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The 2019 Borgata Winter Poker Open is well underway at the Borgata Hotel and Spa in Atlantic City since January 15. There is a lot of action forthcoming as the series is slated to run a packed schedule of 23 events right up to its culmination on February 1. The main attraction at the stop i.e. the $3,500 Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship NLHE (Re-entry) will kick off with the first of its two starting flights on January 27. While Day 4 will play out on January 31, the event’s final table will be televised from the Hyperx Esports Arena at Luxor Hotel and Casino on March 13.
Team PokerStars pro Aditya Agarwal is presently in New Jersey and confirmed to play the Main Event. Agarwal, who has two prior scores in the series, will certainly be looking to better his 2014 score (35th for $15,019 – ₹10,69,127) in the Main Event.
The annual poker festival is already off to a flying start. The series opener, Borgata Deepstack Kickoff NLHE (re-entry) attracted a monster field of 5,130 entrants across six starting flights. The overwhelming participation ensured that the $2 Million guarantee was shattered with the final prize pool touching $2.7 Million. Topping this massive field was Pascal Zaklama (cover image) who reached a three-way deal with the other two contenders to clinch the title and $328,695 in prize money. While the runner-up who wished to remain anonymous banked an equal payday $328,695, the third-place finisher Vladimir Alexandrov collected $216,000.
Zaklama who had only $7881 in lifetime winnings prior to this win, was confident right from the start. Despite bagging a short stack on Day 1 he had correctly predicted, “I may not be smiling now but I will be tomorrow.”
Final Table Recap
The ten-handed final table saw its first elimination in Apostolos Vasiliadis with Vincent Masino and Andrew Hanna following him out in ninth and eighth place respectively.
Zaklama was struggling to stay afloat at this point but then found a lucky double when he moved all in with ace-jack but ran into Daniel Cai’s ace-queen. The flop brought both an ace and jack for Zaklama and another jack on the turn secured his win with a full house.
Noam Muallem and Ray Medlin hit the rail next, in seventh and sixth place respectively with Fady Khabbaz following suit in fifth place.
With only four players left, Zaklama unleashed his aggression on Daniel Cai. After several confrontations between the two, Zaklama limped in from the small blind holding and Cai checked his option with the . Zaklama checked the flop and called when Cai moved all in for 11 Million. The turn and the river blanked out for Cai, who hit the rail in fourth place.
Down to three-handed play the finalists were quick to shake hands on a deal. Zaklama, who was slightly ahead of another opponent, was declared the winner and pocketed $328,695, while his opponent who wanted to remain anonymous collected the same amount in runner-up place. Vladimir Alexandrov took home $216,000 and took third place in the deal.
Final Table Results (USD)
*denotes 3-way deal
Meanwhile, the Senior`s event at the series attracted 145 entries with Barry Leventhal topping them all to win the title and $12,447 in prize money.
More action is coming up as both the Six-Max NLHE (Re-entry) $200K GTD and Super Survivor NLHE (Re-entry) hit the floor on January 25.
Content & Images courtesy: PokerNews/ theborgata.com