2016
The 2016 Borgata Poker Open is a wrap and after 18 days of play, 19 trophies were awarded and more than $8 million in prize money paid to the participants, not including the secondary events and satellites!
![Jesse Sylvia - WPT Borgata Poker Open Main Event Champion [Photo courtesy of Joe Giron and the WPT]](https://borgatapokeropen.blogtheborgata.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2016/09/29886815375_4414efe8cd_z.jpg)
Jesse Sylvia – WPT Borgata Poker Open Main Event Champion
Photo courtesy of Joe Giron and the WPT
This year’s Open series also saw some other firsts. The Inaugural BPO PokerNews Cup $2,000 NLH event was the first post-championship event and Ryan van Sanford claimed the first PokerNews Cup title awarded on American soil. The first-ever hybrid Live/Online Heads Up tournament was held in the Event Center and online at BorgataPoker.com, “Battleship-style”. Matt Emmel came up just short of repeating at Heads Up Champion, finishing second to New Jersey online player Eric Schwartz.
Another first was the live-streaming of the $1,000 Six Max NLH final table, which ended in a heads-up battle between well-known pro and BorgataPoker.com Ambassador Vinny Pahuja and relatively unknown amateur player George Alberto. Alberto prevailed, claiming his first BPO title and $53,366.
A complete list of Main Events and trophy winners is below. On behalf of Borgata, we would like to thank all the participants for making the 2016 Borgata Poker Open a great success and congratulate all the winners. From the BPO bloggers, @mattclark345, @TKbluffs, @Kaelaine, and @WOCPoker and players, thanks to Borgata tournament staff and the World Poker Tour for another excellent tournament series!
Event 19 drew a total of 283 entries creating a prize pool of over $71,000. The final 10 players continued to swap chips until an agreement was made in the early morning hours. Kevin Racks who held the chip lead will take home $9,700 and his first Borgata Poker Open title.
After a lengthy and we mean lengthy discussion among the final 10 players an agreement was finally made. Chip leader Kevin Racks (middle) would take home the top prize of $9,700 and the BPO trophy. Oren Siedlecki who was second will be taking home $8,500 and the other 8 players would divie up the rest.
$260+$40 Deepest Stack NLH
$50,000 Guaranteed
Level 27: (30,000/60,000/5,000)
Total Entries: 283
Players Remaining: 10
The final table is set and it’s Kevin “Racks” (pictured) leading the way with 2,800,000. Oren Siedlecki is right on his heels with 2,500,000. Everton Taylor who held the chip lead for most of the night has dropped down to 1,575,000.
$260+$40 Deepest Stack NLH
$50,000 Guaranteed
Level 25: (20,000/40,000/4,000)
Total Entries: 283
Players Remaining: 16
Everton Taylor is showing no signs of slowing down here in Event 19. He continues to add to his chip lead and is now over 3,000,000. No other player has yet to cross the 2,000,000 chip mark. Taylor looks to finish strong with a comfortable chip lead and just 16 players remaining.
$260+$40 Deepest Stack NLH
$50,000 Guaranteed
Level 24: (15,000/30,000/4,000)
Total Entries: 283
Players Remaining: 27
The final 27 players are now in the money and will be guaranteed a minimum of $642. It’s Everton Taylor still in lead with a stack over just over 2,400,000. They will battle it out here in the early morning hours until we have a winner who will take home $19,987 and the BPO trophy.
$260+$40 Deepest Stack NLH
$50,000 Guaranteed
Level 22: (10,000/20,000/3,000)
Total Entries: 283
Players Remaining: 29
We are just two spots away from the money here in Event 19 and Everton Taylor is pulling away from the field. He is the first player over 2,000,000. and only one other player, Joey Galazzo isover a million.The two are now seated at the same table so there could be potential for a monster pot should the big stacks decide to clash.
‘WPT BPO Championship’
Level 35 (200,000/400,000/50,000)
Total Entries: 1,179
Players Remaining: 1
Average Stack: 35,370,000
Jesse Sylvia – WPT Borgata Poker Open Main Event Champion [Photo courtesy of Joe Giron and the WPT]
Sylvia has had his fair share of close calls in the past, most notably, his second place finish to Greg Merson in the 2012 World Series of Poker Main Event. That finish was worth over $5,000,000 to Sylvia, but to come so close to victory after literally months of waiting would be painful to any poker player. After years of almost, Sylvia finally broke through today and is the 2016 WPT Borgata Poker Open Champion as a result.
It looked like a somewhat foregone conclusion that Farid Jattin was going to walk out of the Signature Room with the title after starting play with 45 percent of the chips in play. Sylvia, on the other hand, was the short stack and had his work cut out for him. Following an early triple up, Sylvia was back over chip average and only built from there.
Sylvia started heads up play with Zach Gruneberg nearly dead even in chips and built up from the outset of play. The two battled back and forth for a few levels before Sylvia seized control when he got max value on a rivered flush. From there, it was only a matter of time before Sylvia would finish off Gruneberg and take the title.
For someone who started Day 2 with about 20,000 in chips, Sylvia made the climb back into contention look easy and worked a big stack to similar perfection. Sylvia qualified for this event via a live satellite and is now the newest member of the WPT Champions fraternity. From being known as one of poker’s more famous runner-ups, Sylvia can now proudly proclaim himself a winner without ever having to be mentioned in the “yeah, but” category ever again.
This concludes our coverage of this WPT final table and the BPO blog would like to thank the Borgata and the WPT for another exceptionally well-run event.
$260+$40 Deepest Stack NLH
$50,000 Guaranteed
Level 20: (6,000/12,000/2,000)
Total Entries: 283
Players Remaining: 45
Phil Neiman continues to amass chips here in Event 19. We are slowly getting closer to the money and Neiman is now playing over 500,000. He hopes this upward trend will continue as he looks to add a second BPO title to his poker resume.
‘WPT BPO Championship’
Level 35 (200,000/400,000/50,000)
Total Entries: 1,179
Players Remaining: 1
Average Stack: 35,370,000
![Zach Gruneberg fought hard during heads up play but could not overcome Jesse Sylvia and will take home over $490,000 for his second place finish in the WPT Borgata Poker Open Championship. [Photo courtesy of Joe Giron and the WPT]](https://borgatapokeropen.blogtheborgata.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2016/09/29257522894_28387a74e2_z.jpg)
Zach Gruneberg fought hard during heads up play but could not overcome Jesse Sylvia and will take home over $490,000 for his second place finish in the WPT Borgata Poker Open Championship. [Photo courtesy of Joe Giron and the WPT]
Finally, Gruneberg called for his tournament life from the big blind after Sylvia shoved from the button for his last 5,850,000. Gruneberg was ahead with 
but would need to hold against Sylvia’s 
. The 
flop was an interesting one as Sylvia hit a pair, but Gruneberg gained a flush draw in the process. The 
gave Gruneberg outs to a chop but the [kd on the river did not help him and he will take home second place.
Gruneberg will earn $490,617 for his finish, easily the largest tournament score of his career that will put him over the $1,300,000 mark in career earnings. Given how he played in this tournament, we will likely see Gruneberg again in the years to come. A winner’s recap will be posted shortly.