Event 13
The 2018 Borgata Poker Open came to a close in the early morning hours of Saturday morning when the 21st BPO trophy found a new home.
Erkut ‘Eric’ Yilmaz
About eight hours earlier, Erkut Yilmaz took 1st place in the Championship event, along with $575,112 and both BPO and WPT Champions Cup trophies. Yilmaz took a huge lead into the final day of the Championship and held that lead until heads-up with poker pro Timothy ‘TK’ Miles. They proceeded to battle for more than two hours, with the lead changing several times, before Yilmaz finally collected all the chips and the title. Miles added another $383,399 to his career earnings, pushing the total past $3.2 million.
This series saw a lot of firsts. For the first time, the BPO was not held in the Event Center, but in a temporary Tournament Area between the Poker Room and Signature Room. This was a one-time occurence and this area will now he turned into the new Borgata Sports Book. The Winter Poker Open in January will be back in the Event Center as usual.
Another first was buy-in guarantees on the non-No Limit Hold’em events. The Omaha/Stud High/Low, HORSE, and PLO tournaments all had guarantees for the first time ever. There was also an “Old School” Freeze-out NLH tournament with no re-entries, and a Double Black Chip Bounty tournament added to this year’s schedule.
Justin Leeds (seated) took 1st in Event 1 in a 4-way adjusted payout.
Justin Leeds claimed the top spot in the $1 Million GTD Kick-Off event, which saw 3,106 entrants. The final four players all took home more than $170,000 for their efforts in the three-day event.
Altogether, the series had $7.6 million in guarantees and paid out more than $8.3 million in prize money in Main Events alone, not including secondary and satellite events. A complete list of Main Event winners and their winnings is below.
*Indicates Adjusted Payout
The next major tournament series is the Fall Poker Open, which runs November 6th through the 21st, so start making plans now. The tournament schedule has not yet been released. Follow @BorgataPoker on Twitter to catch the announcement when it is. Until then, Borgata’s regular schedule of Daily Tournaments will resume. For those of you in New Jersey, there’s alway another tournament coming up on BorgataPoker.com. October 14th – 21st, the Garden State Super Series (GSSS) will be running with more than $450,000 in guarantees.
For now, it’s farewell from the Borgata Blogging team of Tim Kelliher, Chris Murray, Al Rash, Brittany Paige, and myself. Hope to see you in November during the Fall Poker Open!
@Kaelaine
$400+$50 Almighty Stack NLH Re-Entry
$1,000,000 Guaranteed
Structure | Payouts
Level 38: 600,000/1,200,000/1,200,000 BB Ante
Total Entries: 2,791
Players Remaining: 6
(L to R) Aaron Motoyama, Fernando DaCruz, Kevin Lutz, Richard DeVito, Kory Shope, Oscar Menjivar (Seated)
Event 13 of the Borgata Poker Open was the $450 Almighty Stack NLH with a $1,000,000 guarantee. Once again there was another massive turnout and 2,791 entries created a prize pool of $1,082,908.
When the final six Almighty Stack players returned from dinner break they began to discuss an adjusted payout agreement. Before a single hand was dealt the players struck an agreement and agreed to run one hand out for the trophy.
Fernando DaCruz who held the chip lead at the time of the deal takes first place and his largest career tournament cash earning $115,667.
Oscar Menjivar was the winner of the final hand and earns his first Borgata Poker Open along with his largest career tournament score of $98,109.
Below is a look at the final Almighty Stack NLH adjusted payouts.
- Fernando DaCruz- $115,667
- Aaron Motoyama- $114,572
- Oscar Menjivar- $98,109
- Kory Shope- $84,705
- Kevin Lutz- $77,373
- Richard DeVito- $69,453
$400+$50 Almighty Stack NLH Re-Entry
$1,000,000 Guaranteed
Structure | Payouts
End of Level 37: Blinds 500,000/1,000,000/1,000,000 BB Ante
Total Entries: 2,791
Players Remaining: 6
Average Stack: 46.5 million
Fernando Dacruz
The final six completed level 37 and took off for a one hour dinner break. Play will resume at 7:40pm.
Fernando Dacruz has retaken the chip lead from Aaron Motoyama.
Here are the chip counts for the final six, in seat order:
- Fernando Dacruz – 77,400,000
- Oscar Menjivar – 20,200,000
- Kevin Lutz – 24,600,000
- Kory Shope – 32,500,000
- Aaron Motoyma – 75,600,000
- Richard DeVito – 17,400,000
$400+$50 Almighty Stack NLH Re-Entry
$1,000,000 Guaranteed
Structure | Payouts
Level 37: Blinds 500,000/1,000,000/1,000,000 BB Ante
Total Entries: 2,791
Players Remaining: 6
Average Stack: 46.5 million
Aaron Motoyama
Aaron Motoyama opened for 2.4 million from the cutoff and both blinds came along to see the flop of 
. It was checked to Aaron, who bet 4 million. Fernando Dacruz (sb) called as did Oscr Menjivar (bb).
Turn brought the 
and once again they checked to Aaron, who bet 10 million. Fernando announced he was “all-in”, Oscar folded, and Aaron called all-in for 30.6 million, showing pocket Aces. Fernando’s 
was in bad shape with one card to come.
The river delivered the 
and Aaron doubled up to ~81 million, taking the chip lead. Fernando was left with ~77 million.
$400+$50 Almighty Stack NLH Re-Entry
$1,000,000 Guaranteed
Structure | Payouts
Level 37: Blinds 500,000/1,000,000/1,000,000 BB Ante
Total Entries: 2,791
Players Remaining: 6
Average Stack: 46.5 million
Oscar Menjivar
Kory Shope opened for 2.3 million and got called by Oscar Menjivar in the big blind. The flop came 
and Oscar led out for 6.5 million.
Kory gave it some thought, then released his hand. His stack slipped to ~42.7 million. Oscar chipped up to ~45 million.
$400+$50 Almighty Stack NLH Re-Entry
$1,000,000 Guaranteed
Structure | Payouts
Level 37: Blinds 500,000/1,000,000/1,000,000 BB Ante
Total Entries: 2,791
Players Remaining: 6
Average Stack: 46.5 million
Chris Short
Chris Short min-raised to 2 million utg, getting action only from Oscar Menjvar in the big blind.
On the flop of 
, Oscar checked Chris bet 5 million (leaving himself only 8.1 million behind) and after some thought, Oscar called. Turn was the and again Oscar checked. Chris moved in and Oscar tanked for a few minutes. After the call, he would have ~11 million left.
He eventually opted to call, showing AQ for top/top. Chris was ahead with pocket Kings. The the dealer burned and put another Queen up on the river, giving Oscar trips and the pot. He’s up to more than 42 million.
Chris finished in 7th place, earning $33,570.
$400+$50 Almighty Stack NLH Re-Entry
$1,000,000 Guaranteed
Structure | Payouts
Level 36: Blinds 400,000/800,000/800,000 BB Ante
Total Entries: 2,791
Players Remaining: 7
Average Stack: 39.9 million
Rinat Ruvinov
Aaron Motoyama opened to 1.8 million early and it folded around to Rinat Ruvinov in the small blind, who shoved for ~ 5 million total. Aaron called, showing pocket 8s, Rinat had pocket 5s and was at risk for his tournament life.
The board came A 2 2 7 4 and changed nothing. Aaron took the pot, chipping up to ~35 million.
Rinat busted out in 8th place, earning $2,741.
$400+$50 Almighty Stack NLH Re-Entry
$1,000,000 Guaranteed
Structure | Payouts
Level 36: Blinds 400,000/800,000/800,000 BB Ante
Total Entries: 2,791
Players Remaining: 8
Average Stack: 34.9 million
Kevin Lutz
Kevin Lutz (button) opened for 1.8 million only to have Kory Shope (sb) make it 3.4 million straight. Kory called to see the flop fall 
. Kory led for 4 million and Kevin mucked. His stack has slipped to ~18 million.
Kory’s playing about 53 million.
$400+$50 Almighty Stack NLH Re-Entry
$1,000,000 Guaranteed
Structure | Payouts
Level 36: Blinds 400,000/800,000/800,000 BB Ante
Total Entries: 2,791
Players Remaining: 8
Average Stack: 34.9 million
Mike Lavenburg
Action folded around to Mike Lavenburg on the button who shoved for ~12 million, only to have chip leader Fernando Dacruz (sb) shove over the top.
Mike’s pocket 8s were up against AK and the board ran clean until the river: Q 7 6 Q A. The ubiquitous Ace on the river gave Fernando the bigger pair and the pot. He’s now stacking about 100 million.
Mike finished in 9th place, earning $16,244.
Fernando Dacruz
$400+$50 Almighty Stack NLH Re-Entry
$1,000,000 Guaranteed
Structure | Payouts
Level 36: Blinds 400,000/800,000/800,000 BB Ante
Total Entries: 2,791
Players Remaining: 9
Average Stack: 31 million
Three players were looking at a flop of 
and Kory Shope (middle) bet 3.5 million. Mike Lavenburg (button) called and the third player folded.
On the 
turn, Kory checked, Mike bet 2.5 million, and got called. The 
on the river prompted Kory to fired 5.5 million. Mike called to see Kory table pocket Kings for the boat. Mike mucked his hand. His stack fell to about 14 million.
Kory chipped up to ~52 million.