Tuesday January 15th marks the beginning of the 2019 Winter Poker Open and this series will be a big one! There are 20 trophy events with a total of more than $7 million in guarantees. The Kick-Off event guarantees $2 million in total buy-ins and only costs $540+$60 to enter. There are six starting flights over the first three days of the series, with unlimited re-entries and best stack forward, providing plenty of opportunities to get into what is sure to be a massive field.
Last year more than 4,500 entrants created a prize pool in excess of $2.3 million in the Kick-Off event. The trophy and $378,391 went to Jim Roberts. The recent retiree from New Jersey had plans to relocate to Florida, so he may not turn up to defend his title.
James Roberts, 2018 BWPO Event 1 Winner
The pinnacle of the Winter Open is the $3 Million Guaranteed World Poker Tour Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship event, which will begin with two starting flights on Sunday, January 27th and Monday, January 29th. For the first time in Borgata history, the finale of this five-day event will not take place until March 13th. Day 4 (Thursday) will conclude when they reach the final six players and those players will have to wait a bit more than 5 weeks, then will be treated to travel and lodging at the Luxor in Las Vegas, courtesy of the World Poker Tour. The final table will play out under the lights and cameras in the new HyperX ESports Arena.
2018 Borgata Winter Poker Open Main Event Champion Eric Afriat
The 2018 WPT BWPO Championship saw WPT Champions Club Member (and self-proclaimed poker hobbyist) Eric Afriat claim his second WPT title, beating a final table stacked with poker talent. The win earned him just under $637,000 plus a $15,000 seat in the WPT Tournament of Champions. The field of 1,244 entrants created a prize pool approaching $4 million.
Between and during these two big events are the usual player-favorites including the Black Chip Bounty ($250k GTD), Almighty Stack ($1M GTD), Seniors, Ladies, PLO, HORSE, and Six Max NLH ($200k GTD) tournaments. New to this year’s schedule are a $260+$40 Deepest Stack Double Header NLH event($200k GTD) with 40,000 chips to start and two starting flights and a $1,500+$90 Heads-Up NLH event (64 players max).
Click here for the full main-event schedule. Satellites will be running both live and online for the big events, so check out the Winter Poker Open Microsite for links and additional details.
After a hiatus during September’s Borgata Poker Open, which took place in the temporary Tournament Area outside the Poker Room, Borgata’s Event Center will once again host the 18-day-long Winter Poker Open series. Online registration has closed. On-site registration will be open from 12 noon to 12 midnight on Monday, January 14th in the Poker Room, then will re-open at 8am Tuesday in the lobby of the Event Center, where they will be open daily from 8am to midnight.
The Borgata Blog team of Kaelaine, Tim Kelliher, and Chris Murray will be bringing you the action right here from the first “Shuffle Up and Deal!” until the final trophy is awarded. Follow @BorgataPoker for Twitter updates throughout the series and don’t forget to use #BWPO2019 in your Tweets!
Hope to see you at Borgata for the Winter Poker Open!
@Kaelaine