BorgataPoker.com
Update: The final table of the World Poker Tour Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship was held as scheduled March 13th at the Luxor HyperX Esports Arena.
1st Place – Vinicius ‘Viny’ Lima
Vinicius ‘Viny’ Lima had the biggest climb of the final six players, starting play at the bottom of the chip counts. At the end, it was the youngest player, Viny, at only 24 years old, against the oldest, David Farah, who was twice his age at 48 years young.
Viny emerged victorious, winning $728,430, which includes $15,000 for a seat in the WPT season-ending Baccarat Crystal Tournament of Champions, along with a Hublot Big Bang Steel Watch, and the WPT Champions Cup trophy.
The $2 Million Guaranteed Kick-Off Deep Stack drew a massive 5,130 entrants, which is the second-largest WPO Kick-Off field on record, behind 2017’s 5,512 entrants. The total buy-ins of more than $2.77 million did set a new record, due to the increased buy-in of $540.
Pascal Zaklama – 1st Place – 2019 BWPO Kick-Off
The final 500 players shared in the massive prize pool and thanks to a three-way adjusted payout agreement at the final table, the final two earned better than second-place prize money. Pascal Zaklama was the chip leader and claimed 1st place and the BWPO trophy, along with $328,695.
Vladimir Alexandrov
Also notable was the 3rd place finisher, Vladimir Alexandrov. He won his entry through a BorgataPoker.com online satellite. Alexandrov managed to parlay his $45 satellite entry into his largest career tournament score, earning a $216,000 payday.
Barry Leventhal wins 4th Seniors Event
Barry Leventhal won his record fourth Borgata Seniors Event, which was also his eighth Borgata title, putting him in a tie for second-most wins at this venue, trailing only Abraham Korotki with nine Borgata titles.
Raj Desai – 1st Place – Almighty Million
The $1 Million Guaranteed Almighty Stack generated total buy-ins in excess of $1.4 million with a BWPO Almighty record of 3,508 entrants. Raj Desai held the chip lead wire-to-wire on Day 3, from 37 players down to the final three, who agreed on adjusted payouts based on chip counts. As the leader, Raj took the lion’s share of $175,429 and his first-ever Borgata trophy!
The first-ever “Ladies Brunch and Learn” was hosted by the Borgata and the World Poker Tour, with guest lecturers WSOP Ladies Champion Jessica Dawley and Loni Harwood, a professional poker player with nearly $3 million in tournament earnings. The sold out seminar was held the morning of the Ladies event, to give the Ladies some beginner instruction on tournament basics and tips to improve their play. In addition to brunch and mimosas, there were gifts and prizes for the attendees. (Due to the event’s popularity, it may appear again on a future tournament schedule!)
Kujdes Galiardi takes down the CSOP event and poses with her sister Alida Veliu, who won the Ladies Event.
The Ladies NLH tournament followed the seminar and drew a field of 154 entries. The eventual winner was Alida Veliu, who took home her second Borgata Ladies Event trophy and claimed her fifth lifetime Ladies Event win. Just a couple of hours earlier on the other end of the Event Center, Alida’s sister, Kujdes Gagliardi, won the CSOP NLH event, accomplishing something we believe has never happened before in the history of poker — two sisters winning trophy events on the same day!
Phil Hellmuth claims BWPO Heads-Up title
For the first time in probably a decade, Phil Hellmuth made an appearance at Borgata, arriving in time to play the Heads-Up Championship. The WSOP bracelet record-holder (15) and new World Poker Tour Raw Deal host blazed a path through the 64-player bracket to take the title and $37,245. He followed that up with a cash in the WPT BWPO Championship for another $7,176.
Speaking of the WPT BWPO Championship, it was another record-breaking turnout. The final tally of entrants was 1,415, beating both the 2017 WPT BWPO Championship record (1,312 entries) and the largest of all WPT Borgata Open Championships, which was in 2011 (1,313 entrants). The prize pool of nearly $4.7 million crushed the $3 million guarantee.
BorgataPoker.com Ambassador Dan Buzgon
The field played down to the final six, who bagged up their chips and paused the clock until March 13th, when they will reconvene at the new HyperX Esports Arena at the Luxor in Las Vegas to play it out under the lights and cameras of the World Poker Tour. BorgataPoker.com Ambassador and tournament grinder Dan Buzgon will make his third WPT final table appearance. He will start in the middle of the pack with an average stack when play resumes.
With more than $728,000 waiting for the eventual winner, the “HyperX Six” finalists must be chomping at the bit to get started, but they still have four weeks to wait. Make sure to check back here in the Winter Poker Open Blog for updates on that final table which begins the evening of Wednesday March 13th.
A list of main event winners is below, along with their earnings.
* Indicates Adjusted Payout
Thank you to all the participants and congratulations to all the winners! A special thanks goes out to all Borgata tournament staff and dealers for a terrific series.
On behalf of Borgata Poker Bloggers Tim Kelliher, Chris Murray, and myself, thank you for reading! Mark your calendars now for the Borgata Spring Poker Open, which takes place April 2nd-19th. Hope to see you then!
@Kaelaine
$3,300+$200 WPT Borgata WPO Championship
$3,000,000 Guaranteed
Structure Sheet | Payouts
Level 36: Blinds 300,000/500,000/500,000 BB Ante
Total Entries: 1,415
Players Remaining: 4
Average Stack: 15.15 million
Link to PokerGo Live Stream: https://www.pokergo.com/video/wpt-borgata-winter-poker-open-final-table
Dan Buzgon (photo courtesy of World Poker Tour)
Action folded to Viny Lima in the small blind and he shoved for 11.5 million. Dan Buzgon (bb) was well covered and opted to call all-in for his last 5.4 million, tabling 
. He was slightly ahead of Viny’s 
.
Then the board came 
giving Viny two pair and the pot. He took the pot, chipping up to 18.4 million, still second in chips behind David Farah.
Dan Buzgon, BorgataPoker.com Ambassador, finished in 5th place, earning $202,942.
$3,300+$200 WPT Borgata WPO Championship
$3,000,000 Guaranteed
Structure Sheet | Payouts
Level 31: Blinds 75,000/150,000/150,000 BB Ante
Total Entries: 1,415
Players Remaining: 6
Average Stack: 9.4 million
Dan Buzgon
The most well-known player at this final table, at least to the Borgata and the World Poker Tour, is another Jersey Guy, Dan Buzgon. The poker pro and Borgata tournament regular was named as a BorgataPoker.com Ambassador shortly before the start of the 2019 Winter Poker Open and he did a great job representing the online poker site, cashing in two events before making his deep run in this Championship.
Among the final six, he’s got the most experience with World Poker Tour Final Tables, with two previous appearances. In 2011, he finished 3rd in the WPT Borgata Poker Open Championship, collecting $335,433. That remains his best live cash and he’ll have to finish third or better in this event to beat that. His second appearance at a WPT finale was the April 2012 bestbet Main Event. His 4th place finish in that one was good for more than $94,000. This 34-year-old poker pro has already locked up his fourth six-figure score here, but will work hard to add another title to his two Borgata wins and three WSOP Circuit rings.
Dan’s 9.1 million chips puts him right around the chip average with 61 big blinds. He’s in Seat 6.
$3,300+$200 WPT Borgata WPO Championship
$3,000,000 Guaranteed
Structure Sheet | Payouts
Level 28: Blinds 40,000/80,000/80,000 BB Ante (Clock paused with 45 minutes remaining)
Total Entries: 1,415
Players Remaining: 14
Average Stack: 4 million
The final 14 players are on dinner break until 8pm, when play will resume in the High Limit area of the Poker Room.
Players have bagged up their chips for the move, so we will not be able to get chip counts until they open the bags after dinner.
Dan Buzgon is still the chip leader with more than 9 million.
Dan Buzgon
$3,300+$200 WPT Borgata WPO Championship
$3,000,000 Guaranteed
Structure Sheet | Payouts
Level 27: Blinds 30,000/60,000/60,000 BB Ante
Total Entries: 1,415
Players Remaining: 17
Average Stack: 3.3 million
Dan Buzgon
Elilton Gouveia opened from the button and Dan Buzgon flatted the raise from the big blind. On the flop of 
both players checked. Turn was the 
, putting trips on the board, and Dan led out for 175,000. Elilton called. River was the 
putting a full house on board.
Dan fired 460,000 and Elilton tank/called. Dan’s 
made a better full house than the one on the board and his opponent mucked. With that pot, Dan’s stack soared to ~7.6 million, putting him back in the chip lead.
Dan, who is a BorgataPoker.com sponsored pro, had made two World Poker Tour final tables before, but finished 3rd and 4th. He’s got a chance to improve on that record if he can continue to grow his stack.
$3,300+$200 WPT Borgata WPO Championship
$3,000,000 Guaranteed
Structure Sheet | Payouts
Level 26: Blinds 25,000/50,000/50,000 BB Ante
Total Entries: 1,415
Players Remaining: 18
Average Stack: 3.1 million
Joe Liberta
In a battle of the blinds, Dan Buzgon limped the small, only to have Joe Liberta raise from the big to 200,000. Dan then kicked it on up to 650,000, Joe jammed for 2.2, and Dan called, after giving it some thought.
His 99 was ahead of Joe’s AK offsuit. The runout was Queen-high and no help to Joe, who was felted. Dan chipped up to more than 6.1 million.
Joe Liberta hit the rail in 19th place, earning $30,819.
$3,300+$200 WPT Borgata WPO Championship
$3,000,000 Guaranteed
Structure Sheet | Payouts
Level 26: Blinds 25,000/50,000/50,000 BB Ante
Total Entries: 1,415
Players Remaining: 22
Average Stack: 2.57 million
Ryan Hagerty
It was dueling Aces with Raul Martinez holding AK suited against Ryan Hagerty’s A7 suited. A King on the flop for Raul wsa enough to make the 7 on the turn irrelevant. Raul took the pot, leaving Ryan with a single blue chip (5,000). Raul doubled to more than 1.7 million.
That single chips was gone soon after, as was Ryan.
Ryan Hagerty was eliminated in 23rd place, earning $25,524. He won his seat in this event playing online at BorgataPoker.com.
$3,300+$200 WPT Borgata WPO Championship
$3,000,000 Guaranteed
Structure Sheet | Payouts
Level 25: Blinds 20,000/40,000/40,000 BB Ante
Total Entries: 1,415
Players Remaining: 27
Average Stack: 2.1 million
Adam Hendrix
Adam Hendrix earned his seat in this event playing online at BorgataPoker.com. He played the $400 qualifier and he fired twice, for a total of $800, meaning he got his $3,500 seat for a significant discount (77% off!).
He’s just busted out in 28th place, earning $21,369. Not bad for an $800 buy-in.
His open-shove under-the-gun for ~400,000 was met with resistance by Brandon Shane on the button. Adam’s KJ had run into Brandon’s TT and needed help. The board changed nothing and Brandon chipped up to about 3.5 million.
Adam reported to the payout desk to collect his winnings.
$3,300+$200 WPT Borgata WPO Championship
$3,000,000 Guaranteed
Structure Sheet | Payouts
Level 25: Blinds 20,000/40,000/40,000 BB Ante
Total Entries: 1,415
Players Remaining: 28
Average Stack: 2 million
Dan Buzgon
BorgataPoker.com sponsored pro Dan Buzgon (button) got all-in on the river with a board of 
against start of Day 2 chip leader Nick Schwarmann (bb). Dan’s 
gave him a full house and full double-up to ~4.4 million, good for the chip lead.
Nick was knocked down to about 3.3 million.
$3,300+$200 WPT Borgata WPO Championship
$3,000,000 Guaranteed
Structure Sheet | Payouts
End of Level 19: Blinds 5,000/10,000/10,000 BB Ante
Total Entries: 1,415
Players Remaining: 80
Average Stack: 708,000
End of Level 19 and players are taking another break.
Olivier Busquet
Before the break:
Brian Altman was felted by Olivier Busquet when his suited AQ failed to improve against Olivier’s pocket nines. Brian finished 92nd ($7,731).
Dave Peay took out two players with his pocket sixes. He flopped a set to crack Jerry Payne’s pocket Kings and beat Brian Sherrier’s suited A8. Jerry and Brian finished 88th and 89th, respectively, and both earned $8,430. Brian Sherrier earned his seat in this event online at BorgataPoker.com.
Michael Hollenberg busted in 86th place ($8,430) when his pocket Tens lost a flip against the AK of Joseph di Rosa Rojas.
Also gone:
Steve Sung
Russell Crane
Thomas Reynolds
Jeremy Joseph