Sometimes, dreams become reality.

For Bend Poker Room owner Paul Runge, his dream of playing on the world’s biggest poker stage came to fruition at the World Series of Poker last weekend.

It could not have gone much better.

Runge turned his first trip to play in the WSOP into a big payday, over four grueling days of poker at the Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.

Runge worked his way through a field of 4,499 players in the seniors tournament to make the final table and finish sixth, for a payout of just over $103,000.

There was more than a little luck involved, along with some skill from the self-professed poker geek, who was still in shock after finishing the tournament Monday.

“Everybody hopes to do well in a big tournament,” the 58-year-old said after returning from Vegas this week. “To actually have it happen to you is just awesome.”

Whether skill, luck or both, Runge gives more credit to the poker gods than to his playing ability.

“I guess fate looked over the field,” he said, shaking his head, “and picked me out.”

Tourney prep

Runge, along with the other nearly 4,500 players, paid $1,000 to enter the tournament, creating a prize pool of more than $4 million.

He arrived in Vegas two days before the start of the tournament last Friday to get familiar with the poker rooms at the Rio … and to get a little practice in.

“I played a couple of the daily deep-stack tournaments (at the Rio),” Runge recalled, “and that was good, because it kind of got me in the tournament mode.”

Normally a cash game player, Runge felt he needed to adapt his game to prepare for the tournament.

“I tend to overthink hands, and in tournaments that’s not always good,” he said. “I’m thinking, ‘What are they thinking?’ … and it’s not that hard. It’s pretty simple, so playing those two days got me adjusted.”

The scene at the Rio made quite an impression on Runge.

“It’s just poker players as far as the eye can see, which is fantastic,” he laughed. “If you love poker, it’s just like being in the center of a poker hurricane. It is literally the center of the poker world.”

Making the money

Starting with only 5,000 in chips in the Texas Hold ’em tourney, Runge bided his time through the first couple of hourlong levels before catching a good hand about three hours into the tournament.

“I won a really big pot with a set (three of a kind) of sixes,” he said. “I got it in against an over pair and a flush draw, and the flush draw missed.”

The win got him up to about 20,000 in chips, and “that changed everything,” he said. “Then it was a whole different deal.”

Because of the relatively small starting stacks, the field was reduced to 675 players on the first day.

The players were all guaranteed $1,500 for making it through the first day.

“The end of the night was really awesome, because we made the money on the last hand,” he recalled. “Everybody celebrated and it was perfect, because we knew we were coming back the next day.”

Runge continued to catch some hands on day two, with a little luck and successful calls of other players’ all-ins. His chip stack kept growing.

“They weren’t big pots, but I don’t remember losing a race that day,” he said. “I just kind of picked on small stacks, got it in with them … and it went just like you would dream it would go.”

When two professionals were moved to his table, Runge was wary.

“I knew they were going to be a nightmare,” he laughed. “But luckily they both took wicked bad beats and were out just a couple of hands later.”

He finished day two as the chip leader of the tournament, with 1.2 million in chips and only 57 players left.

The 7-3

But a tough hand on the third day and successive losses suddenly had Runge almost out of the tournament, with just seven big blinds (about 175,000 in chips) left.

With his wife, LeAnn, flying down from Redmond and a friend driving over from Palm Springs, California, to watch him Sunday, he faced being knocked out of the tournament.

“They were supposed to get there about 3 (p.m.), and I thought, ‘Oh crap, I’m going to bust before they even get here,’” he laughed. “They are going to come running into the room, and I’m going to be standing there going, ‘Hey, you guys just missed it. … Sorry …’”

He actually folded a hand he would not otherwise have folded to hang on until his wife arrived.

“I thought, ‘I’m not going to bust before she gets here.’”

On the brink of elimination, after LeAnn and his friend showed up, Runge shoved all-in with a less-than-stellar hand (a 7-3), trying to get players behind him to fold.

When he was called by ace-queen, a 3 came on the flop (the first three cards out), and he survived. Another all-in shove with a jack-7 produced a jack on the river (the last card turned), and he was back in the thick of the tournament.

“My friend said he thought that was a $30,000 jack,” Runge laughed. “I told him, ‘I think you’re right.’ I definitely got lucky on both of those.”

He made the final table of 10 players Sunday night, and after four players were eliminated, he made the final day with just six players left.

“I didn’t have a lot of chips, but it was surreal,” he said. “I did sprint down the hall with my arms over my head, which either had people laughing or looking at me like I was some kind of weirdo.”

Runge was finally eliminated Monday after losing a big hand with a pair of aces, up against a straight. Short-stacked again, he eventually lost with a pair of kings to a pair of aces.

“I have to admit my head was really spinning,” he said. “They asked me to go in the commenting booth, because I think they thought it was interesting that a guy that owned a poker room made it that far.”

He was on the WSOP live stream with poker commentator David Tuchman for more than a half hour.

“My head was spinning so hard, I couldn’t even remember my grandkids’ ages,” he laughed.

Pressed again for how he did it, Runge answered in self-deprecating fashion.

“I’m sticking with fate,” he said.

After picking up his check and finishing the broadcast, Runge donated $1,000 to the dealers and $1,000 to a Vegas-based charity, the One Drop Foundation, which uses water to improve living conditions around the world. He’s also planning a family trip to Hawaii with some of the winnings.

A celebration is scheduled for Monday night at the Bend Poker Room.

— Reporter: 541-617-7868, kduke@bendbulletin.com