Ian Steinman is no stranger to poker success, especially in this region of the country with close to $2 million in career earnings, a World Series of Poker gold bracelet, eight WSOP Circuit gold rings, and now he holds back-to-back RunGood Poker Series rings in this area after his win in Reno a few weeks ago.
His most recent poker triumph came on the final night of the series tournament stop hosted at Graton Resort and Casino on May 12th, after a long day of poker that saw the field go all the way from 82 players down to a champion in the Napa Wine Country of Northern California.
We caught up with him after the victory for $67,540. Here is what he had to say in the post-game interview after he topped a field of 643 entries in the $800 buy-in main event that produced a $444,060 total prize pool.
On the win: “It feels really good honestly. It’s still really hard to win tournaments. I feel good, I feel great, it’s the best result I could have hoped for today. It’s cool to win back-to-back, two in a row. I’m a little tired, but I’m happy.”
On the final playdown and heads-up match: “It’s so funny how tournaments are, you just pick up aces and then all of the sudden you’re top three in chips after that. Any two doubles are going to be huge, but to get it in that clean and it just holds is super fortunate … I just remember different strategies heads-up for different stack depths and not get too caught up or overwhelmed by it. It’s just going to happen and I’m used to it.”
On adding to his poker achievements: “I’m not going to lie, the World Series [gold bracelet] is always going to be first. Getting a bracelet was the best win for me. These kind of buy-ins with big fields have been my bread and butter for years.So closing them out, it just feels really good. The money is nice for sure too. I’ve got eight or nine Circuit rings now, but Ari [Engel] has got 45 so I have no chance [laughs].”
On the Northern California poker community: “I like almost everyone here, I genuinely do, it’s a cool poker community like you said. And sometimes I won’t see anyone for months on end, but then when you see them you’re right back in it. I’ve been playing in the Bay Area since I was 21, maybe a little earlier. So some of the guys I’m still playing with now I was literally playing with 15 years ago in daily tournaments at Bay 101 because that’s where I was when I was 21 … And to still see the same people is really cool.”
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The big win for Steinman was just the culmination of all the events here at Graton, with a total of 19 RGPS ring events taking place from May 1-12. Here is a look at some of the highlights from the tournament series.
The ring in the $400 buy-in multi-day Mega Stack Opener was grabbed by Norman Yeung along with $45,130 after topping a field of 917 entries. The tournament that played out over the opening weekend of the series saw a total prize pool of $302,610 eclipsing the $200,000 guarantee.
Other notables that took down rings during the series included Mario Lopez in a $400 buy-in ring event for $8,485, Brett Murray in a $600 buy-in ring event that also had $500 bounties where he scored $10,200, Lucy Lamperouge in a $300 buy-in the Tag Team event that was worth $3,315 up top, and Allen Kessler in – you guessed it – a $500 Pot-Limit Big O ring event that was good for $4,100.
In addition to the multi-day Main Event and Mega Stack Opener there was also a $360 Big Stack ring event that attracted 165 entries with a $50,000 guaranteed prize pool. Ajit Selvakumaran won the day and ring along with $12,620 as the top prize.
Here’s the Official Results in all the RIng Events
Ryan is one of the original PokerLiveUpdates team members, a veteran poker tournament reporter who provides live updates reporting from the World Poker Tour, along with other tours and locations. He developed the FunTour2.0 concept of providing tremendous tournament coverage while exploring the world's best craft beer venues.
