Event 3 Recap

$400 + $50 Pot Limit Omaha H/L 8B   

The first trophy of the 2013 Borgata Poker Open to be awarded has been won by Joe Palma of Bensalem, PA.  He earned $17,110 and his first Borgata title after a marathon 17.5 hour tournament.  John Holley came all the way from the Sunshine State just for this tournament.  His travel was well worth it as his second place finish earned him $9,411.

Third place finisher Ryan Waddell held the chip lead for most of the day.  When Joe Palma took the last of Waddell's chips is when the momentum shifted.  Waddell was the defending champion of this event which he won last year during the 2012 BPO, along with $10,693.  He also won the 2012 Borgata Spring Poker Open Pot Limit Omaha H/L event.  His attempt to capture his third Borgata Open PLO/8 title came up short today.  He pocketed $5,418 for his efforts.

147 players entered this event, building total buy-ins of $58,800.  The final 18 players earned a piece of the prize pool.  Several well-known poker pros participated in this event, including 'Miami' John Cernuto, Chris Reslock, and Allen Kessler, but none of them made the money.

"Real smooth" is how Joe Palma described this tournament.  "I felt comfortable all day" he said.  John Holley did take the chip lead away during heads-up play when he flopped trip Kings to crack Palma's pocket Aces, but that lead swung back to Palma a short while later.

Borgata tournaments are "run very well" Palma commented.  "The dealers were very good at the end." He will be back on Monday for day 1B of event 8, the $500 + $60 Deeper Stack NLH event with the $500,000 guarantee.  When asked what he would do until then, he said "sleep".


Final Table Results
1 - Joe Palma (Bensalem, PA)  $17,111
2 - John Holley (Destin, FL)  $9,411
3 - Ryan Waddell (Downington, PA)  $5,418
4 - Donal Dril (Albany, NY)  $4,563
5 - Erik DiGuilio (West Deptford, NJ)  $3,422
6 - George Medrano (Rego Park, NY)  $ 2,852
7 - Peter Ippolito (E Meadow, NY)  $2,281
8 - Mo Farah (Bensalem, PA)  $1,711
9 - Shawn Bixler (Mount Joy, PA)  $1,283
10 - Michael Belorusov (Marlboro, NJ)  $1,141

FINAL RESULTS