Event 1 Recap

$500 + $60 Big Stack NLH (Re-Entry)

The largest field in East Coast poker history came down to two players who have a proven track record against massive fields. Maksim Rozenfeld (Staten Island, NY) defeated Dan Wach (Boonton, NJ) heads up to outlast the 4,482 total entries in the premiere event of the Borgata Poker Open

On the final hand, Rozenfeld held 7♠ 4♠ and missed a flush draw against Wach's K♥ K♠, but went runner-runner two-pair to win the title.

"I had a feeling about it," said Rozenfeld said about going to war with 7-4, "they were the same cards he had when he folded the flush." Rozenfeld earned $363,091, the biggest payday of his career, as he wins his second Borgata trophy.

A pivotal heads up hand came with Wach folding 7♥ 4♥ face up on a paired board to Rozenfeld's all in bet for the title. The huge pot flipped the chip lead into Rozenfeld's favor which he never relinquished.

While Rozenfeld won his second title, it prevented Wach, who earned $235,627 for second place, from claiming his first. And it was the second straight year Wach finished second in the opening event of this series.

Last year Wach was runner-up to Benny Bianco in a field of 3,705 entries, the previous East Coast record. That's two second place finishes in back-to-back years for Wach against combined entries of 8,187 (.99975 of both fields).

Rozenfeld also went deep in 2012 with a 25th place finish.  "I learned a lot from that," said Rozenfeld who is a New York car salesman. "I replayed the mistakes I made and used it this time."

The other big story was Alida Veliu's (Wyckoff, NJ) third place finish for $155,639.

"I'm estatic right now," said Veliu, who quadrupled her career tournament earnings.

"This is a different caliber than I'm used to, so I'm satisfied. I had a dream last night that I beat Dan heads up, but dreams don't always come true."

The tournament began with two starting days and saw a Borgata one day record entry of 2,812 for Day 1B. The money bubble broke on Day 2 with the top 400 players earning a min cash of $1,138.

Recognizable names who made it to Day 3 and the final two tables included Ralph Massey (10th) and John DiBella (18th).

Those in the top 100 included Vinny Pahuja (35th), Laura Church (49th), Shankar Pillai (53rd), Roman Valerstein (56th), Travell Thomas (58th), Mark Sykes (77th), Alyson Parker (91st), Gary Ackerman (94th), Tony Sinhishtaj (95th) and Stephanie Hubbard (98th).

Rozenfeld now has book end trophies after winning his first title during the 2011 Borgata Summer Poker Open.

Final Table Results 

Entries:  4,482
Total Buy-In:  $2,241,000

Place-Name-Amount

1st Maksim Rozenfeld (Staten Island, NY) $363,091
2nd Dan Wach (Boonton, NJ) $235,627
3rd Alida Veliu (Wyckoff, NJ) $155,639 
4th Brian Henryk (Monroe Twp., NJ) $127,898 
5th Alex Apostol (Staten Island, NY) $102,969 
6th Igor Skochilo (Astoria, NY) $79,124 
7th Vimy Ha (Brooklyn, NY) $56,362
8th Andy Andrejevic (Miami, FL) $40,624 
9th Ryan Dion (Blackwood, NJ) $26,013 
10th Ralph Massey (Chicago, IL) $16,800

FINAL RESULTS