Hand 154: Anthony Merulla raised to 1 million, and David Paredes called. The flop was , and Paredes check-called 1.3 million to see a turn of . Merulla's turn bet was 2.2 million after Paredes checked, and Paredes made the call once more. A fell on fifth street, and Paredes checked once more. Merulla fired 5.325 million, and this bet led to another call from Paredes.
Merulla rolled over to drag the huge pot with a flush.
David Paredes Just Doubled Through Robert Merulla Despite Moving All In Without a Pair on the Flop
Hand 157: Paredes opened for 1 million and Merulla called, bringing a flop of on board. Merulla checked and Paredes bet 800,000. Merulla check-raised to 2.4 million and Paredes moved all in for 6,925,000. Merulla quickly called and the audience stood to crane their necks and see what each man held in the hole.
Showdown:
Merulla:
Paredes:
After the raising war that took place on the flop, neither player could produce a pair with which to do battle, and Paredes was in the lead with just king-high. Merulla was looking for eights or kings, while Paredes simply needed a clean run out to take down a huge double.
Turn:
Just like that, Paredes was the one who made a straight, and Merulla was left drawing to a slim chance at a chop on the river.
River:
A blank on fifth street kept Paredes in the lead and he doubled through.
Hand 171: Paredes raised to 1.2 million, and Merulla called. Merulla bet out 900,000 on the flop, and Paredes bumped it to 2.3 million. Merulla took some time to think before cutting out two stacks of chips and pushing out 4.3 million. Paredes jammed and was instantly called.
Paredes:
Merulla:
Merulla had flopped queens up, while Paredes had rolled with his top pair. The turn brought a , and Paredes was down to his last card. The dealer knuckled the table before delivering the , crowning Merulla the champion.
After four hours and nearly 100 hands of heads-up play, with both players doubling up when down on chips, Anthony Merulla defeated David Paredes to win the $3 Million Guaranteed World Poker Tour Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship. The New York City native pocketed $842,379 for the big win, so his career earnings of $530,658 will more than double with the win.
"I thought David was the best player at the final table and it wasn't close," Merulla said to Mike Sexton after the tournament. "I thought I played well and hit some cards at the right time."
It never hurts to have some luck at one of the biggest final tables of your career, and that's exactly what happened for Merulla when he got all in with queens and found himself facing the kings of Farid Jattin and the tens of Jared Jaffee early in the final table. He managed to river a diamond flush to survive. Interestingly, it was the second time in the tournament he won a three-way all in with queens when an opponent had a bigger pair. Surely, Merulla will have a soft spot in his heart for wired queens from now on.
After Jattin's eliminated, Vladislav Mezheritsky bowed out just a few hands later when he lost a race to Paredes.
Two hands after that, Jaffee, who Sexton had tabbed as the favorite coming into the final table, exited in third when Merulla called his shove with ace-eight and held against king-jack.
It looked like the final table was going to end in record time, but three-handed play rolled on for a bit between Merulla, Paredes, and Anthony Maio. After about 60 hands, Maio got it all in with an overpair and a flush draw, but Merulla had turned the nut flush and had him drawing dead.
That resulted in a long heads-up match due to the players sitting on exceptionally deep stacks (for this stage of a tournament) of around 100 big blinds each. Bothplayers had chance to put the other away, but each was well behind when they got it in with more chips and couldn't catch up. Finally, Merulla shipped the tournament when he flopped two pair and held against the top pair of his opponent.
Thanks for tuning in to PokerNews for our coverage of this WPT tournament.
, and Paredes check-called 1.3 million to see a turn of 
. Merulla's turn bet was 2.2 million after Paredes checked, and Paredes made the call once more. A 
fell on fifth street, and Paredes checked once more. Merulla fired 5.325 million, and this bet led to another call from Paredes.
to drag the huge pot with a flush.
on board. Merulla checked and Paredes bet 800,000. Merulla check-raised to 2.4 million and Paredes moved all in for 6,925,000. Merulla quickly called and the audience stood to crane their necks and see what each man held in the hole.
flop, and Paredes bumped it to 2.3 million. Merulla took some time to think before cutting out two stacks of chips and pushing out 4.3 million. Paredes jammed and was instantly called.
, and Paredes was down to his last card. The dealer knuckled the table before delivering the 
, crowning Merulla the champion.