DALLAS – James Coyle captured his first RunGood Poker Series ring, topping a 569-entry field at the RGPS Passport Dallas $360 PowerStack at Palace Poker to claim $32,211 from a $170,700 prize pool. The victory landed with a personal twist: his wife Dora was also in the field, hunting the same title.
Zozimo Cardenas finished as runner-up for $21,465. Michellee Simon took third for $15,802.
"RunGood runs such a great series," Coyle said after the win. "It's a great piece of hardware. You gotta wear it for a couple of days, for sure."
Coyle, a Palace Poker Ambassador, started Day 2 with roughly 50 big blinds and found a crucial lifeline when he spiked a river jack to double through Jose Garcia, climbing to around 1.5 million chips and putting himself firmly in final table contention.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | James Coyle | United States | $32,211 |
| 2 | Zozimo Cardenas | United States | $21,465 |
| 3 | Michellee Simon | United States | $15,802 |
| 4 | Jose Garcia | Mexico | $11,768 |
| 5 | Taylor Carlat | United States | $8,867 |
| 6 | Joseph Franks | United States | $6,760 |
| 7 | Carson Winneker | United States | $5,215 |
| 8 | Isaac Ovalle | United States | $4,073 |
| 9 | Michael Insall | United States | $3,219 |
Final Table Action
Michael Insall was the first casualty when his pocket jacks ran cold against Taylor Carlat's pocket tens, which flopped a set. Coyle then sent Carson Winneker out in seventh as the field thinned.
Four-handed, Cardenas was the stack to beat at over eight million chips. Simon knocked out Garcia in fourth, but the momentum quickly swung to Coyle. He doubled through Simon to survive, then doubled through Cardenas to take the lead. From there he never looked back, eliminating Simon in third before closing out Cardenas heads-up to lock up the ring.
A Race Within the Race
The win means more than a trophy inside the Coyle household. James and Dora retired in 2023 and have been playing the tournament circuit together ever since, at one point weighing a move to Las Vegas before expanded poker options in Texas kept them home.
By the numbers, Dora still leads: she holds over $500,000 in live tournament earnings against James's $400,000-plus, according to The Hendon Mob. That gap has quietly become its own competition.
"We have a Hendon Mob race. I've been ahead of her for years. She's passed me. She's been on a tear this year," Coyle said. "I said to myself, 'I still have work to do.'"
Dora made a push of her own before busting in 18th place, leaving James to finish the job for the household.
"It's an amazing room," Coyle said of Palace Poker. "Opening up a new room in Texas is difficult, even when you have a room as beautiful as this. We're very lucky to be here."
Cashing players also earned points toward the season-long PowerStack Leaderboard, which runs across the full RGPS Passport schedule. The top ten point-earners at season's end each receive a $1,100 RGPS Passport Thunder Valley Main Event seat plus two nights' accommodation.
