Wenhai Ying Victorious at 2018 Borgata Fall Poker Open
November 26, 2018 12:32 pmThis year’s Borgata Fall Poker Open concluded with its $2,700 Championship Event, which saw 437 players enter the tournament to create a prize pool worth $1,092,500. Five days of action later, and emerging atop of the field was Wenhao Ying, who overcame his last opponent Matthew Wantman heads-up to claim a first place prize of $200,000.
Wenhai Ying’s previous biggest score was recorded after finishing this year’s $5,000 Lucky Hearts Poker Open in 3rd place for $60,577. Following his victory in Atlantic City, Ying now increases his career earnings to $355,576.
$2,700 Championship Event
The Borgata Fall Poker Open Championship attracted a large enough field to offer a prize pool $92,500 in excess of its $1 million guarantee. Among the recognizable pros seeing a return on their investment was Andrew Fegan in 45th ($5,299), Ari Engel in 40th ($5,299), Anna Antimony in 28th ($5,828), Asher Conniff in 21st ($6,570), Dan Buzgon in 18th ($8,372), and Lexy Gavin in 14th ($10,597).
Final Table Recap
Wenhao Ying entered the final table of six holding a sizeable 141bb lead, with nearest competitor Matt Wantman on 109bbs. These two players would ultimately go on to contest the title heads-up. In the meantime, a fair distance back was Dat Vu on 65bbs, followed by Brian Altman (47bbs), Paul Volpe (38bbs), and Michael Glick (37bbs).
Wenhao Ying (J-J) added further to his stack by eliminating Brian Altman (10-10) in 6th. Soon after, Ying (A-10) called Mike Glick’s (Q-6) preflop all in move, and promptly sent the short-stack to the exit in 5th.
Matt Wantman subsequently entered the fray after being dealt 10s-9s and calling Dat Vu’s (Jh-10h) shove on a Js-7s-3c-5c board. A 5s on the river completed Wantman’s flush to oust Vu from the competition in 4th. Following Paul Volpe’s departure in 3rd, the final battle got underway between Wenhao Ying and Matt Wantman for the title. Ying then managed to overcome his remaining opponent to claim a career first tournament victory.
Final Table Results
1: Wenhao Ying $200,000
2: Matt Wantman $172,449
3: Paul Volpe $150,000
4: Dat Vu $76,830
5: Mike Glick $60,404
6: Brian Altman $50,337
7: Dan DiZenzo $40,270
8: Andrew Ostapchenko $30,732
9: Chris Kennedy $21,195
2018 Borgata Fall Poker Open
The 2018 Borgata Fall Poker Open ran from November 6-21, and featured 20 events with buy-ins ranging from $200 to $2,700 for its Championship Event. In total, the series attracted around 7,000 competitors and paid out more than $3.4 million in prize money throughout its schedule.
Attracting the biggest field was its starting tournament, $540+60 DeepStack NLH, which drew 1,474 players and was eventually won by Frank Lagodich for $128,359. Meanwhile, the $450 Almighty Stack attracted the second biggest crowd of 1,073 players, with Anna Antimony claiming its top prize of $91,586. As a result, the New Jersey pro now boosts her career earnings to $655,432, of which $237,986 has been amassed in 2018 alone, making this year her best to date.
Another female player making a splash at the Borgata Fall Poker Open was Kathryn Stone Cappuccio, who topped a 745 player field at $300 Deepest Stack for a $19,337 payday. Cappuccio has now won three Borgata titles in total, placing her in a three-way tie on the ‘Most Wins at Borgata by a Woman’ list, alongside Anna Antimony and Patricia Barsanti-Chou.
2019 Winter Poker Open
Normal poker operations have now resumed at the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in Atlantic City. From December 26th-30th, however, its Poker Room will host the DeepStacks Challenge Series. From January 15th to February 1st, the 2019 Winter Poker Open will then return to Borgata’s Event Center venue, and subsequently climax in the WPT Winter Poker Open Championship from January 27-31.
Last year, the $3,500 WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open Champion attracted 1,312 players, resulting in a huge $4,199,712 prize pool. In the end, Daniel Weinman bested Nathan Nate Bjerno heads-up to claim a top prize worth $892,433, and would eventually go on to win the season ending WPT Champion of Champions for $381,500.