button in SafariBaby Rungood! Paul Volpe Adds Another Borgata Title For $492,415!
Five days ago, the crown jewel of the Big, Big Series kicked off here at Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa. Event #10: $5,300 Big, Big Championship drew out a total of 519 players chasing the prestigious title and sizable portion of the $3,000,000 prize pool. Only 19 of those initial entrants found themselves with a chance here today and after 11 hours of play, one stood ahead of the rest.
Those familiar with the Borgata poker scene know all too well Paul Volpe’s prowess at the biggest events here in Atlantic City. Over the past 15 years, he has final tabled 9 main events here in the seasonal series’ and special events. His tenth here today became his biggest score at the Borgata as he won the Big, Big, championship and added $492,415 to bring his overall cashing total in just the main events here to over $1,500,000 lifetime.
“I’ve done well here over the years here,” the new champion commented on his success here at the casino “It’s my home casino and I always play the main events here. It’s absolutely my favorite spot. I say that to people everywhere. The games here have been great for years and I just got lucky it was close to my house so I was lucky to be in this area and play here for the last 15…16 years.”
With over $10 million in recorded live earnings, Volpe has shown himself as a master of many games on the felt with massive titles and scores in various different game types like Omaha Hi-Lo and 9-Game mix.
“If I thought it (Hold’em) was my best game I would be playing Tritons with those guys over there. I would say I’m better at mix overall than No-Limit overall. I still enjoy the no-limit hold’em tournaments.”
Early in Day 3, Volpe fell to one of the shortest stacks in the field before eventually bouncing back to the chip lead once the final table began.
“It’s all blind dependent,” Volpe said as far as how he dealt with his stack all day. “At one point I was down to eight blinds, then I just managed to spin it up. Early on I won my nines versus kings. After that I just continued to keep going, I made a lot of hands. To win one of these you have to run good, you have to play good, luck is more important in the short term.”
Once Volpe and Frank Lagodich reached heads up, the two players came to an ICM deal with Volpe taking home the trophy.
“I wouldn’t chop with everyone for sure. We both were discussing we were kind of tired. I’ve played against Frank a bunch here, some at the WSOP, he’s a no-limit solver, studier, he’s super tough. There are certain people that I wouldn’t chop with and maybe certain people wouldn’t chop with me. I know the audience loves to see the finish but that’s not the reality sometimes, it’s generally up to the players. It happens all the time. I think we both respected each other’s games and locked up money and decided to chop.”
After he won, Volpe highlighted the variety of different characters at Borgata specifically and the amount of variety there is among the field.
“You need them,” stated Volpe on the importance of characters in the game. “I think even though poker is growing, we’re seeing less of the wild man. Having characters is important for poker. They’re still here and we need to keep them in the game for sure.”
As far as any poker plans are concerned, Volpe has different life priorities nowadays and his next trip is looking to be a couple of months away.
“I think most likely December at the Wynn. I don’t think I’ll be going to Bahamar. I have a nine-month old at home and I’ve been enjoying staying home with her.”
When asked whether or not he believed in baby rungood, Volpe had a quick answer.
“Absolutely, been running good ever since!”
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Paul Volpe | United States | $492,415* |
| 2 | Frank Lagodich | United States | $420,000* |
| 3 | Tyler Hirschfeld | United States | $263,150 |
| 4 | Brock Wilson | United States | $175,080 |
| 5 | Sanat Mehrotra | India | $122,850 |
| 6 | Scott Blumstein | United States | $97,865 |
| 7 | David Kinane | United States | $79,100 |
| 8 | Julian Altieri | Argentina | $64,585 |
| 9 | Sead Duraku | United States | $53,865 |
*Denotes ICM deal
Final Day Action
Fireworks came early as players began to fall by the wayside who started with sizable stacks. Myles Mullaly (17th-$29,345), Thomas Cannuli (13th-$34,940), and Matthew Iles (12th-$34,940) all found themselves on the outside looking in of the final table.
The last player to fall short of the final table was BetMGM Qualifier Lucas Bernui, who was short after a confrontation with Volpe. His last chips went to David Kinane as he put in his last chips with king-jack on a jack-high board, while Kinane's ace-ten made second pair. Kinane improved to three tens and the river would not help out Bernui leaving him to collect his $42,095 for his tenth place finish, while the other nine players took their seats at the final table.
Final Table Action
Getting to the official final table of eight saw a massive pot to kick things off. Sead Duraku four-bet pocket aces preflop starting as the fourth biggest stack at the table while Volpe called preflop with pocket jacks. A jack-high flop saw all the chips go in by the turn and the biggest pot of the tournament went to Volpe who took a massive pot and the large lead over the table while Duraka took home $53,865 for his ninth place finish.
After the dinner break, the next elimination would also come at the hands of Volpe as Julian Altieri four-bet jammed his king-queen suited only to see Volpe look him up with ace-king. An ace-high board would be all she wrote for the Argentinian player and his eighth place finish was worth $64,585.
Next to go would be a favorite of the Borgata as frequent commentator Kinane finished his run in seventh place. Tyler Hirschfeld would jam holding queen-nine suited over Frank Lagodich’s open and Kinane woke up with ace-king in the big blind to call. Three nines on the board was good for Hirschfeld to take down the pot and Kinane collected $79,100 at the payout cage.
2017 WSOP Main Event Champion Scott Blumstein began the final table with the second largest stack, but a clash with Hirschfeld would leave him as the shortest stack remaining. He jammed his short stack from the small blind over Hirschfeld’s button open and Brock Wilson woke up with ace-king in the big blind to jam out Hirschfeld. Wilson paired his ace and Blumstein’s deep run ended in sixth place to win $97,865.
A river card would send BetMGM qualifier Sanat Mehrotra to the payout cage to collect $122,850 for his fifth place finish. He found himself in prime position to double up through Volpe when his ace-king got in against Volpe’s ace-ten. All seemed well until the river gave Volpe the nut flush to win the pot. Mehrotra’s satellite spin up off of one bullet turned into a six-figure score while Volpe took over half of the chips in play.
Wilson’s final clash was told in two parts, both of which were with Hirschfeld. He first saw a double up go Hirschfeld’s way courtesy of his stack when Hirschfeld’s ace-queen held up against his ace-eight. After that, he put himself at risk for his last chips with king-queen up against Hirschfeld’s jack-ten. A ten-high board pushed the pot Hirschfeld’s way while the high stakes tournament regular finished his run in fourth place for a sizable sum of $175,080.
Despite the boost to his stack that pushed him into second place, Hirschfeld’s new found chips went over to Volpe shortly after the Wilson elimination. Hirschfeld made three nines with ace-nine on the river in a pot he was already drawing dead in against Volpe who held jack-ten to make a jack-high straight. When Volpe moved in on the river, Hirschfeld called to see his run finish in third place and collected $263,150 for his podium finish.
The tournament ended after that as Volpe and Lagodich chopped it up, with Volpe taking home the trophy and $492,415 and Lagodich taking home $420,000 for his runner up finish.
