Level 39 (Blinds 500,000/100,000/100,000)
Total Entries: 4,179
Players Remaining: 1
Chip Average: 83,580,000
Final Table Hand: 98
David Hom (Brooklyn, NY) – Winter Poker Open Event 1 Champion
We came into this $2,000,000 GTD Event 1 Final Table knowing one thing, that one of the ten remaining players were going to write their way into the Borgata Poker history books and make the biggest tournament score of their career.
We just weren’t sure which one was going to do it.
At first, it looked like chip leader Ryan Jones would, as he came in as the big stack and held that mark for much of the early going.
Then, Byung Yoo looked like the “favorite” as he peaked and ran over the table for a solid stretch, knocking out opponents left and right to move to the front of the pack.
But, in the end, those two players were sent to the rail by David Hom, who turned it on at just the right time, picking up massive hands in critical spots and making great calls when it mattered the most to take home his first major tournament title.
Hom notched the first knockout of the day and then seemed to sit back and let it all unfold in front of him, going almost dead quiet for most middle portion of play.
We then got to four handed play and a timely pair of pocket Kings and Aces on back to back hands got him to heads up play.
Hom has been in this spot before, in fact, just a month ago he was heads up for a WSOP Circuit Ring and would end up in 2nd place.
This time, he would not be denied, battling Byung Yoo and taking a sick beat that crippled him to 20 big blinds in stride, then recovering to get back to even and eventually winning the title and the $339,501 that comes with it.
This concludes the Event 1 coverage from the Winter Poker Open blog, but there are still three tournaments running in the Event Center and we will be crowning another champion here tonight as the Event 2 $100 Black Chip Bounty plays down to a winer.
If you missed any of the Event 1 Final Table action, you can re-watch the live stream of this event any time by clicking the link above.