Event 1
Jackob Datashvili – 1st Place – 2019 BSPO Championship
The $1 Million Guaranteed 2019 Borgata Summer Poker Open Championship fielded 514 entrants and created a prize pool in excess of $1.2 million. The final table was Live Streamed on Twitch TV and Borgata’s Facebook page and the audience watched as Jackob Datashvili made the right reads and caught the cards when he needed them. He went from next-to-last in the final table chip counts to taking home the 2019 BSPO trophy and $276,129* for 1st Place.
Edwin Ortiz – 1st Place – $1M GTD BSPO Kick-Off
The series started off with a bang with the $1 Million Guaranteed $540+$60 Deep Stack Kick-Off, which saw 1,925 entrants try their luck in six starting flights over three days. At the final table, Edwin Ortiz held the chip lead when the final seven players opted to call it a day. He took 1st place, the trophy, and $105,000* in a seven-way adjusted payout.
Adam Reese took 1st Place in both the Deeper Stack and Almighty Stack NLH events.
Now another Open Series is in the books and 19 Borgata Summer Poker Open trophies have new homes. In fact, two of them went to the same home. Adam Reese etched his name in the record books when he won two main events during this series, the $260+$40 Deeper Stack NLH ($14,805) and the $400+$50 Almighty Stack NLH ($68,806*). The poker dealer from Pennsylvania may be considering a new career.
Ari Engel – 1st Place – Black Chip Bounty post-lim
After earning nine WSOP Circuit rings, Ari Engel finally won his first WSOP bracelet this summer in the $2,500 NLH event. Now just a month later, Engel has added a third Borgata title to his extensive poker resume. He won the $500+60+$100 Black Chip Bounty Deep Stack post-lim event, earning $16,881 and pushing his lifetime earnings close to $6.7 million.
John McGuinness and Eric Siegel both claimed their fourth Borgata titles during this series, joining a very short list of players who can claim that honor. All guarantees were covered and millions in prize money was paid out to hundreds of participants! A complete list of Main Event winners is below.
*Indicates Adjusted Payout
Make plans now to join us for the World Poker Tour Borgata Poker Open, September 3rd – 20th. Until then, check out the Summer Heater, running August 12-17, and the next DeepStacks Challenge Series, running August 19-25.
This concludes our coverage of the 2019 Borgata Summer Poker Open! On behalf of the Borgata Poker family and our blog team, @Kaelaine, @TKBluffs, @AlCantHang, & @SandBarbour, Thank You!
$540+$60 Deep Stack Kick-Off NLH
$1 Million Guaranteed
Structure Sheet | Payouts
Level 33: Blinds 150,000/250,000/250,000 BB Ante
Total Entries: 1,925
Edwin Ortiz – 1st Place – $1M GTD BSPO Kick-Off
Once the deal was struck, Edwin Ortiz locked up both his biggest tournament cash ever and his first tournament win. In fact, this is his first final table appearance in a live tournament. He’ll take home the Borgata Summer Poker Open trophy and $105,000 in cash. That will come in handy for his family — his wife and 2-year-old son are back home in Queens, NY.
Originally from Columbia, Edwin has been in the US for about 12 years and playing poker for about 10 of them. He’s self-taught, learning from books and playing online. When not playing poker, he makes his living as a driver and is both a fan and player of tennis.
Also notable at this final table was Vyacheslav Niyazov. He made the final table of this event last Summer, finishing 5th for $60,526 and has now gone back-to-back, making the final table again. This time he’s taking 7th place and $60,397.
Vyacheslav Niyazov & Edwin Ortiz
Complete Day 3 Results
| Place | Payout | Player |
| 1 | $105,000* | Edwin Ortiz |
| 2 | $90,519* | Gilberto Taveras-Garcia |
| 3 | $88,440* | Tim Flank |
| 4 | $87,767* | Yue Zhu |
| 5 | $73,478* | Larry Renzelli |
| 6 | $66,822* | Rob Calabrese |
| 7 | $60,397* | Vyacheslav Niyazov |
| 8 | $24,704 | Jeff Deegan |
| 9 | $17,646 | Arnaldo Gordon |
| 10 | $11,596 | Walter Writt Jr |
| 11 | $11,596 | Ray Torricelli |
| 12 | $11,596 | Vladimir Peck |
| 13 | $7,562 | Leonardo Palermo |
| 14 | $7,562 | Robert Avon |
| 15 | $7,562 | Joe Gil |
| 16 | $5,243 | Brian Eckstrom |
| 17 | $5,243 | Jacques Melki |
| 18 | $5,243 | John Wilson |
*Indicates Adjusted Payout
$540+$60 Deep Stack Kick-Off NLH
$1 Million Guaranteed
Structure Sheet | Payouts
Level 33: Blinds 150,000/250,000/250,000 BB Ante
Total Entries: 1,925
Players Remaining: 7
Average Stack: 6.9 million
About half-way through the level, some serious talk started about adjusting the payouts. Here’s how the stacks looked at the time.
| NAME | CHIP COUNT | Bbs |
| Edwin Ortiz | 11,225,000 | 45 |
| Gilberto Taveras-Garcia | 8,525,000 | 34 |
| Tim Flank | 8,050,000 | 32 |
| Yue Zhu | 7,900,000 | 32 |
| Larry Renzelli | 5,100,000 | 20 |
| Rob Calabrese | 4,025,000 | 16 |
| Vyacheslav Niyazov | 3,650,000 | 15 |
After a bit of negotiation, an agreement was reached and the payouts were adjusted as follows:
| Place | Payout | Player |
| 1 | $105,000 | Edwin Ortiz |
| 2 | $90,519 | Gilberto Taveras-Garcia |
| 3 | $88,440 | Tim Flank |
| 4 | $87,767 | Yue Zhu |
| 5 | $73,478 | Larry Renzelli |
| 6 | $66,822 | Rob Calabrese |
| 7 | $60,397 | Vyacheslav Niyazov |
$540+$60 Deep Stack Kick-Off NLH
$1 Million Guaranteed
Structure Sheet | Payouts
Level 33: Blinds 150,000/250,000/250,000 BB Ante
Total Entries: 1,925
Players Remaining: 7
Average Stack: 6.9 million
Larry Renzelli
Larry Renzelli shoved for 2,225,000 and Tim Flank raised to 5 million even on his left. Everyone else opted out and Larry tabled 
. Tim was ahead with 
.
The board ran clean, until the river, that is. The final board read 
and Larry paired his King on the river to double up. He’s now stacking 5.1 million.
Tim’s stack slipped to ~8 million — He’s no longer the chip leader.
Edwin Ortiz now holds that title with 11.2 million in play.
Edwin Ortiz
$540+$60 Deep Stack Kick-Off NLH
$1 Million Guaranteed
Structure Sheet | Payouts
Level 33: Blinds 150,000/250,000/250,000 BB Ante
Total Entries: 1,925
Players Remaining: 7
Average Stack: 6.9 million
Yue Zhu
On the turn with the board reading 
, Rob Calabrese jammed from the big blind, having Yue Zhu covered. Zhu tanked for a couple of minutes before opting to call.
Rob’s 
had flopped two pair to crack Zhu’s , but Zhu had outs.
The river was the 
, which completed a flush for Zhu and saved his tournament life. He doubled up to roughly 8.5 million (34 big blinds). Rob was left with ~4.1 million (~16.5 big blinds).
$540+$60 Deep Stack Kick-Off NLH
$1 Million Guaranteed
Structure Sheet | Payouts
Level 33: Blinds 150,000/250,000/250,000 BB Ante
Total Entries: 1,925
Players Remaining: 7
Average Stack: 6.9 million
Players are back from their break. Here’s what they were stacking after the blue 5,000 chips were colored up and removed from play, in seat order.
| SEAT | NAME | CHIP COUNT | Bbs |
| 1 | Tim Flank | 11,025,000 | 44 |
| 2 | Yue Zhu | 3,925,000 | 16 |
| 3 | Edwin Ortiz | 8,325,000 | 33 |
| 4 | |||
| 5 | Gilberto Taveras-Garcia | 7,975,000 | 32 |
| 6 | Vyacheslav Niyazov | 5,500,000 | 22 |
| 7 | Rob Calabrese | 8,200,000 | 33 |
| 8 | Larry Renzelli | 3,175,000 | 13 |
and by chip count:
| NAME | CHIP COUNT | Bbs |
| Tim Flank | 11,025,000 | 44 |
| Edwin Ortiz | 8,325,000 | 33 |
| Rob Calabrese | 8,200,000 | 33 |
| Gilberto Taveras-Garcia | 7,975,000 | 32 |
| Vyacheslav Niyazov | 5,500,000 | 22 |
| Yue Zhu | 3,925,000 | 16 |
| Larry Renzelli | 3,175,000 | 13 |
$540+$60 Deep Stack Kick-Off NLH
$1 Million Guaranteed
Structure Sheet | Payouts
Level 32: Blinds 100,000/200,000/200,000 BB Ante
Total Entries: 1,925
Players Remaining: 7
Average Stack: 6.9 million
Jeff Deegan
Jeff Deegan moved in for about 2.7 million (13.5 big blinds) and then Yue Zhu moved in from the hijack for less (1,755,000 or just under 9 big blinds). Everyone else got out of their way.
Yue’s was crushing Jeff’s 
and the board of 
was no help. Yue took the pot, doubling up to just over 4 million.
Jeff was left with a smidge under 1 million and lost those to chip leader Tim Flank soon after. Tim’s up to ~11 million, extending his chip lead.
Jeff Deegan finished in 8th place, earning $24,704.
$540+$60 Deep Stack Kick-Off NLH
$1 Million Guaranteed
Structure Sheet | Payouts
Level 32: Blinds 100,000/200,000/200,000 BB Ante
Total Entries: 1,925
Players Remaining: 8
Average Stack: 6 million
Arnaldo “AG” Gordon
Edwin Ortiz opened for 400,000 from the button only to have Arnaldo “AG” Gordon jam for 1.77 million from the small blind. Edwin took his time, counted out the call, counted his remaining chips, then finally made the call. His was trailing AG’s 
.
The runout was tough for AG as it came 
giving Edwin a full house and the pot. He’s up to ~8 million.
Arnaldo “AG” Gordon finished in 9th place, earning $17,646.
$540+$60 Deep Stack Kick-Off NLH
$1 Million Guaranteed
Structure Sheet | Payouts
Level 32: Blinds 100,000/200,000/200,000 BB Ante
Total Entries: 1,925
Players Remaining: 9
Average Stack: 5.3 million
Larry Renzelli
Walter Writt Jr (button) got his last 1,515,000 in holding 
and was racing against Larry Renzelli’s . The race was a short one as the board came 
giving Larry the pot with a pair of Aces. He’s up to ~3.7 million.
Walter Writt Jr busted out in 10th place, earning $11,596.
Walter Writt Jr
$540+$60 Deep Stack Kick-Off NLH
$1 Million Guaranteed
Structure Sheet | Payouts
Level 32: Blinds 100,000/200,000/200,000 BB Ante
Total Entries: 1,925
Players Remaining: 10
Average Stack: 4.8 million
Vyacheslav Niyazov
Arnaldo “AG” Gordon opened for 350,000, then Vyacheslav “VN” Niyazov jammed for 1.33 million total. After everyone else got out of the pot, AG gave it some thought, then called the extra ~ 1 million, showing 
. VN was ahead with 
, but it was off to the races.
The board came 
and the Jacks held for VN. He doubled up to ~3 million. AG was left with ~ 6.3 million.
Then Jeff Deegan (cutoff) got all-in for 1.87 million, getting action from Walter Writt Jr (button), who had him covered.
Jeff’s 
had him at risk for his tournament life against Walter’s pocket Kings, but the board of 
secured his double-up to more than 4.2 million. Walter was left with only about 1 million.
Jeff Deegan