Event 16 of the Borgata Winter Poker Open is the $1,590 Heads-Up NLH. There were a total of 64 players who battled it out for the $37,248 and it to say it was a stack field would be an understatement.
The likes of Olivier Busquet, Joe McKeehen, Tim Reilly, Ronit Chamani, Alex Queen and Alex Rocha all took their shot at the title.
When the dust settled it was none other than 15 time WSOP bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth in the winners circle.
Hellmuth arrived on Day 1 and squared off with Wenhao Ying in round one. He was victorious and would meet Tim Reilly in the round two. Reilly took the first match but Hellmuth kept his cool and battled back to earn the 2-1 victory.
He would then face Travis Greenawalt and in Phil’s words “He handled himself very well and I may have even gotten lucky a few times.”
It was on to round four to face Steven Sarmiento and Phil was again victorious this time in round three.
He would then face off with Joey Cappello in the finals and battle it out for the $37,248 and the trophy.
“The man played amazing and certainly did not give his chips away” said Phil after defeating Cappello after a nearly three hour heads-up battle.
The players shook hands after the match and had nothing but respect for each others game. Hellmuth will take home $37,248 and his very first Borgata Poker Open trophy and he has now earned nearly $23,000,000 throughout his storied poker career.