PokerStars Pro Jason Somerville Brings ‘Run It Up Reno’ Back To Peppermill Casino
For the third consecutive year, and the fifth time, PokerStars pro Jason Somerville is teaming up with the Peppermill Casino in Reno, Nevada, for a weeklong tournament series, dubbed Run It Up Reno, in honor of Somerville’s popular Twitch stream.
The latest incarnation of Run It Up Reno will take place from May 24-30, placing the tournament series in a primetime slot on the poker calendar: the week before the World Series of Poker.
The Run It Up Reno tournament series
The 15 Run It Up Reno preliminary tournaments boast buy-ins ranging from $85 up to $235, and have some very unique formats.
For example, you could take part in the $85 All In or Fold tournament with rebuys on the opening day of the series, or, maybe the $125 Six-Max Five-Card PLO tournament on Friday, May 27, is more your style.
Suffice it to say, Run It Up Reno isn’t using standard structure poker tournaments. These events are designed to be fun and exciting.
Here’s a look at the complete schedule for the 2016 Run It Up Reno tournament:
The Run It Up Main Event
The Main Event has a $565 buy-in, boasts an impressive $150K guarantee, and features three starting flights.
The first two flights for the Main Event begin at noon on Friday, May 27, and Saturday, May 28. The third starting flight also takes place on Saturday, but unlike the first two flights, Flight C will be a turbo tournament that gets underway at 9 p.m.
Day 2 of the Main Event will take place on Saturday, with the final table played on Sunday.
Special events at Run It Up Reno
In addition to a 16-event tournament series — and daily satellites to the Main Event — Run It Up Reno will also feature a number of special events for attendees. Many of these events are open to the general public:
- Turkey Burger Welcome Party
- Karaoke Party at EDGE Nightclub
- Poker seminar hosted by Jason Somerville
- Rob Has a Podcast live
- Magic the Gathering Draft Night
A big part of the “Somerville Effect” is his engagement with his fans and followers. Another big part of Somerville’s appeal is his work ethic.
Expect Jason to be on hand and accessible throughout the series, so much so that you might begin to wonder if he has a twin brother and they’re taking shifts playing the role of Jason Somerville.
What kind of numbers will the series get?
Considering the additional starting flight, and the tournament’s close proximity to the World Series of Poker, it would be surprising if the upcoming Run It Up Reno tournament series doesn’t easily eclipse the attendance numbers from the last time Run It Up came to town, in October.
There is more evidence that the series will be jam-packed with players. Peppermill Casino was running an early-bird reservation special, with the first 200 people reserving a room for at least four nights during the Run It Up series receiving a $200 room credit. That promotion is already sold out. Fortunately, Peppermill is still offering a $79 per night room rate for anyone using the code RIU2016.
The evolution of Run It Up Reno
The first Run It Up Reno event occurred in May of 2014, when Somerville, then a member of Team Ultimate Poker hosted the inaugural series.
Despite Ultimate Poker’s demise, Run It Up has lived on and become its own brand.
The last Run It up Reno series took place in October of 2015. The Main Event pulled in 318 entrants, creating a total prize-pool of $159,000. The winner was Nick Aguilera, who pocketed just over $42k.
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