, dominating the final table with his aggression. He dispatched Kyle Besaw in fifth place. The next player to bow out was Anthony Yeh, whose tournament run was cut short with him picking a fourth place score.

In the three-handed play, Sok Chean held the chip lead but subsequently lost his stack and exited the event. First he was coolered by Stout when both of them paired an ace on the flop, but Stout’s top two proved superior to Chean’s middle two. Martin dominated him in a hand where both held flush draws but Martin’s queen-high stayed ahead of Chean’s jack-high draw. Finally, Chean was eliminated in third place.

The final hand in the heads-up match between Kevin Martin and Stout saw Martin moving all in with 22 big blinds on which Stout raise-called with . Martin with was trailing and neither of the two paired up on the board, keeping Stout in the lead. He won the hand as well as the event, while Martin had to settle for a runner-up finish.

Final Table Results (USD)

1.Matt Stout – $70,000

2. Kevin Martin – $48,210

3. SokChean – $33,330

4. Anthony Yeh – $23,150

5. Kyle Besaw – $16,190

6. Ilana Creed – $11,420

7. Deborah Swift – $8,170

8. William Chevrie – $5,945