Event 18
After eighteen long days, 20 Main Events and 18 side events have wrapped up and the 2016 Spring Poker Open has come to an end. All involved agreed it was a rousing success. The series had nearly $3 million in guarantees and ended up paying out more than $4.2 million in prize money just to the Main Events. All guarantees were well covered and the final two events nearly doubled their guarantees!
Joshua Gordon – 2016 Spring Poker Open Championship winner
The highlight of the series was the Championship event, which Paul Volpe (West Chester, PA) came very close to winning for the second series in a row. Following his win of the 2016 Borgata Spring Poker Open Championship in April, Volpe picked up his second WSOP bracelet in June. He brought that hot-streak back to Borgata and battled his way through a field of 557 entrants to get heads-up against Joshua Gordon (Silver Spring, MD).
Although he held the chip lead at the start of heads-up play, Volpe watched that lead slip away and after nearly four hours of heads-up play, Gordon came out on top, taking the title and $336,331. It’s the first reported win of any kind for Gordon, who is primarily a cash game player. Volpe collected $189,102 for 2nd place, which pushed the professional’s career earnings over $5.5 million.
Michael Kemeter – $1,000 SixMax NLH winner, second year running.
Although Volpe failed to repeat, Michael Kemeter was successful in his title defense. After winning the $1,000 Six Max NLH event during the 2015 Summer Poker Open, Kemeter returned this year determined to repeat that feat. It took an epic five-hour heads-up battle against John Kostelac, but Kemeter finally collected all the chips and $34,920 for 1st place. He now has a second Summer Poker Open $1,000 Six Max NLH trophy to go with his first.
Early in the series, the Cabot Creamery ‘Put a Bad Beat on Hunger’ Charity tournament to benefit the Community Food Bank of New Jersey – Southern Branch was a big success. Jason Rivkin (Bensalem, PA) claimed the top prize of $7,045 plus a $3,500 entry in the WPT Borgata Poker Open Championship in September. The participants had lots of fun during the casual event and Cabot Creamery provided lots of cheese samples for the entire Borgata Poker Room!
Scott Blumstein – $1 Million GTD kickoff event winner
The kickoff event carried a $1 Million Guarantee on total buy-ins and drew 2,368 entrants over five starting flights. Scott Blumstein (Morristown, NJ) emerged victorious, collecting just under $200,000 for the win and his first major title.
The ‘Bricks to Bits’ promotion continues at BorgataPoker.com and all players who entered any 2016 Summer Poker Open event will receive an entry in the ‘Brick to Bits’ online freeroll scheduled for August 7th. The winner of that freeroll will get a $3,500 entry into the September 2016 WPT Borgata Poker Open Championship event! The top 50 finishers will earn prizes and all participants will receive a $25 Matchplay offer. Cick here for details or go to BorgataPoker.com.
A complete list of Main Event winners is below and that wraps up the 2016 Summer Poker Open! Join us again in September when the Borgata Poker Open kicks off the day after Labor Day! Click here for the preliminary BPO Main Event schedule. Hope to see you there!
Event 18: $260 + $40 Deep Stack NLH
Level 26: (25,000/50,000/5,000)
Total Entrants: 411
Remaining Players: 1
John Ciofalo (Newburgh, NY) 1st Place
The 11 am Deep Stack event drew 411 players, it took 15 hours to make the final table and then under an hour to close it out. John Ciofalo knocked all four players out when five-handed to take home the trophy and $26,481.
“It was a long day to make the final table and I’m glad I came out on top,” Ciofalo said. “It was a talented final table and I just happened to come out on top.”
“The Borgata does a great job running their Series – from the tournament director to the dealers to the administration staff – they’re all fantastic,” he added. “The poker room really is the premier poker destination on the East Coast.”
Ciofalo wrapped up his win by saying he was going to be right back at it tomorrow in Event 19: $260 + $40 Deeper Stack No Limit Hold’em with re-entry with a $25,000 guarantee.
Final Table Payouts
- John Ciofalo – $26,481
- Tony Meza – $15,289
- Tom Pomponio – $9,329
- Pearson Potter – $7,515
- Sam Poling – $5,908
- Jim Ferrell – $4,924
- Herbert Cheng – $3,939
- Duane Houghton – $3,006
- Natalia Privalova – $2,073
Event 18: $260 + $40 Deep Stack NLH
Level 26: (25,000/50,000/5,000)
Total Entrants: 411
Remaining Players: 1
Five players all moved in preflop, John Ciofalo had the largest pocket pair and the board ran all rags. Ciofalo had everyone covered and clinched the tournament in a single hand.
Tony Meza (Atlantic City, NJ) 2nd Place
Tom Pomponio (Manahauken, NJ) 3rd Place
Pearson Potter (Sellersville, PA) 4th Place
Sam Poling (Lakewood, NJ) 5th Place
Event 18: $260 + $40 Deep Stack NLH
Level 26: (25,000/50,000/5,000)
Total Entrants: 411
Remaining Players: 5
Unfortunately three players busted from the final table while the Main Event was wrapping up their bagging process. Natalia Privalova went out in ninth place, Duane Haughton left in eighth place and Herbert Cheng busted in seventh place.
Jim Farrell (Blue Point, NY) 6th Place
Then Jim Farrell was eliminated in sixth place when John Ciofalo made a straight on an all rag board.
Event 18: $260 + $40 Deep Stack NLH
Level 26: (25,000/50,000/5,000)
Total Entrants: 411
Remaining Players: 9
The 11 am Deep Stack event reached the final table 15 hours after the event kicked off. Here’s a look at the seat assignments and chip stacks:
Final Table
- Duane Haughton – 65,000
- Sam Poling – 880,000
- Pearson Potter – 2,200,000
- Tom Pomponio – 400,000
- Natalia Privalova – 1,200,000
- Herbert Cheng – 630,000
- Jim Farrell – 415,000
- Tony Meza – 1,350,000
- John Ciofalo – 2,600,000
Event 18: $260+$40 Deep Stack NLH
$75,000 Guaranteed
Level 22: (10,000/20,000/3,000)
Total Entries: 411
Players Remaining: 21
Event 18 the $260+$40 NLH is down to just 21 players. John Ciofalo is leading the way with 1,700,000. We will play down to a winner tonight and someone will be taking home the $26,481 first prize and the BSPO trophy.
Event 18: $260+$40 Deep Stack NLH
$75,000 Guaranteed
Level 15: (2,000/4,000/400)
Total Entries: 411
Players Remaining: 102
Event 18 the $260+$40 Deep Stack NLH is now on a one hour dinner break. There are currently 102 players remaining and they are inching closer to the money. 45 players will be paid and guaranteed a minimum of at least $518. The players will resume play at approximately 8:15 P.M. and play down to a winner.
Event 18: $260+$40 Deep Stack NLH
$75,000 Guaranteed
Total Entries: 411
Total Prize Pool: $103,655
- $26,481
- $15,289
- $9,329
- $7,515
- $5,908
- $4,924
- $3,939
- $3,006
- $2,073
10-12. $1,348
13-15. $1,037
16-18. $819
19-27. $643
28-36. $570
37-45. $518
Event 18: $260+$40 Deep Stack NLH
$75,000 Guaranteed
Level 2: Blinds 75/150
Lot of familiar faces in today’s Deep Stack! Apparently no one is ready for the Summer Poker Open to end.
Cornel Cimpan (Sacramento, CA)
Millions of dollars in tournament earnings make no difference to Cornel Cimpan. He’s on the felt grinding it out in this $260+$40 Deep Stack. He recognizes the value in Borgata tournaments!
Ibraim Ibraimovic (Brooklyn, NY)
Ibraim Ibraimovic was here at 3:30 this morning when he finished 4th in Event 16, the Deep Stack Bounty event. He’s already back on the felt less than 8 hours later, grinding along in the next tournament.
Zach McNees (Brookyn, NY)
Zach McNees capped off last summer’s open series, winning the closing Deepest Stack event. He’s back a couple of days early to warm up for his title defense on Friday. His win in event 23 last year was good for more than $20,000.
Also spotted in the crowd:
Larry Gold
Tom Savitsky
Billy Horan
Michael Drabot
Toby Kasser
Joe Pitti
Don Brown
Michael Forca
Event 18: $260+$40 Deep Stack NLH
$75,000 Guaranteed
Level 1: Blinds 50/100
Today’s one-day event is essentially a ‘Saturday Series’ Deep Stack NLH tournament, just with a $75,000 guarantee instead of $100,000. The structure is the same as the Saturday Series events.
Players get 25,000 chips to start and all levels are 30 minutes long. This is a one-day event, so they’ll play until a winner is determined.
Late registration and unlimited re-entries are available until the start of level 9 (about 3:30pm).
Alexander Kartveli (Staten Island, NY)
Last year, this event was won by Alexander Kartveli in the early hours of Thursday morning. He was the last man standing out of 441 entries, taking home $28,412 for the win.
Cards are in the air here in the Poker Room!