Time flies when they’re having fun. The Borgata Poker Open powered by BetMGM is already nearly one week into the Atlantic City action, and quite a lot has happened since the Borgata Poker Open kick-off. Winners have taken their photos and cashed out their winnings, there have been livestreams and good times, all since the series began on September 3.

From the Poker.org live BPO updates to social media posts, we’ve combed through the news to bring you the top three things that happened over the weekend. 

1.  Guan Huang Wins Kick-off Event

Event 1 of the Borgata Poker Open this month brought in a strong field and smashed the $1,000,000 guarantee set for the prize pool.

• Total entries: 1,727
• Total prize pool: $1,208,900
• Players paid: 219

By the time the five starting flights completed the field, tournament organizers could rest a bit easier knowing they exceeded the guarantee. And when the starting flights ended, the minimum payouts had begun for $1,686 each and the journey to the final table began. By the dinner break on Day 2, only 28 players remained. 

That evening saw players like Jeff Tomlinson eliminated in 18th place, Jake Schwartz in 15th, Frank Funaro in 11th, and Bin Weng in 10th. And with the ninth place bustout of Mykhailo Lendel, the final table of eight was set for Saturday’s livestream.

Final Table Action

The Borgata Poker Open Event 1 final table livestream was a Gorilla Gaming Production broadcast live on the BetMGM YouTube channel. Terrance Reid and Edwin Guzman (also known as Poker Llama) commentated on the action, as Pavel Plotkin took the chip lead into play, followed by other big stacks held by Brendan Mahoney and Dhaval Joshi.

Plotkin wielded that massive stack to bust Srikanth Gundela in eighth place, but Joshi couldn’t do the same, as Travis Hartshorn doubled through him and Guan Huang eliminated him. Huang then jumped into the lead by taking a big pot from Trace Henderson. Hartshorn sent Plotkin out in fifth place, and Henderson followed to the rail.

When Huang busted Brendan Mahoney in third, he took 46,800,000 chips into heads-up play against the 22,700,000 of Hartshorn. With no chop on the table, it took only a few hands for Hartshorn to risk it all with J-4 offsuit of clubs on a club-less board of Kd-Jd-3h-Th. Huang had been aggressive and moved all-in on the turn with K-2. A three on the river gave the win to Huang with his top pair.

The final table results were:

• 1st place: Guan Huang $192,236
• 2nd place: Travis Hartshorn $131,998
• 3rd place: Brandan Mahoney $90,338
• 4th place: Trace Henderson $58,612
• 5th place: Pavel Plotkin $39,787
• 6th place: Dhaval Joshi $30,457
• 7th place: Carlo Virga $23,761
• 8th place: Srikanth Gundela $18,582

Firsts for Huang

Not only was Huang the first-place finisher in this event, it was his first live victory. And it was only his second live tournament ever. The online poker player focused mainly online until he quit his job earlier this year to pursue poker full time. 

Winning nearly $200,000 in this tournament made a significant impression on Huang’s opponents and makes for a sizable poker bankroll with which to move forward in his new career.

2.  Mirror Mystery Bounty is a Mystery No More

After the Kick-off, the second major offering of the Borgata Poker Open was the Mirror Mystery Bounty. With its $1,250 buy-in and four starting days, the hope was to find a big crowd and surpass the $500K prize pool point. And they did.

• Total entries: 619
• Total prize pool: $680,900
• Players paid: 80

The mirror aspect of the tournament meant that the size of the bounties would mirror the payouts. That meant that the first-place payout of $60,057 put a $60,000 bounty into play. The second-place payout of $41,539 put a $41,550 bounty in the mystery box. All bounty amounts correspond with payout amounts. This was a desire for players, and the Borgata Poker staff agreed to do it.

Big Bounties, No Whammies

With that said, Day 2 began the pulling of bounties, and as the final table approached, players like David Jackson, Chris Cash, and Vincent Giuliano had to leave the game and collect their payouts. Play continued as Jason Blodgett busted in eighth and Eric Valerio followed in seventh to set the final table of six for Day 3.

Mykhailo Lendel Lends a Hand

The six final table players in the Mirror Mystery Bounty tournament had none of the typical Monday blues, as all were guaranteed at least $10,417 for their play thus far. James Scoppa headed to the livestream with a massive lead over his competitors, holding nearly twice the chips of Pavlo Tkach, who was second on the leaderboard.

The BPO Mirror Mirror Mystery Bounty livestream began on the BetMGM YouTube channel with Terrance Reid and Caitlin Comeskey voicing the action. They informed the viewers that the six players even-chopped the six remaining bounties – all low values – so the prize pool was the only money in play. 

Almost immediately, shorter stacks like Mykhailo Lendel improved, as he ousted Tkach in sixth place and slowly climbed into the chip lead. He ultimately busted Scoppa in third place to take more than a two-to-one chip lead into heads-up against Jason Pardy. Lendel kept up the pressure, prompting Pardy to risk his stack with pocket sevens. The Q-T of Lendel rivered a straight on the J-J-K-6-9 board.

As a part-time poker player, Lendel spends most of his time running his tile installation business, but the love of the game brings him to the tables when time allows. This tournament shows that he didn’t need to play as a pro to compete with them. 

The results were:

• 1st place: Mykhailo Lendel $60,000
• 2nd place: Jason Pardy $41,539
• 3rd place: James Scoppa $28,729
• 4th place: Matthew Hoynowski $18,974
• 5th place: Pavlo Tkach $13,185
• 6th place: Stanton Tentnowski $10,417

3.  A Focus on Women in Poker

As more women enter poker spaces, poker rooms like the one at Borgata provide room for more of them to grow in the game and thrive. That meant two major ladies-only offerings during the Borgata Poker Open. 

McClary Wins Championship

Event 11 of the BPO schedule delivered a $300 buy-in opportunity for women. The Ladies Championship tournament was not a new one, as the Spring Poker Open offered the same buy-in for women that brought in 116 entries and a $29,000 prize pool. Results were even better in this iteration of the series:

• Total entries: 125
• Total prize pool $31,250

Caitlin Comeskey was among the players who cashed, as she finished in 13th place to follow her seventh place in the May event. 

Ultimately, the final table found longtime player Nancy Birnbaum competing heads-up for the title, but Rae McClary took it down. She has been a regular at the MGM National Harbor poker room since it opened but has played locally on the East Coast for more than a decade. With many final tables and several wins to her credit, this win is her largest score to date.

Ladies Night Special

On Sunday night, women were invited to play in the BPO Ladies Pink Chip Special cash game. It was the evening after the Ladies Championship concluded, so Nancy Birnbaum was in the mix with seven others. All of the women bought in for $1,000 to play $2/$5, but in the style of a tournament. 

The sound for the livestream started about 30 minutes after the game started, but when it did, Jo Kim was on the mic. Marguerite Spagnuolo joined the commentary booth about four hours into the game. The game finally broke after nearly six hours of high action and fun table talk.

There’s More to Come at Borgata Poker Open

If this gets you into the poker spirit, log on from New Jersey, Michigan, or Pennsylvania to play online at BetMGM Poker. There are cash games and tournaments running at all hours of the day and night!