Event 1 (Day 3)
Vinny Pahuja, pictured at the Event 1 Final Table
In the wee hours of Sunday morning, BorgataPoker.com Ambassador Vinny Pahuja crept back in to the Event Center in his sweatpants and slippers. After the adrenaline rollercoaster of his deep Borgata Winter Poker Open Event 1 run it must have been hard to fall asleep. Pahuja, who just took fourth place for $137,168, decided to come sweat his friend Soheb Porbandarwala at his Event 2 final table.
I was in the process of writing the Event 1 recap when Pahuja came down so I asked him for a quote to include on what it meant to have such a deep run at his home casino. I expected him to give me a standard bitter-sweet response, but instead he gave me a thought provoking story:
“I’ve played this tournament four times a year for the last ten years, and to show you how much luck is involved, I’ve never sniffed a fourth place finish.”
“I play this tournament four times a year for ten years thats forty different times I’ve entered and reentered the tournament. In the beginning there wasn’t re-entries. I started coming here in 2008 when it was all freeze outs. Re-entries have become a more recent phenomenon, within the last five years I’d say.”
“The truth is I was stuck a ton of money in the tournament, if you look at it that way. But you can’t look at it that way right? You have to just look at it as playing poker, in a poker tournament.”
Porbandarwala chimes in from his final table a few feet away, “But you do look at it that way…”
Pahuja continues “It just goes to show you that to never even have a top twenty result, I would’ve bet against that happening. I would have bet that I would’ve had a top twenty finish. It’s really hard, you need a lot of luck. Like this guy (points to Porbandarwala) getting the king on the river. You need a lot of luck.”
Porbandarwala says “You need to will it”
“I feel very fortunate because I easily could’ve finished eleventh, tenth.. finishing fifteenth or twentieth would have been very disappointing because I had a lot of chips coming in to today.” Pahuja led the final forty five players at the start of Day 3.
“After losing that pot to Alex [Bolotin] my expectations dropped precipitously. I was like there’s no way I’m going to win this tournament. When he hit the five I was completely just heart broken, I really was. Its such a big spot.” Bolotin hit a two-outer on the river against Pahuja on the final table bubble.
“I feel for him because I know he’s been grinding as long as I have, he’s been grinding ten years plus. I had ace queen versus his king jack, I could’ve easily lost that hand.” Pahuja ended up eliminating Bolotin in eleventh place.
“That’s why you can never complain about the score, it could’ve been so much worse. I’m thrilled about the six figure cash.”
2018 Borgata Winter Poker Open
Event #1
$540+$60 Deep Stack NLH
$2,000,000 Guaranteed
Total Entries: 4,515
Prize Pool: $2,364,957
James Roberts, Event 1 Champion
Play concluded early Sunday at Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa. The Borgata Winter Poker Open Event 1 boasted a field of 4,515 entries, easily surpassing the $2,000,000 guarantee, generating a prize pool of $2,364,957. New Jersey resident Jim Roberts laid claim to the tournament’s title. Roberts, a recent retiree, earned $378,391 and the mini Borgata trophy.
After six starting flights and three days of play, the final table was reached when poker pro Alex Bolotin was eliminated by BorgataPoker.com ambassador Vinny Pahuja 
> 
. Even after winning that hand Pahuja, who started Day 3 as chip leader, went into the final table as the shortest stack.
Ryan Hohner led the pack with 22,000,000 when the final table commenced. Jim Roberts, the eventual winner, sat in seventh place on the list. David Geslak was the first to go when his pocket sixes ran into Eric Eng’s pocket kings. Getlalk was shortly followed by Mark Kaganovsky when he moved his short stack all in with 
but couldn’t improve against Yuebin Guo’s flopped set of eights.
Alex Rocha who couldn’t get much traction at the later stages of the tournament managed to hang on to an eighth place finish when his pocket jacks got cracked by Guo’s ace queen.
After winning an impressive seven hands in a row Agenor Souza’s luck ran out when Pahuja moved all in from the small blind with 
and Souza called all in with . Pahuja flopped a queen to eliminate Souza in seventh place. Michael Forca went out to Eric Eng in 6th when he shoved his short stack with ace queen versus Engs ace ten. Eng hit a timely ten ton the flop to send Forca to the rail.
In the biggest pot of the tournament Yuebin Guo moved all in for around 30 million with top pair and Jim Roberts called with bottom set. Roberts made quads on the river to eliminate Guo, and accumulate over half the chips in play.
Pahuja went out in fourth and Eric Eng fell in third. When it got heads up Roberts had a four to one chip lead. It’s important to mention that at no point during the final table would anyone consider a chop. The same sentiment stood when it go heads up. It did not take long for a confrontation when Roberts 
bested Ryan Hohner’s 
.
Roberts, who just recently retired in June, hopes to use his new winnings to play more poker recreationally. Up until this tournament his live earnings were only around $7,400. He also plans to use his winnings to move him and his wife from New Jersey to Florida.
Final table results:
1st: James Roberts – $378,391
2nd: Ryan Hohner – $245,967
3rd: Eric Eng – $166,753
4th: Vinny Pahuja – $137,168
5th: Yuebin Guo – $109,971
6th: Michael Forca – $85,138
7th: Agenor Souza – $61,489
8th: Alex Rocha – $43,742
9th: Mark Kaganovsky – $27,197
10th: David Geslak – $18,269
$540+$60 Deep Stack NLH
$2,000,000 Guaranteed
Level 41: 600,000/1,200,000/100,000 ante
Total Entries: 4,515
Players Remaining: 1
Jim Roberts, Event 1 Champion
Jim Roberts opens to 3,100,000 from the button, Ryan Hohner moves all in with and Roberts calls with .
The board runs out 
and Hohner’s pair of eights eliminate Hohner in second place.
A full Event 1 Recap will be posted shortly.
Jim Roberts – Event 1 Champion ($378,391)
Ryan Hohner – Eliminated in 2nd Place ($245,967)
Ryan Hohner – Eliminated in 2nd Place ($245,967)
$540+$60 Deep Stack NLH
$2,000,000 Guaranteed
Level 41: 600,000/1,200,000/100,000 ante
Total Entries: 4,515
Players Remaining: 2
On a board reading 
with around 6,500,000 in the pot Eric Eng checks from the big blind and James Roberts bets 3,500,000.
Eng moves all in with 
for a flush draw and needs to hit against Roberts’s 
trip sevens.
The river brings the 
and Roberts holds to eliminate Eng in third place.
James Roberts – 86,500,000
Eric Eng – Eliminated in 3rd Place ($166,753)
$540+$60 Deep Stack NLH
$2,000,000 Guaranteed
Level 41: 600,000/1,200,000/100,000 ante
Total Entries: 4,515
Players Remaining: 3
James Roberts
Eric Eng opens to 3,400,000 from the small blind and James Roberts calls from the big blind.
The flop comes 
, Eng bets 2,700,000 and Roberts calls. Both players check the on the turn.
The river brings the , Eng checks, and Roberts bets 4,000,000 winning him self the pot and extending his chip lead in the process.
James Roberts – 68,000,000
Eric Eng – 16,000,000
$540+$60 Deep Stack NLH
$2,000,000 Guaranteed
Level 41: 600,000/1,200,000/100,000 ante
Total Entries: 4,515
Players Remaining: 3
Eric Eng opens to 2,500,000 from the button and Ryan Hohner calls from the big blind saying “Let’s see three”.
The three that come out are 
. Hohner checks, Eng continuation bets 2,300,000 winning himself the pot.
Eric Eng – 27,000,000
Ryan Hohner – 28,000,000
$540+$60 Deep Stack NLH
$2,000,000 Guaranteed
Level 41: 600,000/1,200,000/100,000 ante
Total Entries: 4,515
Players Remaining: 3
Blinds have just increased to 600,000/1,200,000 with a 100,000 ante as play continues three-handed. Here’s a look at their chip counts:
James Roberts – 61,500,000
Eric Eng – 28,500,000
Ryan Hohner – 21,000,000
$540+$60 Deep Stack NLH
$2,000,000 Guaranteed
Level 40: 500,000/1,000,000/100,000 ante
Total Entries: 4,515
Players Remaining: 3
James Roberts (left) Ryan Hohner (right)
Ryan Hohner limps the button, Eric Eng completes the small blind, and James Roberts moves all in for 14,000,000 from the big blind, Hohner calls with 
and is behind Roberts’s 
.
The board runs out 
and Roberts’s pocket nines hold to secure his double.
James Roberts – 32,000,000
Ryan Hohner – 36,800,000
$540+$60 Deep Stack NLH
$2,000,000 Guaranteed
Level 40: 500,000/1,000,000/100,000 ante
Total Entries: 4,515
Players Remaining: 3
On a final board reading 
with around 8,00,000 in the pot James Roberts checks from the small blind, and Ryan Hohner bets 5,000,000 from the big blind.
Roberts makes it 12,000,000 and Hohner moves all in for 20,800,000 total. Roberts calls with for two pair, but is no good against Hohner’s 
set of fours.
Ryan Hohner – 56,500,000
James Roberts – 14,000,000
$540+$60 Deep Stack NLH
$2,000,000 Guaranteed
Level 40: 500,000/1,000,000/100,000 ante
Total Entries: 4,515
Players Remaining: 3
Vinny Pahuja – Eliminated in 4th Place ($137,168)
Eric Eng opens to 2,500,000 from the button and Vinny Pahuja moves all in for 14,900,000 from the small blind. Eng calls with 
and Pahuja holds 
.
The flop comes 
and Eng flops a straight, Pahuja needs a ten or a nine to fill up. The turn , and river don’t help the BorgataPoker.com ambassador as he is eliminated in fourth place.
Eric Eng – 44,000,000
Vinny Pahuja – Eliminated in 4th Place ($137,168)