Soukha Kachittavong Wins Second Borgata Open Kick-Off Event
Soukha Kachittavong was the chip leader when the final seven players in the $500K GTD Event #3: $600 Deepstack Kick-Off NLH opted for an ICM adjusted payout and called it a day. Kachittavong takes first place and will collect $87,443 to go with the hefty Borgata Fall Poker Open trophy, officially booking his fourth win here at Borgata.
The poker pro does most of his winning closer to his home (Rhode Island) in the Connecticut casinos, but Borgata is a favorite locale for him as well. He won this same event during the 2017 Borgata Spring Poker Open, topping a field twice the size of this one in that $1M GTD event, earning $127,637 in a nine-way deal. Today's score will push his total reported live earnings past $1.9 million.
Runner-up Jean Paul Norero has now cashed in back-to-back events in this series. He was the chip leader at the start of the day, but the lead changed hands several times over the course of play. He was second in chips when the deal was struck and collects $84,112 for second place. In Event #1: $560 Super Survivor NLH, he made the final 10% of players and scored $5,000 in the first Main Event of this series.
Two World Poker Tour Champions Club members were part of this final table deal. Victor Ramdin takes third place and $79,692, bringing his lifetime earnings up to more than $4.9 million. Mike Linster improved on his 15th place finish in last September's Borgata Poker Open Kick-Off ($8,853), moving up ten spots and finishing fifth for $50,369. That will take his career earnings over the $2 million mark.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Payout |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Soukha Kachittavong | $87,443* |
| 2 | Jean Paul Norero | $84,112* |
| 3 | Victor Ramdin | $79,692* |
| 4 | Joseph Malebranche | $58,915* |
| 5 | Mike Linster | $50,369* |
| 6 | Eric Hayes | $49,762* |
| 7 | Bin Weng | $42,203* |
| 8 | Gilberto Taveras-Garcia | $18,362 |
| 9 | Katie Stone | $13,212 |
| 10 | Yonghui Jiang | $8,733 |
*Indicates Adjusted Payouts
Day 3 Action
She was not part of the deal, but the last woman in this event was BorgataPoker.com sponsored pro Katie Stone. She was eliminated in ninth place when her pocket kings were out-flopped by Kachittavong's pocket eights and his set held up to send her to the rail ($13,212). Coincidentally, her husband Joe Cappuccio finished 2nd in this event last Fall in a heads-up deal, earning $128,358.
Eighteen players returned to the felt for Day 2 with Jean Paul Norero leading the way. The second player to be eliminated was well-known pro Jon Borenstein who has final-tabled this event before. During the 2016 WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open, he finished sixth for $86,589. Today his luck ran out when all-in with ace-jack against Bin Weng's pocket jacks and he finished 17th for $3,956.
, Taveras-Garcia checked, Ramdin bet 300,000, Taveras-Garcia check-raised to 1 million, Ramdin shoved for 3,320,000 total and got the call.
for top two pair, but Ramdin had 
for the nut flush. The board completed with 
and Ramdin doubled to more than 7 million.
, Jason Casale (bb) open-ripped and Weng called. (The third player folded.)
(top pair, gutshot) was beat by Weng's 
, but then the 
came on the turn, giving Casale two pair and odds for a double-up.
on the river foiled those plans as it gave Weng Aces-up and a better two pair hand. He pulled the pot and is up to ~6.5 million, good for the chip lead.
was in bad shape against Weng's 
. Needing an Ace or running spades, Borenstein was drawing slim. The last two came 
and were not the runners he was looking for. 
