There were no turkey's at this final table, just a bunch of "sicko's," and in the end it's Brock Parker (Silver Spring, MD) who won the Borgata Fall Poker Open Championship event early Thanksgiving morning.
Parker beat Scott Baumstein (New York, NY) heads up and outlasted Patrick Chan (Brooklyn, NY) after a marathon session of three-handed play.
"I was lucky considering where I started," said Parker who was 26th out 27 returning players with only 14 big blinds. "I didn't expect to stay very long, but I was lucky enough to get two double-ups and then took it from there."
On the final hand, Parker held K♠ K♥ against Baumstein's K♣ 9♦ on a 9-high flop to claim the title, the trophy and the $372,568 first prize.
"I'm happy with how I played," said Baumstein, who earned $209,480, the largest cash of his career. "It was some of the best poker of my life."
And added, "This was the toughest final table in the history of Borgata Poker. It was a bunch of sickos."
The final 10 featured two Borgata trophy winners Vinny Pahuja, who finished 4th, and Jeff Papola (5th), as well as Michael Esposito (6th), the 7th place finisher in 2012 WSOP Main Event.
Also at the final table was Matt Stout (7th), who has more than $1 million in career tournament earnings, and local grinder and good guy Tony Behbahani (9th). But it was the final three that stole the show.
After Pahuja was knocked out 4th, Parker, Baumstein and Chan played three-handed for more than four hours.
"It was a really tough final table," said Pahuja, "whoever wins, deserves it."
Chan was finally knocked out by Parker in third place.
"He (Baumstein) should've been gone a couple of times," said Chan. "He got a chop with ace-king to ace-seven, but whatever I'll take it," he added after earning $131,895 for finishing third.
And it wasn't just the final table that was tough, many of the players who returned for Day 3 were loaded with talent.
Other Borgata trophy winners included Christian Harder, who just missed the final table with an 11th place finish, Brian O'Donohue (13th), Abraham Korotki (19th) and Allen "Chainsaw" Kessler (20th).
And the accolades don't stop there, as four WSOP bracelet holders were at the final three tables.
Parker has two bracelets, 15th place finisher Matt Matros has three, while Papola and Lemke (27th) have one each.
The tournament began with 644 entries for a total buy-in of $1,610,000 which smashed the $1,000,000 guaranteed prize pool.
This is Parker's best finish at Borgata and pushed him over the $2 million mark in live career tournament earnings.
"It was a really good final table," said Parker. "A lot of talented players."
Parker has two bracelets, 15th place finisher Matt Matros has three, while Papola and Lemke (27th) have one each.
The tournament began with 644 entries for a total buy-in of $1,610,000 which smashed the $1,000,000 guaranteed prize pool.
This is Parker's best finish at Borgata and pushed him over the $2 million mark in live career tournament earnings.
"It was a really good final table," said Parker. "A lot of talented players."
Final Table Results
1st Brock Parker (Silver Spring, MD) $372,568
2nd Scott Baumstein (New York, NY) $209,480
3rd Patrick Chan (Brooklyn, NY) $131,895
4th Vinny Pahuja (Hicksville, NY) $107,067
5th Jeff Papola (Monmouth Beach, NJ) $85,344
6th Michael Esposito (Seaford, NY) $70,602
7th Matt Stout (Las Vegas, NV) $56,637
8th Ravi Raghavan (Northbrook, IL) $42,672
9th Kambiz 'Tony' Behbahani (Fairfax Station, VA) $29,482
10th Lou Crispino (Amityville, NY) $20,172
FINAL RESULTS
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