Event 11
The first week of the Winter Poker Open saw six players walk away with WPO trophies and since then, ten more players have walked away with “tiny glass Borgatas”. Those trophies have been awarded through a wide variety of events and the first saw Marc Matz take home the Event 7 ‘Omaha/Stud H/L’ title and an over $6,000 score. That was Matz’s first career tournament win and that kicked off a busy week, with ‘The General’ claiming the next WPO trophy.
That came in the Event 8 ‘Super Stack Elevator’ and prior to the ‘Borgata Million’ starting on Tuesday, James Chen won the Event 9 ‘Pot Limit Omaha High’. The trophies were then kept out of sight for a few days, as that ‘Borgata Million’ played through six starting flights but ‘All-Star Weekend’ did not disappoint, creating plenty of headlines and storylines over the last few days.
The biggest of those storylines was Joe ‘Black’ Reddick claiming his first career title in the $1,000,000 GTD Event 10. Reddick took home just over $215,000 for his ‘Borgata Million’ win and while that wasn’t the first title awarded during ‘All-Star Weekend’, Reddick was the weekend’s highest earner.
Mike Rees was the second biggest earner, after he claimed the Event 11 ‘$1,000 Six Max’ title early Sunday morning. After a nearly seven hour final table, Rees outlasted a stacked field to take home $80,000 and his first BPO title, with Rex Clinkscales doing the same on Saturday night. He won the Event 12 ’40 Big Blind Bounty’ for just over $30,000.
Those two wins bookended Allan Vrooman‘s $100,000 GTD ‘Saturday Series’ win, as he claimed the Event 13 title for his first career Borgata victory. The final trophy awarded on a busy Saturday, saw partypoker’s Jamie Kerstetter take down the Event 16 ‘Charity Series of Poker’ title. That was a win-win for both Kerstetter and the Community FoodBank of New Jersey, as over $13,000 were raised through another extremely successful CSOP event.
While Saturday saw plenty of hardware get handed out, Sunday was a slightly less hectic schedule, with only two players claiming WPO trophies. The first was Alex Benyayev, who outlasted a 75 player field to win the Event 15 ‘Pot Limit Omaha High’, the second event of it’s kind during this WPO series.
The big winner from Sunday though was Matt Emmel, who claimed potentially the most prestigious non-main event title, when he outlasted a 64 player bracket to win Event 14. Emmel, who is a heads up sit & go specialist used that experience to claim the ‘Heads Up Championship’ title and a nearly $50,000 score. Emmel was the last WPO title winner but over the next few days, five more trophies are up for grabs, including the WPT Champions Cup.
The WPO blog will be here to bring you all of that action but if you want to go back and catch up on what’s happened over the last week, the links at the top of this post will bring you to each event’s individual coverage. It should also be noted, that a complete list of results from each event are linked as well.
Event 11 – ‘$1,000 NLH Six Max’
Level 30: Blinds 50,000/100,000/10,000 ante
Total Entries: 339
Mike Rees (Wantagh, NY)
After two very long days of play, Mike Rees emerged victorious over an incredible field of poker talent to earn his first major title and $80,559. “The field was incredibly tough,” he said. And that’s an understatement. For much of Day 1 he shared the felt with WSOP Main Event winner Joe McKeehen. There were many more bracelet holders, ring winners, and WPT Champions in the field and Mike outlasted them all.
This has been a long-time coming for Mike. He works for the Long Island Railroad and has been playing tournaments when he can for about 12 years. His accumulated earnings are just over $47,000. That figure has been fully eclipsed by tonight’s win.
“It feels great! I’m very tired, but this is amazing…very exciting,” he added while admiring his Borgata Open trophy. Mike took out three of the five opponents he faced on the final table, but the two he didn’t eliminate were quite notable.
Will ‘the Thrill’ Failla, who holds a record eight Borgata titles, was felted by ‘Gentleman’ John Gale in 5th place. John, who owns two WSOP bracelets, was later busted in 4th place by Matt Iles, who went on to finish 3rd.
Two-time WPT Champion Anthony Zinno finished 8th ($8,221) and WSOP bracelet winner Jeff Papola took 10th place ($3,946). 2011 WPT Player of the Year Andy Frankenberger finished 11th ($3,946). The aforementioned WSOP Main Event Champion, Joe McKeehen, was taken out by John Gale in 12th place ($3,946).
Mike would like to play the Winter Poker Open Championship event, (he would be starting Monday, not Sunday!), but work might get in the way. He’s going to sleep on it, for a few hours at least, since the sun is already up.
Final Table Results
- Mike Rees – $80,559
- Kurt Lichtman – $49,325
- Matt Iles – $37,487
- John Gale – $30,417
- Will ‘the Thrill’ Failla – $23,511
- Stepan Gusak – $16,935
Event 11 – ‘$1,000 NLH Six Max’
Level 30: Blinds 50,000/100,000/10,000 ante
Total Entries: 339
Kurt Lichtman (New York, NY)
On the final hand, Mike Rees shoved from the button and Kurt Lichtman looked at his cards and called all-in for about 1.4 million.
Kurt: {kd}{th}
Mike: {ad}{9d}
Board: {Jh}{3s}{2c}{4c}{7c}
Mike’s Ace-high was good to claim the final pot of the tournament. For the win, he will collect $80,559.
Kurt finished in 2nd place, earning $49,325. His previous best finish here was also a 2nd place during the 2012 Summer Poker Open ($19,606). His largest lifetime score is a bit bigger. He made the final table of the WSOP $1,500 NLH Extended Play event, finishing 6th for $79,842.
Tonight’s cash will take Kurt’s lifetime total to more than $240,000.
Event 11 – ‘$1,000 NLH Six Max’
Level 30: Blinds 50,000/100,000/10,000 ante
Total Entries: 339
Players Remaining: 2
Chip Average: 3,390,000
Mike Rees continues to chisel away at Kurt Lichtman’s stack, but each time Kurt gets close to that dangerous 20 big blinds level (2 million chips) he jams and Mike folds. Kurt get some of his chips back.
Lather, rinse, repeat.
They’ve been playing heads-up for 90 minutes now. Kurt Lichtman is down to ~1.5 million. Mike Rees has all the rest (about 5.2 million).
Event 11 – ‘$1,000 NLH Six Max’
Level 30: Blinds 50,000/100,000/10,000 ante
Total Entries: 339
Players Remaining: 2
Chip Average: 3,390,000
Mike Rees & Kurt Lichtman Battle for the Borgata Trophy
On the last hand of the previous level, all the chips went in on a flop of {9h}{7d}{4d}. Kurt Lichtman was all-in for 1,185,000 and was ahead with {th}{9s} for top pair. Mike Rees had {7s}{6h} for middle pair.
When the board finished {2c}{ac}, Kurt doubled up to about 2.7 million. Mike is at ~4 million and we’re right back to where they were when they started heads-up play 45 minutes ago.
Event 11 – ‘$1,000 NLH Six Max’
Level 29: Blinds 40,000/80,000/10,000 ante
Total Entries: 339
Players Remaining: 2
Chip Average: 3,390,000
Matt Iles (Atco, NJ)
In a battle of the blinds, Matt Iles (sb) and Mike Rees (bb) got to the turn with the board showing {th}{7h}{4c}{kc}. Matt shoved and Mike called.
Matt: {Td}{7s} – two pair
Mike: {Kh}{qh} – pair of Kings
River: {kd}
Mike caught lucky on the river to make trip Kings. With that pot, he chipped up to about 4 million.
Matt Iles finished in 3rd place, earning $37,487. He was the most accomplished of these final three with more than $290,000 in earnings. He has three titles, one of which came from the 2012 Borgata Fall Poker Open.
Kurt Lichtman started heads-up play with about 2.7 million to Mike Rees’ 4 million.
Event 11 – ‘$1,000 NLH Six Max’
Level 29: Blinds 40,000/80,000/10,000 ante
Total Entries: 339
Players Remaining: 3
Mike Rees (Wantagh, NY)
The final three have returned from a break to newly elevated blinds. Here’s where they stand:
Mike Rees – 3 million (38 big blinds)
Matt Iles – 1.9 million (24 big blinds)
Kurt Lichtman – 1.8 million (23 big blinds)
Event 11 – ‘$1,000 NLH Six Max’
Level 28: Blinds 30,000/60,000/5,000 ante
Total Entries: 339
Players Remaining: 3
Chip Average: 2,260,000
Matt Iles shoved from the small blind for 1,175,000 total and after a few second, Mike Rees called from the big blind. Matt’s {ad}{8d} was racing against Matt’s pocket 4s.
The board came {kh}{8s}{2s}{5s}{3c} and Matt doubled up to 2.365 million. Mike dropped back to about 2.1 million.
Kurt Lichtman is sitting quietly with about 2.3 million, so this is a very close final three.
Event 11 – ‘$1,000 NLH Six Max’
Level 28: Blinds 30,000/60,000/5,000 ante
Total Entries: 339
Players Remaining: 3
Chip Average: 2,260,000
Kurt Lichtman (New York, NY)
Kurt Lichtman got all-in for 1,185,000 pre-flop from the button holding {7s}{7h}, getting action from Matt Iles in the small blind, who had {ah}{jh}. The runout of {Ts}{3s}{2c}{4d}{2h} missed Matt and Kurt doubled up to 2,445,000. Matt dropped to 860,000.
Then it was Matt’s turn to get it in pre-flop from the button for 855,000. Mike Rees called him down from the small blind. Matt’s {kd}{qh} was drawing live against Mike’s {As}{th}.
For the second time in about an hour, Matt made quads as the board fell {ks}{kh}{kc}{js}{8h}. Matt doubled up to 1,785,000. Mike’s stack dropped to about 2.5 million.
Event 11 – ‘$1,000 NLH Six Max’
Level 27: Blinds 25,000/50,000/5,000 ante
Total Entries: 339
Players Remaining: 3
Chip Average: 2,260,000
John Gale (London, England)
Matt Iles opened for 100,000 and Mike Rees called from the button. After Kurt Lichtman folded is small blind, John Gale jammed from the big. Matt called and Mike opted out.
John: {qh}{jd}
Matt: {4h}{4c}
Board: {Js}{td}{7h}{4d}{9c}
John took the lead on the flop with a pair of Jacks, but the 2-outer 4 on the turn gave Matt a set and the pot. He’s now up over 2.4 million.
John Gale finished in 4th place, earning $30,417.