The RunGood Poker Series's post-lockdown "All-Stars Comeback Tour" returns to California with not one, but two brief stops in September. The affordably-priced tour recently made its Golden State debut in June with a stop at Jamul Casino, near San Diego. September brings a return engagement for the RGPS at Jamul, plus a new stop at Sacramento's Thunder Valley Casino Resort Hotel.
RunGood Poker Series' return visit to Jamul will take place September 7 to 12, 2021. The stop will feature seven different official ring events, with a RGPS ring also awarded to each winner. The list of events includes a $100,000 main event that runs from Friday, September 10, through Sunday, September 12. Other events include the $135 Guest Bounty, $185 DeepStack, and a Seniors tourney.
Final details for RGPS's debut at Lincoln's Thunder Valley, just outside Sacramento, remain unofficial. According to RunGood founder Tana Karn, the Thunder Valley stop's schedule awaits formal approval and can't yet be released. However, the stop is expected to include a $200,000 main event and prelims similar to the Jamul stop.
RunGood's expanded westward presence
The two new stops grow RunGood's growing footprint "out West," as Karn describes it. The RGPS is an offshoot of Karn's RunGood Gear poker-clothing line. RunGood's operations are based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and most prior series stops had been within a few hundred miles of there.
The increased California presence for RunGood confirms Karn's intent to make the series a nationwide series of events that are priced and geared more toward everyday players. RunGood Gear factors into the series as well, as unique logoed items have been designed and are available to each stop's players. RunGood's lower-priced events partly fill a hole left by the Heartland Poker Tour's temporary disbanding during the pandemic.
RunGood offers its own approach, including a welcome party and a special concept. The Jamul series, for example, features a San Diego Card sharks theme and logo. The Thunder Valley stop will debut a new logo and design for RunGood's NorCal Card Kings. The stops' special logos and branding will feature into a series-concluding "All-Stars" event in December. The 64-player event takes place in Las Vegas, at tour co-sponsor PokerGO's studios at the Aria. Streaming details for that series finale also remain to be fully revealed.
First Jamul stop's attendance exceeded expectations
June's RunGood debut at San Diego's Jamul Casino proved so popular it caused difficulties, such as long lines of alternates. Karn and the RunGood team have addressed those and other concerns, including securing extra table space for the return series.
“We all look forward to our return to Jamul and are excited about being a part of the Thunder Valley Casino Resort roster of special events," said Hayley Hochstetler, RunGood's VP of Media. "Seeing the tour grow to be successful in all parts of the country has been one confidence boost after another as we continue to get back on our feet."
Featured image source: Twitter/thunder_valley
