Poker Player Says No to Chop, Battles Back to Win Main Event Poker Title

After three Day 1 beginning flights and a prolonged Day 2 battle on the felt, the RunGood Poker Sequence Passport Maryland Fundamental Occasion has formally come to an in depth with Arash Asadabadi claiming victory to earn a payday of $73,037, alongside along with his first RGPS ring.

The occasion marked the return of the RGPS to MGM Nationwide Harbor Resort & On line casino, with the inaugural cease held again within the fall for the Grand Prix collection. The spring version featured a $1,300 buy-in and drew 307 entries, with solely 40 gamers returning to Oxon Hill, simply outdoors the nation’s capital, for the ultimate day of motion.

Asadabadi defeated John Main after a prolonged back-and-forth heads-up match to earn the lion’s share of the $349,980 prize pool.

The win left him each drained and glad after an extended grind. “Exhausted, however I am actually comfortable,” Asadabadi stated. “I felt that I used to be due this one and from the beginning of enjoying, I felt that I am gonna win it. I do not know why, even once we have been discussing the chop heads-up, I used to be like, nah, I am fairly certain I am gonna win it. Generally it is like that, it’s a must to imagine it.”

2026 RGPS Passport Season Maryland Fundamental Occasion Remaining Desk Outcomes

Turning Level Earlier than the Remaining Desk

Asadabadi ascended to the highest of the counts not lengthy earlier than the ultimate desk commenced, when he went toe-to-toe with aces towards Nick Rigby to scoop a large pot.

Having performed with Rigby earlier than and watched him on stream, Asadabadi felt he had an excellent learn on the scenario.

“I performed with him a few occasions and naturally I noticed him on stream, so I do know him a bit of bit, but additionally I am afraid to play large pots with him. However that one, I knew the place I used to be at and I knew he had like a prime pair, king-queen, one thing like that, and I knew he would not like folding.”

“So, I simply put the utmost strain, wager, wager, wager, three streets. He known as me off, doubled up. That was the pot, that was the one that truly made my stack one thing that I might keep on after that. Due to him,” stated Asadabadi with a chuckle.

That hand proved to be the springboard that allowed Asadabadi to proceed accumulating chips and enter the ultimate desk with a commanding chip lead, 160 large blinds, to be precise.

Switching Gears and Making use of Strain

With a large stack in play, Asadabadi remained composed as the ultimate desk unfolded, choosing his moments to use strain.

“I used to be very comfy as a result of in some unspecified time in the future I had like 60%, 70% of the chips, and I have been round poker, so I understand how to navigate and maneuver a giant stack.”

As stacks round him started to shrink, he acknowledged the chance to lean into his positional benefit.

“In some unspecified time in the future everybody acquired quick. I used to be the largest stack and everybody else had like 15 to twenty bigs. The one I used to be most afraid of, John, who I performed heads up towards, he was on my proper and he had chips, however everybody else to my left had lower than 15 bigs, so I simply went for it. They have been handcuffed due to the pay jumps, so I had an excellent desk place, every thing was good.”

Coping with Adversity Brief-Handed

All the things was good till it wasn’t, and Asadabadi’s clean day on the workplace started to unravel when his pocket kings have been cracked in a three-way all-in that might have given him an enormous chip lead getting into heads-up play.

As an alternative, stacks grew to become almost even throughout three-handed play. Nonetheless, he didn’t let the setback shake his mindset.

“With that pot, I believe I [would have had] like 80% of the chips and been heads up towards him (John), which might have made it simpler. However actually, that was okay as a result of I did not have that many coolers on this occasion, so I took that one.”

Ending the Job

That regular mindset paid off throughout the prolonged heads-up duel towards Main. Asadabadi started the match at a two-to-one deficit and located himself on the ropes a number of occasions earlier than clawing his manner again.

“It was a grind,” he stated. “We performed for like two hours and I used to be down really to a flip card and we chopped the pot. After that it was backwards and forwards, and earlier than the final hand for like 5 to 6 arms I acquired again my lead. After which that was the [final] hand, that was sick.”

Even on the ultimate hand, the place he turned a full home, Asadabadi felt he understood precisely the place he stood.

“I knew he had a straight most likely, the best way the hand was performed. I imply, it is a hand that he could not get away, it is only a cooler,” Asadabadi stated, relieved to be on the correct facet of it.