Daniel Buzgon and Ian O’Hara headline the World Poker Tour Borgata Winter Poker Open final table as it moves to Las Vegas for its conclusion, and Pala Interactive gives ClubWPT a spit wash.
Hang up the phone.
Get the Sharpie out, scribble on a Post-It Note.
“I’ve booked tickets to Las Vegas. Won’t be back until late March. Take care of my goldfish.”
Another World Poker Tour (WPT) Main Event Final Table sets like a 6 o’clock shadow, and as with the previous one, the razor won’t come out until March.
A record 1,415-entrants entered the WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open at the {guess here} in Atlantic City. A badass feat considering last year, the event attracted a record 1,244 entrants with Eric Afriat winning the $651,928 top prize.
This time around Borgata officials will lacquer $728,430 on the winner’s check, and a man with a live tournament resume resembling a hermit’s answer machine message counter is in pole position.
Coming into the annual Borgata Winter warmer, Dave Farah had only won $80,062 playing live tournaments. According to The Hendon Mob (THM), the New Jersey native has never won a live tournament. His most significant score to date is the 344th place finish in the 2016 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event for $32,130. He did finish 41st in this event back in 2017 for $13,607.
Farah begins the final table with a healthy looking 126 big blinds, and his nearest competitor, Brandon Hall, has 94. Hall won the 475-entrant $5,500 buy-in UltimateBet Aruba Poker Classic for $753,330, beating Robert Mizrachi, heads-up for the title, back in 2009, and came close to winning a WSOP bracelet in 2014, finishing runner-up to Salman Jaddi in a 2,563-entrant $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em event.
Two players come into the final with more than $2m in live tournament earnings. Daniel Buzgon has won four career titles, including a couple of side events at the Borgata. In 2011, Buzgon finished 3/1313 in the WPT Borgata Poker Open for a career-high $335,433, and that same season ended 4/320 in the WPT Jacksonville Main Event; with 61-big blinds, he has to be one of the favourites.
Another favourite is Ian O’Hara. O’Hara begins with 34 big blinds and boasts several chunky scores including winning a 331-entrant $2,500 buy-in Coco Poker Open Championship Event at Coconut Creek for $212,830 and finishing runner-up to Jason Mercier in a $25,000 High Roller at the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open in Hollywood for $527,313 back in 2015.
Rounding off the final will be the former 1,759-entrant WSOP Marathon winner, Joseph Di Rosa Rojas, and the dark horse, Vinicius Lima, who doesn’t have any Big Five type heads mounted on his wall but knows how to find the finishing line with nine career titles.
Final Table Standings
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)
Remaining Payouts
1st: $728,430*
2nd: $485,611
3rd: $359,555
4th: $268,810
5th: $202,942
6th: $154,734
*Includes a $15k seat in the Baccarat Crystal WPT Tournament of Champions
The final takes place at the HyperX Esports Arena, Las Vegas on March 13th, the day after the conclusion of the WPT Gardens Poker Championship.
Pala Interactive Upgrades ClubWPT
ClubWPT, the WPT’s sweepstakes-based subscription poker service, is getting a makeover thanks to their partnership with Pala Interactive. The California-based online gaming solutions provider is adding a social casino and poker games to ClubWPT’s current offerings.
ClubWPT players can now access a broad variety of table games and slot machines, as well as seeing their poker options multiply with new ring game, Sit n Go and tournament offerings.
