Paul Sampson ($52,000) and Jen Bernard ($50,000) opt to bring the main event to a close and divide up the remaining prize pool in the $300,000 Guarantee Peppermill Reno Poker Palooza $880 Main Event.
Sampson began Day 2 in the 378-entry tournament as the overall chipleader with 64 players remaining and 53 making the money. Day 2 chipleaders can often face a rocky path to the money and struggle to find the final table. Sampson had his bumps along the way, but his stack evened out and he ran strong for the final three tables of the event.
Bernard – who came from Portland with Liz Tedder to co-host the mid-week Poker Karaoke evening as part of the 2022 Poker Palooza festivities – began Day 2 15/64 and sat in the upper third of the chipcounts throughout much of early Day 2 play. She avoided trouble-spots along the way and her rail was by far the most enthusiastic at the final table.
Despite speculation the event would struggle due to unexpected overlapping events in the nearby poker region, the main event covered its guarantee, as did all the large events throughout the series.
The series that began as the Poker NV Challenge in the early 2010’s, evolving in to RunItUP Reno through 2019, made its post-pandemic return as the 2022 Peppermill Poker Palooza. Poker Room Manager Mike Nelson already has dates set for two Poker Palooza series in 2023 – April 7-17 and November 3-13.
Full Series Results are available here via The Hendon Mob.
Dan is the founder of PokerLiveUpdates, a veteran poker tournament reporter who can be found wandering somewhat aimlessly through tournament arenas worldwide. As a founding member of FunTour2.0, he searches for the best in craft beer at all locations in the poker world.
