McKeehen Holds Big Lead as Eight Aim for Seven-Figures in $5,300 the Return Final Table
It is time for the final day of $5,300 the Return to cap off what as been a very successful, The Return – A Borgata Championship Event.
Eight players return to the felt today under the live streaming lights to battle for the coveted seven-figure $1,206,907 top prize.
Joe McKeehen leads the way with a huge chip lead of 12,385,000, which is good for 124 big blinds to start. McKeehen has already secured enough money to move himself over the $19 million threshold for his career and a win would send him over the $20 million mark. He will be looking to use his chip lead to emulate his dominating 2015 WSOP Main Event final table performance to take down his third career seven-figure score.
Some distance behind in second is Jonathan Borenstein who has enough for 69 big blinds. Borenstein has over $1.6 million in career earnings and any finish sixth or better would become his highest career cash, topping his previous best of $230,000.
Justin Saliba is third in chips with 57 big blinds. The Las Vegas pro has north of 1.7 million in career tournament winnings. He has already locked up his sixth career six-figure score and will be aiming to finish third or better which would lock up a career-best result, which is currently for $402,634.
Juxtaposing the beefy tournament resumes of the top three stacks is Chistopher Ng in fourth with 46 big blinds. More regularly a cash game player, Ng’s career tournament profile includes only four cashes that add up to just $18,000, the biggest being a little more than $6,000. Ng has openly stated to his opponents that his tournament experience is very light as he has burst onto the tournament scene here at the Borgata this week.
Final Table
| Seat | Player | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lanny Vaysman | 1,755,000 | 18 |
| 2 | Justin Saliba | 5,730,000 | 57 |
| 3 | Joe McKeehen | 12,385,000 | 124 |
| 5 | Sundiata Devore | 1,985,000 | 20 |
| 6 | Sam Laskowitz | 2,170,000 | 22 |
| 7 | Jonathan Borenstein | 6,900,000 | 69 |
| 8 | Bin Weng | 4,400,000 | 44 |
| 9 | Christopher Ng | 4,640,000 | 46 |
Bin Weng is fifth in chips with 44 big blinds. Weng has been one of the most prolific tournament players in the last couple of years as he has cashed in numerous events throughout the country to build his career earnings close to $2 million. He will be looking to add the first truly eye-popping result of his career and surpass his previous best of ~ $202,000 with any finish sixth or better.
After Weng, there is a drop off in chips as seventh place stack Sam Laskowitz has half as much as Weng with 22 big blinds. Laskowitz will be one of the stories of the day as he is looking for the improbable second title in the same series. He won the $2,200 Mystery Bounty event earlier this week in Borgata for $146,000 after a chop. All of his career earnings come from within the last seven months as he burst onto the scene with a 2nd place in the WSOP Colossus in June 2022 for his first career result for over $250,000. Today will be his third six-figure score already.
The penultimate chip stack is Sundiata DeVore with 20 big blinds. The Brooklyn native has over $600,000 in career earnings with his previous largest being for $62,500. He has blown past that mark with his result here as he has already more than doubled that career best score.
Entering the day as the short stack will be colorful character Lanny Vaysman who has 18 big blinds. Outside of Ng, he has the lightest tournament result with results that add up to a little more than $92,000 and he has also more than doubled his previous best result of $60,000.
Play begins at 2 p.m. local time with 30 minutes left in the 50,000/100,000/100,000 level. Levels are 90 minutes and there will be a brief break after each level of play.
The live stream will start at 2:30 and is available on Borgata Twitch and Youtube, which is when the PokerNews updates will also start to be in sync with the live stream.