Event 5 Recap

$700 + $70 No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry)

A player requesting to be known as "Karthik" not only knocked out the seemingly invincible Manh Nguyen (Munhall, PA), but used that momentum to win the highest buy-in to date of the Borgata Spring Poker Open.

Karthik (Alexandria, VA) defeated Justin Burton (New York, NY) heads up to take the title, the trophy, and the $32,998 first prize.  "I was on a bit of a rush," says Karhik about his play over the last hour. "I played very, very tight until I had chips. But in the end I got lucky."

Karthik's run began when he knocked out Nguyen in 4th place to end his spectacular play the last few days.  After winning Event 2 ($30,159) Thursday, Nguyen had the chip lead with six players left, but was unable to win his third career Borgata trophy.

"I'm disappointed that it's not first (place)," says Nguyen who earned $8,800.  "I'm definitely playing well and winning the races I have to win."

After Karthik trimmed the field to three, he got a much needed double-up through Wooyang Lin (Morristown, NJ) before eventually knocking Lin out in third place ($10,450).  Karthnik had a 2 to 1 chip lead when heads up play began before eventually hitting a pair of 7s to win with A♠ 7♠ vs Burton's A♣ K♠.

"I'm pretty thrilled," says Burton, who earned $18,150 as runner-up, "It's by far my biggest score."

Eighteen players returned for Day 2 which had an international flavor and featured chip leader Jaeik Cho (Tokyo, Japan) and the last woman standing Yueqi 'Lisa' Wang (Brookfield, WI via Shanghai, China).

Cho's luck turned when he was crippled by pocket kings and eventually busted in 11th place.  Wang was right behind him in 10th as the first final table casualty; both players earned $2,200.

The tournament began with 162 entries and featured a total buy-in of $113,400.  In addition to Nguyen, Borgata regulars Michael Shasho (Ramsey, NJ) - 5th, Miguel Borrero (Jersey City, NJ) - 8th, and Joe Liberta (Berlin, NJ) - 9th, all made the final table.

Notables who failed to advance to Day 2 and into the money included Lee Childs, Dwyte Pilgrim, Barry Levy, Mark Sykes and Jason Young.

Karthik, a software engineer, prefers to play in the bigger buy-in events and is looking forward to the Borgata Spring Poker Open Championship Event (April 15-19).


Final Table Results

Place-Name-Amount

1st Karthik (Alexandria, VA) $32,998
2nd Justin Burton (New York, NY) $18,150
3rd Wooyang Lin (Morristown, NJ) $10,450
4th Manh Nguyen (Munhall, PA) $8,800
5th Michael Shasho (Ramsey, NJ) $6,600
6th Jonathan Werz (Melville, NY) $5,500
7th Soheb Porbandarwala (Stamford, CT) $4,400
8th Miguel Borrero (Jersey City, NJ) $3,300
9th Joe Liberta (Berlin, NJ) $2,475
10th Yueqi 'Lisa' Wang (Brookfield, WI) $2,200