2017 WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open Champion Over the previous 18 days, the Borgata played host to another record-setting Winter Poker Open Series, culminating in the World Poker Tour BWPO Championship event. Borgata Poker Open 2017. September 5-22, 2017. Televised WPT Borgata Poker Open Championship $3 Million Guaranteed Sunday, September 17 - Friday.
It was shortly after midnight on the final day of the 2017 Borgata Poker Open when a relative unknown became the newest World Poker Tour Champions Club member. Guo Liang Chen came out on top of a field of 1,132 entrants to take the top prize of $789,058 ($15,000 will go toward his entry in the WPT Tournament of Champions, which takes place next year at the end of Season XVI). In addition to both WPT and BPO trophies, he took home a luxurious Hublot Big Bang Steel watch and a $5,000 membership to JetSmarter, the official private jet partner of the World Poker Tour.
Guo Liang Chen – 2017 WPT Borgata Poker Open Champion
Photo courtesy of Joe Giron and the WPT
The Championship event was the culmination of 18 days of tournaments during which 19 trophies found new homes. Another record was set in this department as well. For the first time ever, three open trophy events were won by women! After picking up her first Borgata Open title in July during the Summer Poker Open, Anna Antimony earned her second during this series, winning the very tough $1,000 SixMax NLH event.
Esther Taylor won her first Borgata Open trophy when she became the first woman to ever win the Heads-Up Championship at Borgata. After making the final table of the Bounty Deep Stack the night before and finishing 8th, Shaotong Chang came back the next day and won the Deep Stack NLH Post-Lim and her first Borgata Open title.
Zhaoxing Wang won the Super Stack Elevator NLH event, taking home his third Borgata Open title in less than one year. Poker pro Dan Buzgon picked up his second Borgata Open title in the Almighty Million, beating a final table that was stacked with poker talent including Jon Borenstein and Kevin Saul.
Vincent Basilicata took home his third Borgata Open trophy after a six-year absence from the winner’s circle. Matt Zimmerman also recorded his third Borgata win, all of which came in the last 14 months. Congratulations to all these winners and all the other trophy winners who earned their first Borgata Hotel replica trophy during this series! A complete list of main event winners is below.
On behalf of Borgata, we would like to thank all the participants for making the 2017 Borgata Poker Open a great success! From the BPO bloggers, @AlCantHang, @MattClarkPoker, @TKBluffs, and myself, thanks to Borgata tournament staff and the World Poker Tour for another excellent tournament series!
The next series is the Fall Poker Open, which runs November 7-22. Stay tuned to the Fall Poker Open information site and the Fall Poker Open Blog for details on that upcoming series. Hope to see you there!
Borgata Winter Poker Open 2020 Dates
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$1,500+$150 Heads Up NLH
Total Entries: 58
Players Remaining: 8
Jesse Sylvia (Right) defeats Zhaoxing Wang (Left).
The last two heads up matches just wrapped up in the Event Center and we are down to the final 8. James Caldero defeated Ryan Olisar to advance and Jesse Sylvia got the best of Ranson Nelson.
Jason Rivkin (Right) gets the better of Matt Stout (Left) in round 2.
The players are now all in the money and guaranteed a minimum of $4,220 with the winner taking home $33,754 and the BPO trophy. Day 2 play will resume Sunday September 17 at 12 P.M. noon and play down to a winner.
Below is a look at tomorrows final four heads up matches.
Jacob Daniels Vs. Jesse Sylvia
Kyle Bowker Vs. James Calderaro
Esther Taylor Vs. Yiyang Feng
Jason Rivkin Vs. Travis Greenawalt
$1,500+$150 Heads Up NLH
Third Round
All second round matches are now complete and we have two players already in the money and advancing to Day 2. Esther Taylor took her spot in the last eight when she defeated former WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open champ Aaron Mermelstein. Jason Rivkin already cashed big in this series, a runner-up finish in the Black Chip Bounty event, and now he’s onto the fourth round after defeating Ian Davis.
Second round, left side:
Yiyang Feng defeated Jose Noboa
Jeffrey Coon defeated Alex Rocha
Esther Taylor defeated Massimo Maffei
Aaron Mermelstein defeated Steven Sarmiento
Ian Davis defeated George Cicak
Jason Rivkin defeated Matt Stout
Travis Greenwalt defeated David Paredes
Joseph DiPascale defeated Jake Toole
Second round, right side:
Jack Duong defeated Matthew Forrest
Jacob Daniels defeated Zach Donovan
Ranson Nelson defeated Jen Shahade
Jesse Sylvia defeated Zhaoxing Wang
Kyle Bowker defeated Jerry Robinson
Joe Couden defeated James Geraghty
Ryan Olisar defeated Phong Nguyen
James Calderaro defeated Larry King
Borgata Winter Poker Open 2020 Results
Third round, left side:
Yiyang Feng versus Jeffrey Coon – Underway
Esther Taylor defeated Aaron Mermelstein
Jason Rivkin defeated Ian Davis
Travis Greenwalt versus Joseph DiPascale – Underway
Third round, right side:
Jack Duong versus Jacob Daniels – Underway
Ranson Nelson versus Jesse Sylvia – Underway
Kyle Bowker versus Joe Couden – Underway
Ryan Olisar versus James Calderaro – Underway
$1,500+$150 Heads Up NLH
Things are heating up in the Heads Up tournament with all first-round matches complete and two second-round matches still in action. Below you’ll find a list of results so far with everyone aiming to make the final eight for the money and on to Day 2 tomorrow.
Most third-round matches are underway, including two-time WPT Champ Aaron Mermelstein against Borgata favorite Esther Taylor.
First round, left side:
Jose Noboa defeated Joe McKeehen
Yiyang Feng moved on with a bye
Alex Rocha defeated Matthew Paoletti
Jeffrey Coon defeated Christopher Ackerman
Esther Taylor defeated Jeremy Vidrine
Massimo Maffei moved on with a bye
Aaron Mermelstein defeated Patrick Serda
Steven Sarmiento defeated Mike Linster
George Cicak defeated Ben Maya
Ian Davis moved on with a bye
Matt Stout defeated Eric Schwartz
Jason Rivkin defeated John Gordon
David Parades defeated Daniel Podheiser
Travis Greenwalt defeated David Zemel
Joseph DiPascale defeated Koji Umemura
Jake Toole defeated Kerrigan Muench
First round, right side:
Jack Duong defeated Theodore Burt
Matthew Forrest moved on with a bye
Zach Donovan defeated Ryan Belz
Jacob Daniels defeated Edward Blount
Jen Shahade defeated Thai Ha
Ranson Nelson defeated Darren Elias
Jesse Sylvia defeated Amir Moshiri-Azad
Zhaoxing Wang defeated Charles Gomez
Jerry Robinson defeated Will Failla
Kyle Bowker defeated Jake Schwartz
Joe Couden defeated Mike Dentale
James Geraghty moved on with a bye
Phong Nguyen defeated Ronit Chamani
Ryan Olisar moved on with a bye
Larry King defeated Giuseppe Pizzolato
James Calderaro defeated Michale Delvecchio
Second round, left side:
Yiyang Feng defeated Jose Noboa
Jeffrey Coon defeated Alex Rocha
Esther Taylor defeated Massimo Maffei
Aaron Mermelstein defeated Steven Sarmiento
Ian Davis defeated George Cicak
Jason Rivkin defeated Matt Stout
Travis Greenwalt defeated David Paredes
Joseph DiPascale defeated Jake Toole
Second round, right side:
Jack Duong defeated Matthew Forrest
Jacob Daniels defeated Zach Donovoan
Jen Shahade versus Ranson Nelson – Underway
Jesse Sylvia versus Zhaoxing Wang – Underway
Kyle Bowker defeated Jerry Robinson
Joe Couden defeated James Geraghty
Ryan Olisar defeated Phong Nguyen
James Calderaro defeated Larry King
$1,500+$150 Heads Up NLH
There were a total of 58 entrants in the Heads-Up bracket, for total buy-ins of $87,000. Total prize money of $84,390 will be paid to the final 8 players:
| Place | Payout |
| 1 | $33,754 |
| 2 | $16,878 |
| 3 | $8,439 |
| 4 | $8,439 |
| 5 | $4,220 |
| 6 | $4,220 |
| 7 | $4,220 |
| 8 | $4,220 |
As the brackets start to fill in, we’ll post an updates here in the blog.
Borgata Winter Poker Open 2020 Blog
$1,500+$150 Heads Up No Limit Hold’em
After a slight delay to the bracket draw, the Heads Up tournament is underway with 58 players and six of them getting byes in the first round. You can click the picture above for the entire draw or those below for each side.
They will sit down to 15,000 stacks and play 15-minute levels per match. They will play best out of three matches, the first one to two wins will move on to the next round.
$1,500+$150 Heads-Up NLH
Registration for the Heads-Up bracket tournament is limited to 64 players and closes at 2pm. Registration will close earlier if all seats are sold, so don’t wait! If you want to play, head to registration now and lock up your slot.
Once registration closes at 2pm (or earlier if sold out), they will prepare for the bracket draw, which will take place at about 2:30pm in the Event Center. The draw will determine the first round of Best 2 of 3 Heads-Up Matches, which will begin at 3pm just inside the Event Center entrance.