Men Nguyen & Roland Israelashvili Among 2020 Borgata Winter Poker Open Side Event Winners
Table Of Contents
It was a busy weekend for the 2020 Borgata Winter Poker Open. Not only did Zarko Mandic top a 4,375-entry field to win Event #1: $600 Deepstack Kick-Off for $342,967, several other side events have crowned winners.
Men "The Master" Nguyen Takes Down Saturday Series
On Saturday night, the 2020 Borgata Winter Poker Open completed Event #4: $400 Saturday Series and it was none other than Men "The Master" Nguyen besting the 741-entry field, taking home the trophy, along with a $50,000 first-place prize.
Nguyen is one of the most known poker players to ever hit the felt, boasting over $11 million in live career earnings with seven WSOP bracelets. This is just a drop in the bucket as far as money goes but he did acquire a new feat, taking home a prestigious Borgata trophy to put on his mantle.
A long day of play saw just three remain at the early hours of the day as Nguyen, Eric Valerio and Alex Lunenberg battled it out for a level before taking a break to discuss an adjusted payout deal. The three agreed on a deal and Nguyen brought in the largest chunk for himself, taking $50,000. Luxenberg took $33,000 for his efforts and Valerio pulled in $30,077 for his part of the deal.
Event #4: $400 Saturday Series Results
| Place | Player | Payout |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Men "The Master" Nguyen | $50,000* |
| 2 | Alex Luxenberg | $33,000* |
| 3 | Eric Valerio | $30,077* |
| 4 | Pearce-Christian Arnold | $17,107 |
| 5 | Yousef Zeibaq | $13,836 |
| 6 | [Removed:252] | $11,321 |
| 7 | Shane Robinson | $9,057 |
| 8 | John Kim | $6,918 |
*Denotes three-handed deal.
Timothy Rutherford Wins Event #3: Black Chip Bounty
Event #3 of the Borgata Winter Poker Open was the $500 Black Chip Bounty NLH. There was a Borgata Poker record-setting field for the event with a massive 1,165 entries creating a prize pool of over $395,000.
The dust settled in the early morning hours in the Event Center and Timothy Rutherford was the last man standing. He built a big stack early in the night and stayed near the top of the chip counts throughout.
He entered the final table in second chip position but it didn't take long for Rutherford to pull ahead after eliminating David Finley.
Rutherford then sent two more players to the rail eliminating Benson Tang in seventh and David Frutchey in fifth.
The stacks were nearly even entering heads-up play against Louis Pelletteri, but Rutherford pulled ahead and never looked back earning $86,118 and his first Borgata Winter Poker Open trophy.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Payout |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Timothy Rutherford | $86,118 |
| 2 | Louis Pelletteri | $51,417 |
| 3 | Stephen Racyn | $31,444 |
| 4 | Larry Abrams | $26,302 |
| 5 | David Frutchey | $21,753 |
| 6 | Anthony Hulbert | $17,601 |
| 7 | Benson Tang | $13,843 |
| 8 | Umberto Salvati | $10,283 |
| 9 | David Finley | $7,258 |
Roland Israelashvili Ships the H.O.S.E.
The fifth event of the 2020 Borgata Winter Poker Open ended with a familiar face raising the trophy in Event #5: $340 H.O.S.E.
The tournament reached the final four when an adjusted payout deal was struck and the biggest piece of the pie went to Roland Israelashvili, taking home $5,392 and another Borgata trophy.
Israelashvili is a well-known grinder who has over $3.4 million in live career earnings and was already the owner of three Borgata trophies, this being his fourth. He took home his third trophy just last September in this very H.O.S.E event.
The three other players to take part in the adjusted payout were Glenn Engelbert ($4,624), Filippos Stavrakis ($4,266), and Matthew Rosenbaum ($2,946). Borgata grinder Gary Kosakowski finished in fifth for $1,507 and is sure to be seen again as the series unfolds.
Event #5: $340 H.O.S.E Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Roland Israelashvili | United States | $5,392* |
| 2 | Glenn Engelbert | United States | $4,624* |
| 3 | Filippos Stavrakis | United States | $4,266* |
| 4 | Matthew Rosenbaum | United States | $2,946* |
| 5 | Gary Kosakowski | United States | $1,507 |
| 6 | Russel Salzer | United States | $1,292 |
| 7 | Carlos Figueroa | United States | $861 |
| 8 | Jason Rivkin | United States | $646 |
*Denotes four-handed deal.
PokerNews coverage of the 2020 Borgata Winter Poker Open continues throughout January. Click here to discover which tournaments are playing out right now.
