Kevin Martin Wins 2016 Run It Up Reno Thursday Thrilla

May 27, 2016 Tim Duckworth

Another event is in the bag here at the 2016 Run It Up Reno festival with Kevin Martin being crowned the Event 5: $235 Thursday Thrilla — Black Chip Bounty champion and recipient of the $5,805 first prize.

Final Table Results

Place Player Prize 1 Kevin Martin $5,805 2 Steve Nevius $3,854 3 Atsushi Nineki $2,628 4 Paul Sampson $1,664 5 Lindsey Fross $1,095 6 Brett Gordon $756 7 John Skarovan $569 8 Jesse Capps $405

The day began with 216 players taking to the felt to create the biggest field of the week so far, and with $100 bounties on everyone's head, players fired off reentry after reentry in an effort to chase some of the early festival losses they may have endured.

The Survivor crew featuring "Boston" Rob Mariano, Tyson Apostol, Stephen Fishbach, and Anna Khait all took a seat along with notable pros Randy Lew, Leo Wolpert, Nadya Magnus, and Jason Somerville. Last year's Run It Up Reno Main Event champion Nick Aguilera also made his first appearance of the week, along with Lee Jones and fellow poker industry members Garry Gates, Chad Holloway, Brent Harrington, and PokerNews' own Donnie Peters.

As chips flowed freely and the registration and reentry period came to a close, the bubble approached fast to the extent that many players didn't realize they were even close to the money. Unfortunately for Holloway, he was in this group, and after making a shove with and getting called by , he would be eliminated as the "bubble boy" — his second bubble of the week.

With 32 players in the money, play continued at a quick pace as the likes of Deb Swift (32nd), Gates (27th), Jaime Staples (23rd), Nick Aguilera (15th), and Kristin Kane (13th) all took home a piece of the prize pool before the final table of eight was set.

Jesse Capps went out eighth after making a short-stack shove. It was then another hour until John Skarovan fell in seventh when he lost a three-way all in. Brett Gordon then lost a race in sixth, and Lindsey Fross was crippled after losing a race and then eliminated a few hands later in fifth.

Paul Sampson and Atsushi Nineki would fall in fourth and third, respectively, as Kevin Martin went into heads-up play with a slight chip lead over Event 3: $235 Survivor champion Steve Nevius. The two would battle back and forth for nearly an hour before Nevius was unable to spike his against Martin's .

For Martin, this is his first career live tournament win, and not only is he pocketing the $5,805 first prize, but he also managed to pick up an additional 14 bounties at $100 apiece along with receiving his own for being the last one left standing.

Congratulations to Martin on capturing the $235 Thursday Thrilla title.

The PokerNews Live Reporting team will be back on Friday for Day 1a of the $535 Main Event at 12 p.m. PT. Click here to follow continued coverage of Run It Up Reno.

Get all the latest PokerNews updates on your social media outlets. Follow us on Twitter and find us on both Facebook and Google+!