The ARIA Poker Open continues in Las Vegas through another weekend, capping an 18-tournament series that ran through nearly three weeks on the Strip. The series offered an array of events with a total of $3,000,000 in guarantees, and it was highlighted by the $1,600 buy-in BetMGM Championship event, one that crushed its million-dollar guarantee and delivered an action-packed final table. 

Ultimately, Thomas Fuller emerged victorious with a first-place prize of more than $227,000 to go with two beautiful trophies for winning the BetMGM Poker Championship. 

BetMGM and ARIA Bring Big Numbers

When BetMGM Poker partners with ARIA Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, players know they will find the best that poker has to offer. Add in live coverage from the PokerOrg team, and the overall combination is just right. It brought poker players from around the country to the ARIA Poker Open starting on December 4. 

New and seasoned players alike turned out for the multiple mystery bounty events that kicked off the series. Erick Lindgren took down Event 6 (Pot Limit Omaha Mystery Bounty) for $18,270 in first-place money and another $18,000 in bounties. And the $1,100 BetMGM Mystery Bounty event brought in more than 650 entries to crush the $300,000 guarantee and deliver payouts for the top 82 players (plus bounties). Longtime pro Freddy Deeb exited in fifth place, and the final three players agreed to an ICM chop.

In the end, it was Ryan Gittleson who took home the lion’s share of the prize pool – $64,465 for the win and another $23,500 in bounties.

The featured event of the series was, of course, the $1,600 buy-in BetMGM Championship No Limit Hold’em tournament. It offered two starting days (December 13 and 14) and a $1,000,000 guarantee. Players piled into ARIA to play, even requiring an alternates list to handle the hundreds of players on Day 1A. By the time both flights were complete and the staff pulled the numbers together, they came to:

• Total players: 1,130
• Total prize pool:  $1,615,900
• Payouts:  142 places
• Minimum payout:  $2,456

Needless to say, the actual prize pool left the guarantee in the proverbial dust.

Nonstop Action Leading Up to the Final Table

Day 2 of the BetMGM Championship began with 177 players and quickly played to the money bubble. Once the payouts began, the eliminations were fast and furious, reducing the field to little more than 100 players by the first break of the day.

A player named Thomas Fuller was one of them, surviving that bubble with just eight big blinds. And then he found cards and consecutive winning hands. He soared to the top of the leaderboard, sitting with two million chips with only 79 players remaining. Fuller stayed stagnant until the field reduced to just three tables and then two. 

When the final table of nine players began play, Fuller had the lead with 11.4 million chips, with Michael Estes as the only other player nearby with 9.2 million. 

Fuller Fuels Fire on Final Day

After two more players exited the tournament, the final seven bagged their chips to play for the win the next day (December 16) on the livestream. Fuller’s bag held nearly 13 million chips, Estes had 9.3 million, and Edward Dixon was on the shortest stack of 1.7 million.

Dixon quickly moved all-in, and Fuller eliminated him in short order. Fuller took care of Yaser Al-Keliddar in sixth place and then Yang Lu in fifth. Hieu Tran doubled through Fuller as Gros moved into the chip lead. But Tran lost ground as Fuller climbed, and when those two tangled, Fuller ousted Tran in fourth place.

The three survivors then agreed to a chop based on their chip counts, though they left the trophies and $5,000 still in play. Gros then eliminated Michael Estes in third place, but Fuller pulled out the win soon after with A-8 and his flopped two pair against the T-8 of Gros.

Former Pro’s Triumphant Return to Poker

Once a poker pro, Fuller had success as he played through the poker boom and beyond. His focus appeared to be mid-stakes tournaments, and he made final tables around the world, from Australia to Europe. He won several titles but stepped away from the game to become a teacher. When he returned to poker earlier in 2024, he found poker a more studied game than when he left it. That worked for him, and he started playing near his home in Colorado and during an occasional trip to Las Vegas.

This win, he told PokerOrg, not only confirmed that his decision to return to poker was the right one, and it improved his bankroll more than a little. The BetMGM Championship victory is his largest score to date.

Online Poker Awaits

What’s next? The ARIA Poker Open is almost over in Las Vegas, and the next live tournament series doesn’t begin until January 2 when the Borgata Winter Poker Open begins in Atlantic City. There is only one thing to do between the series…besides celebrate the holidays, spend time with family and friends, and be merry. That one thing to do is play online poker at BetMGM.

Even better than playing cash games or tournaments at BetMGM Poker online is playing the online satellites for the Borgata Winter Poker Open. This can put a prize package under your holiday tree without even writing a letter to Santa. (Don’t forget to use an online poker bonus when you sign up and deposit into your account.)