The 2019 Borgata Winter Poker Open at The Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa has almost come to a conclusion and this year the $3500 WPT Borgata Championship drew its biggest turnout ever, smashing its $3 million guarantee by $1.6 million.
After five days of action, the Final Table for New Jersey’s most prestigious tournament is set and the remaining six players will now head to Las Vegas where they will battle it out for the $728,430 first-place prize and the title of WPT Championship.
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The Final Table will be played on March 13 in the HyperX Esports Arena at the Luxor Hotel. It will be televised on Fox Sports Regional Networks as part of the WPT broadcast schedule for Season XVII. The Borgata Championship will be the second Final Table of the World Poker Tour to utilize the new delayed final table format. On March 12, Luxor will also host the Final Table of the $10,000 buy-in WPT Gardens Poker Championship.
Record-Breaking Turnout
Across three days of late registration, the $3500 buy-in event attracted 1415 total entries to create a final prize pool of $4.5 million. This makes it the largest WPT Main Event ever held at Borgata and also the third-largest WPT Main Tour field size of all time.
Last year, the $3500 buy-in Championship event attracted 1244 total entries to generate a prize pool of over $4 million. Canadian Eric Afriat emerged victorious to take home over $650,000. Compared to 2018, the turnout in this year’s event increased by almost 14%.
Borgata Winter Poker Open WPT History
| Year | GTD | Entries | Total Prize Pool | Winner | Winning Amount |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | $3M | 989 | $3,165,789 | Aaron Mermelstein | $712,305 |
| 2016 | $3M | 1171 | $3,748,371 | Chris Leong | $816,246 |
| 2017 | $3M | 1312 | $4,199,712 | Daniel Weinman | $892,433 |
| 2018 | $3M | 1244 | $3,967,000 | Eric Afriat | $651,928 |
| 2019 | $3M | 1415 | $4,669,500 | TBD | $728,430 |
The 2019 edition attracted some of the world’s best poker players from across the world including all-time WSOP bracelet leader— Phil Hellmuth who earlier shipped the Heads-Up event for over $37,000. Also among the participants were WSOP Main Event winners Joe McKeehen and Scott Blumstein, defending champion Eric Afriat, 2014 Borgata Poker Open winner Darren Elias, several Borgata team ambassadors and many other well-accomplished players.
Day 1A attracted a total 424 entries followed by 780 entries on Day 1B. Late registration was still open on Day 2 and it added another 211 entries to set a new attendance record. Day 4 resumed yesterday with the final remaining 29 players. Nick Schwarmann from Florida started the day with the chip lead. Also, among the top five chip leaders was Dan Buzgon who was recently appointed as an ambassador for Borgata.
Final Table Lineup
Dave Farah is leading the six-handed Final Table with a chip count of 18.85 million (126 bb). Brandon Hall is sitting in the second position with 14.1 million (94 bb) chip count. The third largest stack belongs to recently appointed Borgata ambassador Dan Buzgon sitting comfortably with 9.1 million chips (61 bb).
Buzgon who hails from New Jersey has earned over $2 million in live tournament earnings with three of his biggest tournament scores coming at Borgata. Venezuela’s first ever World Series of Poker gold bracelet winner Joseph Di Rosa Rojas heads into the Final Table with 5.8 million chips (39 bb) while Ian O’Hara and Vinicius Lima bagged 5.1 million (34 bb) and 3.5 million (24 bb) chips respectively.
WPT Borgata Final Table Line Up
| Seat 1. Ian O’Hara – 5,100,000 (34 bb) |
| Seat 2. Dave Farah – 18,850,000 (126 bb) |
| Seat 3. Joseph Di Rosa Rojas – 5,800,000 (39 bb) |
| Seat 4. Brandon Hall – 14,100,000 (94 bb) |
| Seat 5. Vinicius Lima – 3,550,000 (24 bb) |
| Seat 6. Daniel Buzgon – 9,100,000 (61 bb) |
Each of the remaining six players is guaranteed to take home $154,734 for reaching the Final Table. The top prize is $728,430 and the winner will also win a seat to the $15,000 Baccarat Crystal WPT Tournament of Champions and the WPT title.
The WPT televised Final Table will be played on March 13th at the HyperX Esports Arena in the Luxor Hotel & Casino.
