Event 10
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
$400+$50 Almighty Stack NLH
$1,000,000 Guaranteed
Structure Sheet | Payouts
Level 39: Blinds 1,000,000/2,000,000/2,000,000 BB Ante
Total Entries: 3,508
Players Remaining: 3
Raj Desai
The massive 3,508 entry Almighty Stack field was down to the final three players. They began to discuss an adjusted payout agreement.
The stacks were counted down and it didn’t take long for the players to shake hands and agree on a deal.
(L to R) Thomas Larson, Chris Tryba, Raj Desai (Seated)
Raj Desai who was holding the chip lead at the time of the deal will take first earning $175,429 along with his very first Borgata Winter Poker Open trophy.
Thomas Larson is our Almighty Stack runner-up earning $163,101 for his second place finish and Chris Tryba will take home $145,822 for his third place finish.
Below is a look at the chip counts at the time of the deal along with the adjusted tournament payouts and full final table results.
1. Raj Desai- 170,100,000 ($175,429+BWPO Trophy)
2. Thomas Larson- 121,000,000 ($163,101)
3. Chris Tryba- 60,300,000 ($145,822)
4. Maor Cohen ($83,766)
5. Shuntak Yeung ($68,055)
6. Tony Najjar ($52,403)
7. Keith Molinaro ($37,430)
8. Ryan Hohner ($25,861)
9. Joe Gay ($17,014)
$400+$50 Almighty Stack NLH
$1,000,000 Guaranteed
Structure Sheet | Payouts
Level 39: Blinds 1,000,000/2,000,000/2,000,000 BB Ante
Total Entries: 3,508
Players Remaining: 3
Maor Cohen
Chris Tryba moved all in from the button and Maor Cohen put his last 24,000,000 in from the small blind.
Chris Tryba: 
Maor Cohen: 
The dealer fanned the 
flop and Cohen maintained the lead. The 
hit the turn and Tryba paired his queen to take control of the hand.
The river 
was no help to Cohen and he was sent to the rail in 4th place earning $83,776 for his efforts.
$400+$50 Almighty Stack NLH
$1,000,000 Guaranteed
Structure Sheet | Payouts
Level 39: Blinds 1,000,000/2,000,000/2,000,000 BB Ante
Total Entries: 3,508
Players Remaining: 4
Shuntak Yeung
Shuntak Yeung and Thomas Larson went heads up to the 
and Larson led out with a bet. Yeung moved all in for about 24,000,000 and Larson snap called putting Yeung at risk.
Larson showed 
for two pair and Yeung would need to improve holding an open ended straight draw with 
.
The turn 
and river 
were no help to Yeung and he was eliminated in 5th place earning $68,055 for his efforts.
Thomas Larson- 120,000,000
$400+$50 Almighty Stack NLH
$1,000,000 Guaranteed
Structure Sheet | Payouts
Level 39: Blinds 1,000,000/2,000,000/2,000,000 BB Ante
Total Entries: 3,508
Players Remaining: 5
Tony Najjar
Tony Najjar moved all in for about 20,000,000 from the cutoff and Chris Tryba re-shoved for about 25,000,000 from the button. The blinds quickly folded and the cards were shown.
Chris Tryba: 
Tony Najjar: 
The board ran out 
and Tryba improved to a full house to score the knockout. Najjar is our 6th place Almighty Stack finisher and will take home $52,403 for his efforts.
Chris Tryba- 50,000,000
$400+$50 Almighty Stack NLH
$1,000,000 Guaranteed
Structure Sheet | Payouts
Level 39: Blinds 1,000,000/2,000,000/2,000,000 BB Ante
Total Entries: 3,508
Players Remaining: 6
Keith Molinaro
Thomas Larson raised to 5,000,000 and Tony Najjar called from the small blind. Keith Molinaro moved all in from the big blind for 12,100,000 and Larson re-shoved all in for about 70,000,000.
Najjar quickly folded and the hands were shown.
Thomas Larson: 
Keith Molinaro: 
The board ran out clean for Larson 
and Molinaro was eliminated in 7th place earning $37,430 for his efforts.
Thomas Larson- 92,000,000
$400+$50 Almighty Stack NLH
$1,000,000 Guaranteed
Structure Sheet | Payouts
Level 38: Blinds 800,000/1,600,000/1,600,000 BB Ante
Total Entries: 3,508
Players Remaining: 7
Average Stack: 50,100,000
Ryan Hohner
The action folded to Ryan Hohner in the cutoff and he moved all in for 11,000,000. Tony Najjar re-shoved for about 20,000,000 and the rest of table folded.
Hohner showed 
but he was dominated by Najjar’s 
. The board ran out 
and Najjar paired his king to score the knockout.
Hohner will take home $25,861 for his 8th place Almighty Stack Finish.
Tony Najjar- 35,000,000
$400+$50 Almighty Stack NLH
$1,000,000 Guaranteed
Structure Sheet | Payouts
Level 38: Blinds 800,000/1,600,000/1,600,000 BB Ante
Total Entries: 3,508
Players Remaining: 8
Average Stack: 43,900,000
Raj Desai
The Almighty Stack players have returned from dinner and Raj Desai picked up right where he left off. Desai is now up to 138,000,000 and he is playing more than half the chips in play with eight players left in the hunt.
$400+$50 Almighty Stack NLH
$1,000,000 Guaranteed
Structure Sheet | Payouts
Returning to Level 38: Blinds 800,000/1,600,000/1,600,000 BB Ante
Total Entries: 3,508
Players Remaining: 8
Average Stack: 43.9 million
The final 8 players are off on a one hour dinner break. Play will resume at 7:40pm.
Here are the chip counts by seat:
| SEAT | FIRST NAME | LAST NAME | CHIPS | Bbs |
| 1 | THOMAS | LARSON | 85,300,000 | 53 |
| 2 | SHUNTAK | YEUNG | 44,700,000 | 28 |
| 3 | RYAN | HOHNER | 10,900,000 | 7 |
| 4 | TONY | NAJJAR | 18,300,000 | 11 |
| 5 | KEITH | MOLINARO | 25,100,000 | 16 |
| 6 | CHRIS | TRYBA | 33,500,000 | 21 |
| 7 | MAOR | COHEN | 16,300,000 | 10 |
| 8 | RAJESH | DESAI | 115,000,000 | 72 |
and here they are sorted by chip counts:
| SEAT | FIRST NAME | LAST NAME | CHIPS | Bbs |
| 8 | RAJESH | DESAI | 115,000,000 | 72 |
| 1 | THOMAS | LARSON | 85,300,000 | 53 |
| 2 | SHUNTAK | YEUNG | 44,700,000 | 28 |
| 6 | CHRIS | TRYBA | 33,500,000 | 21 |
| 5 | KEITH | MOLINARO | 25,100,000 | 16 |
| 4 | TONY | NAJJAR | 18,300,000 | 11 |
| 7 | MAOR | COHEN | 16,300,000 | 10 |
| 3 | RYAN | HOHNER | 10,900,000 | 7 |
$400+$50 Almighty Stack NLH
$1,000,000 Guaranteed
Structure Sheet | Payouts
Level 37: Blinds 500,000/1,000,000/1,000,000 BB Ante
Total Entries: 3,508
Players Remaining: 8
Average Stack: 43.9 million
Joe Gay
Joe Gay jammed his last 7 million (7 big blinds) with JT only to run into Shuntak Yeung’s pocket Aces. The Aces held and Shuntak took the pot, chipping up to ~41,200.
Joe busted out in 9th place, earning $17,014.