Event 1
Dean (Long Island)
Level 10
Blinds 500 / 1,000 / 100 Ante
Total Event 1F Entrants: 1,451
Total Event 1 Entrants: 5,101
Dean from Long Island (who preferred not to use his last name) just busted another player, also from Long Island. It’s a shame when hometown players have to send each other to the rail. That’s what happened here when {Ks}{Qc} got ahead of {Jh}{Jd} on a {5c}{5h}{Kd}{Qs}{6h} board.
Level 11: Blinds 600/1,200/200 ante
Total Event 1 Entries: 713
The unofficial entry count for Flight A is 596.
Only 29 tables are still in action, leaving 290 players in this flight.
Chuck Seitchick (Egg Harbor Twp, NJ)
One of those players doing well is ‘Lucky Chucky’ Seitchick. He brought his own miniature Royal Flush to keep an eye on his cards for him. Chucky is up to about 120,000 (100 big blinds) and cruising with six levels left to finish tonight.
Chucky owns World Roofing and says “There are lots of roofers here today.” I guess with a high today of 26 degrees Farenheit in Atlantic City, no one wants to be on top of a house laying shingles.
It’s been an exciting first few days of the Borgata Winter Poker Open, with three titles already being awarded.
The first was on Thursday, when David Thurston (Fort Wayne, IN) won his first non-Hold’em event of his career, taking down the Event 3 Omaha H/L event for just under $15,000.
Next up was the $2,000,000 GTD Event 1, which was “live streamed” yesterday and saw David Hom (Brooklyn, NY) make the biggest tournament score of his life and take home just under $340,000 for the victory.
The third and final trophy awarded so far, was for the Event 2 $100 Black Chip Bounty, which was won by Thai Ha (Factoryville, PA), taking home $43,359.
The complete results from all three completed events can be found by clicking the above links.
Level 39 (Blinds 500,000/100,000/100,000)
Total Entries: 4,179
Players Remaining: 1
Chip Average: 83,580,000
Final Table Hand: 98
David Hom (Brooklyn, NY) – Winter Poker Open Event 1 Champion
We came into this $2,000,000 GTD Event 1 Final Table knowing one thing, that one of the ten remaining players were going to write their way into the Borgata Poker history books and make the biggest tournament score of their career.
We just weren’t sure which one was going to do it.
At first, it looked like chip leader Ryan Jones would, as he came in as the big stack and held that mark for much of the early going.
Then, Byung Yoo looked like the “favorite” as he peaked and ran over the table for a solid stretch, knocking out opponents left and right to move to the front of the pack.
But, in the end, those two players were sent to the rail by David Hom, who turned it on at just the right time, picking up massive hands in critical spots and making great calls when it mattered the most to take home his first major tournament title.
Hom notched the first knockout of the day and then seemed to sit back and let it all unfold in front of him, going almost dead quiet for most middle portion of play.
We then got to four handed play and a timely pair of pocket Kings and Aces on back to back hands got him to heads up play.
Hom has been in this spot before, in fact, just a month ago he was heads up for a WSOP Circuit Ring and would end up in 2nd place.
This time, he would not be denied, battling Byung Yoo and taking a sick beat that crippled him to 20 big blinds in stride, then recovering to get back to even and eventually winning the title and the $339,501 that comes with it.
This concludes the Event 1 coverage from the Winter Poker Open blog, but there are still three tournaments running in the Event Center and we will be crowning another champion here tonight as the Event 2 $100 Black Chip Bounty plays down to a winer.
If you missed any of the Event 1 Final Table action, you can re-watch the live stream of this event any time by clicking the link above.
Level 39 (Blinds 500,000/100,000/100,000)
Total Entries: 4,179
Players Remaining: 1
Chip Average: 83,580,000
Final Table Hand: 98
Byung Yoo (Norwood, NJ)
After a back and forth heads up battle, the $2,000,000 GTD Event 1 ended with in a flash, as David Hom hero called an all-in shove from Byung Yoo and had the young player slightly covered and held to win the hand and his first major tournament title.
The action was picked up with Hom making a pre-flop raise from the small blind and Yoo would call from the big blind.
The flop came down {8c}{Qh}{4s} and Yoo would lead out for 7,000,000.
David would flat call to see a turn card and the dealer would place down the {10d}.
Yoo would take a moment to think and then announce himself “all-in”, with Hom wasting no time to make the call and turn over his hand.
He acted like he had a monster, but he turned over {6d}{4c} for bottom pair.
It didn’t matter what pair he held, as Yoo immediately shook his head once Hom had called, turning over {Ac}{2h}.
He’d need another miracle card on the river, but it wouldn’t come as the {3h} completed the board and would confirm the pot as Hom’s.
There would be a few moments of uncertainty though, as the dealer and tournament staff would count out the chips and eventually confirm that Hom had Yoo covered by just under 2,000,000 chips, meaning Yoo would shockingly be eliminated in 2nd place.
It was a bluff gone wrong in the end, but Yoo had bossed much of the Final Table up until about an hour ago when David Hom started to get hot.
Despite for one runner-runner savior, Hom was nearly unstoppable over the last level, knocking out the final three players from the field, lastly Yoo who will take home just over $220,000 for his efforts, his largest score to date.
Level 39 (Blinds 500,000/100,000/100,000)
Total Entries: 4,179
Players Remaining: 2
Chip Average: 41,795,000
Final Table Hand: 95
David Hom has recovered well from the runner-runner bad beat he took to get back to even in this heads up battle for the Event 1 title.
The stacks are not that deep here, as there are just over 80 big blinds in play and before David Hom doubled up to get back to an even chip stack, he was sitting with only twenty of them.
Hom would move all-in over the pre-flop raise of Byung Yoo and get snap called, Yoo tabling {Qc}{Jh} and needing to improve to win against the {Ks}{8h} of Hom.
The board would run out {Ac}{9s}{8c}{Ad}{7h} with Yoo picking up a gut shot draw on top of his pair outs on the flop, but bricking out over the turn and river.
The players are now playing nearly identical stacks and will continue through Level 39.
A quick update on payouts, the runner up in this event will make $220,324 with $339,501 being held up top for the winner.
These two scores trump both players previous career earnings total by a large margin.
Level 39 (Blinds 500,000/100,000/100,000)
Total Entries: 4,179
Players Remaining: 2
Chip Average: 41,795,000
Final Table Hand: 89
Oddly enough, we’ve only seen one “dirty” river card at this Final Table, but we just saw a pretty “dirty” runner-runner turn and river to prolong this heads up battle.
The action was picked up with David Hom raising from the small blind and getting three-bet by Byung Yoo.
Hom would think for a second before announcing himself all-in, with Byung snap calling, putting himself at risk.
In a flash, nearly all the chips were in the middle, with Hom one flip away from his first major poker title.
Hom held {9s}{9h} and would be an even runner in this race against Byung Yoo’s {Kh}{Qd}.
The board came down only how it could in a “televised” event, {Kd}{Kc}{9d} with Yoo flopping trips and Hom flopping a full house.
The hand got even more “television” worthy as the {6d} came on the turn and then the {6h} came on the river, sending a groan throughout the tournament area, as the only few people celebrating the runner runner superior full house were Yoo’s supporters on the rail.
It was a sick run out and we imagine that the twittersphere is blowing up after that hand, one that will not only give the chip lead to Byung Yoo, but also may give him the Event 1 title, as Hom is now cut down to under the 20,000,000 chip mark.
Level 39 (Blinds 500,000/100,000/100,000)
Total Entries: 4,179
Players Remaining: 2
Chip Average: 41,795,000
Final Table Hand: 85
Elvir Muriqui (Bronx, NY)
We said David Hom wasn’t done and he definitely wasn’t, as there was just one hand of three handed play, with Elvir Muriqui moving all-in from the button and getting snap called, almost sheepishly by Hom in the big blind.
We say sheepishly, because it’s almost like Hom couldn’t believe his luck, as he turned over {Ad}{Ah}, after just being dealt pocket Kings in the previous hand.
Elvir was a big dog, as he held just under 20% equity in the hand with {8c}{8s}.
Elvir was confident, as was his rail, that the eight would come, even calling out that it would be the “middle card on the board”.
It wasn’t the middle, in fact it didn’t show up at all, as the board ran out {Ks}{Jd}{6h}{5c}{4h} and Elvir, who has dished out dozens of knockouts in his professional boxing career, was being dealt one himself, which certainly must have stung as he was so close to his first major poker title, but will be sent to the rail in 3rd place, for just under $150,000.
Elvir said before the action started today, that this experience “felt like walking into the ring”, showing the energy and excitement the “live streamed” Final Table can bring.
We are now heads up for the Event 1 title, with David Hom holding close to 50,000,000 chips. Byung Yoo is sitting with just over 30,000,000.
Level 39 (Blinds 500,000/1,000,000/100,000)
Total Entries: 4,179
Players Remaining: 3
Chip Average: 27,895,000
Final Table Hand: 84
Ryan Jones (Burlington, NC)
We’ve lost two players in back to back hands, both getting sent to the rail by David Hom and the two best starting hands in poker.
The first saw the short stacked Ryan Jones move all-in from the button or just under 6,000,000 chips and get snap called by Hom in the small blind.
Hom would turn over {Ks}{Kh} and be a huge favorite to make the elimination as Jones held {Kc}{9h}.
Jones was visibly frustrated as his roller coaster ride of an Event 1 Final Table looked like it was coming to a sudden and abrupt halt.
He’d pick up some hope on the flop as the board came down {Jd}{Qc}{3d}, giving himself outs to a straight.
They wouldn’t get there, as the board would double pair as the {Jh} and {3h} completed the community and would eliminate Jones in 4th place.
Jones had the “best” tournament resume of the entire Final Table coming in and he has certainly improved on that here today, besting his previously biggest score by close to $80,000 as he will make just under $120,000 for his 4th place finish.
We’d update David Hom’s chip count, but he wasn’t finished eliminating players just yet…
Level 38 (Blinds 400,000/800,000/100,000)
Total Entries: 4,179
Players Remaining: 4
Chip Average: 20,895,000
Final Table Hand: 79
David Hom (Brooklyn, NY)
The last blind versus blind encounter Ryan Jones was involved in, he was crippling Brian Wilson, but he was not as fortunate this time, as he moved all-in from the small blind and would get snap called for less by David Hom in the big blind.
Jones rolled his eyes and looked towards the sky when he saw Hom turn over {Ah}{8h}, as he held {Ac}{4d}.
The board would run out {6h}{10s}{9c}{Qh} giving Jones some chop outs on the river, but that wouldn’t happen, as the {3h} would complete the board to give Hom a winning flush.
Had the river not been a heart, and lower than an eight, Hom would have won the pot anyway, but he certainly appreciated the improvement as he is now playing an average stack of 20,000,000 chips.
Jones has been on a wild ride for the last few levels and is now sitting with just over 7,000,000 chips, playing a sub-10 big blind stack for the first time today as we move into Level 39.