Event 23
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
(L to R) Mark Rabizadeh, Matt Barton, Pavlo Tkach
With the elimination of Ryan Hagerty in 4th the final five players began to discuss an adjusted payout deal. It didn’t take long for an agreement to be struck and the top two stacks took home $15,198.
Mark Rabizadeh and Matt Barton will each take home $10,198 and Rabizadeh takes home his first Borgata Poker Open trophy.
This concludes our Borgata Poker Open coverage and the Borgata Poker Open blog will return on November 6th for the Borgata Fall Poker Open.
$200+$30 Deepest Stack NLH (Re-Entry)
$75,000 Guaranteed
Structure
Level 29: 50,000/100,000/100,000 BB Ante
Total Entries: 463
Players Remaining: 4
Ryan Hagerty
Ryan Hagerty was the next player to fall when his ace nine was outflopped by the queen ten of Pavlo Tkach. Hagerty is our 5th place Event 23 finisher and will take home $5,120 f0r his efforts.
Pavlo Tkach- 7,300,000
$200+$30 Deepest Stack NLH (Re-Entry)
$75,000 Guaranteed
Structure
Level 29: 50,000/100,000/100,000 BB Ante
Total Entries: 463
Players Remaining: 5
Rich Forte
Rich Forte moved all in for his last 600,000 from early position. Mark Rabizadeh called from the button and the hands were shown.
Mark Rabizadeh: 
Rich Forte: 
The board ran out 
and Forte was eliminated in 6th place earning $4,267.
Mark Rabizadeh- 2,900,000
$200+$30 Deepest Stack NLH (Re-Entry)
$75,000 Guaranteed
Structure
Level 29: 50,000/100,000/100,000 BB Ante
Total Entries: 463
Players Remaining: 6
Baruch Krieger
Baruch Krieger moved all in from the button for his last 675,000. Pavlo Tkach called from the big blind turning over 
and Krieger showed 
.
The 
runout was no help to Krieger and he was eliminated in 7th place earning $3,413 for his efforts.
Pavlo Tkach- 6,000,000
$200+$30 Deepest Stack NLH (Re-Entry)
$75,000 Guaranteed
Structure
Level 29: 50,000/100,000/100,000 BB Ante
Total Entries: 463
Players Remaining: 7
Bobby “The Proffesional” Cheung
Bobby “The Proffesional” Cheung was the next player to hit the rail. He will take home $2,605 for his 8th place finish and seven handed play continues.
$200+$30 Deepest Stack NLH (Re-Entry)
$75,000 Guaranteed
Structure
Level 29: 50,000/100,000/100,000 BB Ante
Total Entries: 463
Players Remaining: 8
Santiago Vila
Santiago Vila and the anonymous player went heads up to the 
flop. Vila check-raised all in for about 1,500,000 and his opponent called.
Vila turned over 
for a flopped set of fours and was dominating the 
of the anonymous player.
The turn 
gave his opponent trip nines and the 
hit the river. The table erupted as the anonymous player backdoored a full house to eliminate Vila in brutal fashion.
Vila is our 9th place finisher earning $1,796 and the anonymous player extends his chip lead with just 8 players remaining.
Anonymous- 7,900,000
$200+$30 Deepest Stack NLH (Re-Entry)
$75,000 Guaranteed
Structure
Level 28: 40,000/80,000/68,000 BB Ante
Total Entries: 463
Players Remaining: 10
The Event 23 final table is now set and it’s the anonymous player well out in front with 6,600,000.
The players will battle it out here in the early morning hours for the $22,948 and the BPO trophy.
Below is a look at the Event 23 final table chip counts and chip counts as well as what’s at stake.
Seat 1. Mark Rabizadeh- 610,000
Seat 2. Baruch Krieger- 950,000
Seat 3. Anonymous- 6,600,000
Seat 4. Pavlo Tkach- 4,500,000
Seat 5. Ross Gottlieb- 1,000,000
Seat 6. Santiago Vila- 1,925,000
Seat 7. Rich Forte- 1,400,000
Seat 8. Matt Barton- 1,900,000
Seat 9. Ryan Hagerty- 1,200,000
Seat 10. Bobby Cheung- 375,000
1. $22,948+BPO Trophy
2. $13,249
3. $8,084
4. $6,512
5. $5,120
6. $4,267
7. $3,413
8. $2,605
9. $1,796
10. $1,168
$200+$30 Deepest Stack NLH (Re-Entry)
$75,000 Guaranteed
Structure
Level 27: 30,000/60,000/60,000 BB Ante
Total Entries: 463
Players Remaining: 13
Baruch Krieger
As we return from break here in the early morning hours we see a familiar face still in the hunt. Baruch Krieger was part of the heads up adjusted payout deal in Event 19.
Krieger took home $8,612 for his runner up finish falling just one spot shy of his first Borgata Poker title. Krieger is still in the hunt with just over 700,000 and we are now just three spots away from the Event 23 final table.
Andriy Kovalchuk (left) Baruch Krieger (right) $8,612
$200+$30 Deepest Stack NLH (Re-Entry)
$75,000 Guaranteed
Structure
Level 24: 15,000/30,000/30,000 BB Ante
Total Entries: 463
Players Remaining: 25
Ryan Hagerty
The action folded to Ross Gottlieb in the cutoff and he raised to 85,000. Ryan Hagerty was next to act and he moved all in for about 600,000.
It folded back to Gottlieb who fired his hand into the muck and Hagerty took it down without showdown.
Ryan Hagerty- 775,000
Ross Gottlieb- 1,200,000