Pre-Event
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
$3,300+$200 WPT Borgata Poker Open Championship NLH
$3,000,000 Guaranteed
Three satellites will be running today at Borgata:
1 PM – Event 34: $350 + $50 BPO Championship Qualifier NLH (~1 in 10)
4 PM – Event 35: $700 + $50 BPO Championship Mega Qualifier NLH (~1 in 5)
7 PM – Event 36: $500 + $50 BPO Championship Qualifier NLH (~1 in 7)
Since BPO Championship registration remains open into Day 2, there will be another satellite running Monday evening, for a Day 2 start:
6PM – Event 38: $350 + $50 Last Chance BPO Championship Qualifier NLH (~1 in 10)
There’s also a Monday morning Turbo Survivor (Event 37) for $350 + $40 where ~1 in 10 wins $3,500, not coincidentally the exact amount needed to buy into the Championship. That starts at 10am tomorrow.
The last online satellite running at BorgataPoker.com will be tonight at 7:40pm. Click here for details.
Level One is now open, immediately adjacent to the temporary Tournament Area being used for the Borgata Poker Open. The new sports lounge is the perfect spot to have a drink while watching the games you’ve wagered on in the Race & Sports Book. Or just relax and root for your favorite teams.
There’s also a sports betting window just outside Level One where you can place wagers as well. Just look for the Sports Betting Window across from the entrance to Bobby Flay Steak. Click here for details, including hours of operation for wagering and viewing.
As you may or may not have heard, the 2018 Borgata Poker Open will be running in a new temporary tournament area. Instead of the Event Center where we have been in the past, BPO tournaments will be running on tables in the Signature Room, the Poker Room, and a new Tournament Area in between.
The slot machines have been removed from this area and poker tables are in. This new setup is just for this series and in January we’ll be back in the Event Center for the 2019 Winter Poker Open.
This new tournament area is perfectly situated between Bread and Butter on one side and the escalator to the Marketplace Eatery on the other, giving players quick and easy access to refreshments. It’s also just a few steps to the Race and Sports Book for those who need to place a bet and the North Entrance, for those who need to step outside for some fresh air.
Online registration is closed, but on-site registration begins at 12 noon Monday, September 3rd and will remain open until midnight. Beginning Tuesday, registration will be open from 8am to midnight daily throughout the series at the Cashier windows across from the entrance to Bobby Flay’s.
Click here and bookmark this site for links to all the information you need to navigate the 18-day Borgata Poker Open, which begins Tuesday at 11am with the first flight of the $1.5 Million Guaranteed Kick-Off Event!
The end of August is near which means it’s time to start making your plans to join us for the 2018 Borgata Poker Open. Always one of our top festivals, we can expect big crowds with massive prize pools.
The series starts on September 4 and features 23 tournaments over 18 days with more than $6.5 million in guaranteed money up for grabs.
We are going big from the very beginning and the series opens with the $540+$60 buy-in Deepstack Kick-Off event. The tournament has a huge $1.5 million guaranteed prize pool with five starting flights over the first three days. Marshall White captured this title in 2017 and walked away with more than $330,000.
Marshall White, 2017 Borgata Poker Open Kick-Off Champion
Other notable tournaments on the schedule include the $1 Million Guarantee Almighty Stack, the 5th Annual Mike Sica Memorial Seniors Charity Event benefitting the Gilda Club, and an “Old School No Limit Hold’em” Freeze-Out.
But all eyes will be looking forward to the headline event on the schedule. The World Poker Tour makes a return to The Borgata and the $3,300+$200 buy-in Championship will put up another $3 Million in guaranteed money. The five-day tournament has two starting flights and the final table will be live-streamed in front of the WPT cameras.
This is a change from the setup in year’s past. For this WPT season, the Borgata Poker Open Championship final table will be live-streamed instead of recorded for television and the 2019 WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship will be televised instead of live-streamed. There will still be plenty of face time in front of the cameras.
Last year’s WPT Borgata Poker Open Championship was won by Guo Liang Chen and he took home $789,000 after a tough heads-up battle against Greg Weber to put his name on the WPT Champions Cup.
Guo Liang Chen, 2017 WPT Borgata Poker Open Champion
Another revision to the past setup will be the location of this year’s Borgata Poker Open events. There will no longer be the long hike up to the Event Center to play your tournaments. For this series, we are opening the Poker Tournament Zone for this series, an area conveniently located between the Poker Room and Signature Room with quick access from anywhere in the casino and only a short escalator ride to The Marketplace Eatery. This is a temporary adjustment and we will soon be back to business as usual in the Event Center.
We look forward to seeing our locals and regulars back in action while battling against the best the poker world has to offer.
Borgata Poker Open schedule
Borgata Poker Open schedule (printable)
Enter here for a chance to win a seat in the Championship event