Event 10: Not An Optimal Spot

$500 + 60 9/6/4 Max NL Hold'em (Re-Entry)

Brian O'Donoghue (Far Left) and Matthew Burnitz (Far Right)

Not a great spot to be sandwiched between Brian O'Donoghue (Bayside, NY), who won back-to-back events in the 2012 Borgata Poker Open (Event 15 for $51,188 and Event 10 for $50,132).  Now this wasn't an event one day, and come back four days later type of thing.  Brian played until the wee hours of the morning winning one event, and followed up by coming right back hours later to win the next!

O'Donoghue was a no show for Event 1 earlier in the series, and a lot of people were wondering why.  Brian was with his mother, who lives in Breezy Point, NY.  For those who may have been living under a rock, Breezy Point was one of the hardest hit areas during Superstorm Sandy.  Over 100 houses in a small area burnt down, but fortunately Brian's families house was not one of them.  There was significant damage, but things can be salvaged and rebuilt.  Brian's a class act, and sometimes regardless of how bad you want to be somewhere, you know where the right place is to be.

Two seats away is Matthew Burnitz (Wilmington, DE), who was the runner-up finisher in the 2012 Borgata Poker Open WPT Televised Main Event.  Matthew took how over $488,000 for his finish, just adding to his already impressive resume.