After six starting flights and a long Day 2, the 2019 Borgata Poker Open (BPO) Event #1: $600 Deepstack Kick Off is slated to crown a winner today! Just 16 players from a 2,504-entry field will return, each guaranteed $6,755 but all aiming to capture the title and accompanying $228,142 first-place prize.
Benson Tang begins the day as chip leader with 9.95 million, while Frank Marasco sits in second with a healthy stack of 9,195,000. Rounding out the top three is Brittney Barnes with 8,935,000.
The remaining 16 players will return at noon local time. Play will resume in Level 28 with the blinds at 40,000/80,000 and a big blind ante of 80,000. Levels will be bumped up to 60-minutes in length and there will be a 15-minute break after every two levels of play.
The PokerNews Live Reporting Team will be on-site to capture all the action, so stay tuned!
Benson Tang opened to 450,000 from the button, Frank Marasco moved all in for 1,395,000 in the small blind and Tang called, players tabled their hands with Marasco at risk.
Frank Marasco:
Benson Tang:
The dealer fanned out on the flop and Tang took the lead with his pair of nines. A came down on the turn, leaving Marasco with one last chance for romance.
The did not improve Marasco as Tang took down the pot with his nines, eliminating Marasco from the tournament in eighth place.
John McGuinness opened to 625,000 from the button and Panja Lymswan moved all in for just under three million from the small blind. McGuinness snap-called and the two turned over their hands.
Panja Lymswan:
John McGuinness:
The flop rolled over , flopping an ace for both players but McGuinness was ahead with his higher kicker. A hit on the turn, leaving Lymswan in need of a johnny to stay alive. The river was not that and McGuinness scooped the entire pot, sending Lymswan on his way.
Mitchell Smith (sb) opened for 750,000, getting a call from Benson Tang in the big blind. On the flop of Smith again fired 750,000, getting called once again.
On the turn, Smith pumped the brakes and checked, Tang bet 1.75 million, and then Smith floored it with an all-in. Tang called.
"Uh Oh" Smith said, when he saw Tang's (two pair). Smith's needed to find another eight King or deuce on the river to survive.
It was a , however, and Smith's tournament came to an end in third place, good for $96,883.
Before a single hand was played heads-up, the final two players agreed on adjusting the payouts. As the chip leader, Benson Tang, who had 41,625,000 chips, took first place and $200,000, along with the Borgata Poker Open trophy. Second place and $176,080 went to John McGuinness, who had 20,700,000 chips at the time of the agreement.
More than 2,500 entrants in the 2019 Borgata Poker Open Event #1: $600 Deep Stack Kick Off NLH event fell by the wayside and it came down to the final two, Benson Tang and John McGuinness. Tang had a 2:1 chip lead on McGuinness when they got heads-up and an agreement was reached before a single hand was dealt.
Tang, a practicing corporate lawyer, took first place for $200,000 and the BPO trophy. He was the chip leader at the start of Day 3 and although he did not hold it all day, he put on a commanding performance in what became his first-ever tournament win. When away from the day job, he heads for the $5/$10 no-limit hold'em cash games but decided to give the tournament a shot.
Tang relocated to New York from San Jose, CA, to attend law school at Columbia and graduated with his J.D., passing the bar on his first try. He's planning to stick around the east coast since he's gainfully employed, which is why he won't be able to play more tournaments during this series — he's got to get back to his day job.
Final Table Results
Place
Player
Payout
1
Benson Tang
$200,000*
2
John Mcguinness
$176,080*
3
Mitchell Smith
$96,883
4
Keith Warren
$82,368
5
David Jackson
$68,334
6
Panja Lymswan
$54,431
7
Frank Marasco
$40,659
8
Brittney Barnes
$27,544
9
Ilya Dyment
$19,674
10
Emanuele Gugliuzza
$13,116
*Indicates Adjusted Payouts
Day 3 Action
Second place and $176,080 went to McGuinness, a local tournament grinder who already has four Borgata titles to his credit. Two from DeepStacks Challenge series events and two from Open series events. His most recent was just a couple of months ago during the Summer Poker Open when he took first place and $31,000 in the $500 Black Chip Bounty NLH event.
On his way to the title, Tang took out at least half the players at the final table, catching the cards when he needed them, and using his big stack to push his opponents around when he didn't. When the ten-handed final table redraw took place, 2019 Borgata Spring Poker Open Championship winner David Jackson had edged out Tang for the chip lead. Not long after that, the last woman remaining in the event, Brittney Barnes, took the chip lead when she flopped two pair in a three-way pot with Tang and Mitchell Smith. Her lead was also short-lived, however, as Tang felted Ilya Dyment in ninth place in a blind-versus-blind confrontation holding a dominating ace. That pot took him up to 14 million and he never relinquished the lead after that. Barnes busted out eighth for $27,544.
Following Dyment's demise (ninth for $19,674), Tang went on to felt Frank Marasco (seventh for $40,659); Jackson (fifth for $68,334); Keith Warren (fourth place, $82,368); and Smith (third place, $96,883). After three long days of play, the final two were ready to call it quits and quickly came to an agreement on the division of the remaining prize pool.
World Poker Tour Champions Club member Mike Linster made it to Day 3 near the top of the counts, but ran his pocket queens into a flopped two pair by chip leader Tang and was felted in 15th place ($8,853). Among the other players cashing out on Day 2 were two-time Almighty winner Greg Fisherg (62nd - $2,886); 2018 Spring Poker Open Kick Off winner Rafael Reis (23rd - $5,509) and WSOP bracelet winners David Prociak &James Calderaro, 29th and 34th, respectively, for $4,656 each.