Miguel Medrano of New York Free Poker Wins Bar Poker Open For $100,000
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The final day of the Bar Poker Open Championship saw 8 out of 1,164 players return to play today, one of whom would be crowned the newest BPO champion here at the Golden Nugget in Las Vegas, Nevada. A total of six clubs were represented as each player was already secured $5,000, chasing the $100,000 first place prize and the trophy.
The heads-up match would see a guarantee that New York Free Poker would be taking home the title and after a match of many lead changes, it was Miguel “The Mountain” Medrano who took home the title and a career best score of $100,000.
“It’s very exciting, it hit me when I saw the brick river,” the still excited Medrano said in his interview after the win. He also talked about his experience playing with Patrick Martorella, a man who he plays with a decent amount back in New York. “I’m terrified of Patrick, I stay away from him back home. But in the end I was lucky. All luck, no skill. It takes two years to get this lucky.”
“Knowing me, I’m a degenerate, I’ll go to the WSOP,” Medrano said of his plans on what to do with the money. He went further into discussing the prop bet he took prior to the tournament starting. “I set 10:1 with a couple of friends that I was making the final table this year, I’ve been telling everyone since Florida. But at this point I’ll tell ‘em to keep their money I won.”
He was supported by a steady and large rail of supporters throughout the whole tournament. “I love all of you! I really do! I played my game, I hit my cards. I told myself, if I win I win and if I lose I lose.”
He won tonight, as Medrano took home his winnings surrounded by a strong rail of his friends.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | League | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Miguel Medrano | New York Free Poker | $100,000 |
| 2 | Patrick Martorella | New York Free Poker | $55,000 |
| 3 | Steven Morey | Eastern Poker Tour | $30,000 |
| 4 | Jamie Naftzinger | River Chasers | $20,000 |
| 5 | Antonio Tafuto | NPL Australia | $15,000 |
| 6 | Jake Dennehy | Eastern Poker Tour | $10,725 |
| 7 | Tim "TJ" Dancy | Contenders Poker USA | $8,000 |
| 8 | Jordan Teague | BarPokerOpen.com | $5,000 |
Final Table Action
It was early in the final table when the first casualty happened as Jordan Teague moved in his final chips with ace-jack offsuit. It went around to Patrick Martorella in the big blind who called with pocket sevens and the sevens held up for Martorella who added even more to his chip lead while Teague from BarPokerOpen.com was eliminated in eighth place for $5,000.
Play went for a little while longer, but it was Contenders Poker USA’s own Tim “T.J.” Dancy who was ousted from the tournament in seventh place. He moved in a third of his stack preflop with ace-king only to see Medrano defend his big blind with seven-three offsuit. The flop rolled out nine-high with a seven on it and Medrano checked over to Dancy and then moved all in on him when he bet. After putting two-thirds of his stack into the pot, he called the last third and no help was brought to Contenders Poker USA’s own, who collected $8,000 for his finish.
Medrano’s run up the leaderboard continued as he eliminated the next player, Jake Dennehy. Medrano raised with ace-jack offsuit, then called the all-in from Dennehy who held ace-queen and a jack on the flop sealed the fate of Eastern Poker Tour player, who collected $10,725 for his sixth place finish.
The only Australian at the final table was Antonio Tafuto who started the day as one of the shorter stacks. His last chips got in with queen-jack against Medrano’s pocket fives and found no help to improve on the runout, which saw Medrano take the chip lead and the NPL Australia player took home $15,000 for his fifth place finish.
Jamie Naftzinger found himself in the final four of the first tournament he had ever played in Las Vegas. Repping the Rivers Chasers, Naftzinger got in his final few chips with ace-nine up against Martorella’s ace-six and Medrano’s seven-four. The river gave Martorella a full house for him to reclaim the chip lead while Naftzinger ended his run in fourth place for $20,000.
Three handed play began with Martorella in the lead, Medrano in second, and Easter Poker Tour’s Steven Morey in third. Morey started the affair by doubling through Martorella with queens against king-four. His run came to an end as his last chips went into the center with king-eight suited against Medrano’s ace-eight offsuit and the ace-high held up for Medrano which saw Morey collect $30,000 for his third place finish.
The heads up match began with two players from the same league as both Martorella and Medrano came from New York Free Poker. Martorella held a sizable chip lead, but he lost one coinflip to see Medrano take the lead when his eights did not hold up against the king-queen. Medrano took the lead, but their stacks got more even when Martorella doubled up against Medrano who’s ace-three beat the tens to bring the match to near even.
The final hand came when Medrano check-called on the button with jack-five suited against Martorella who held ten-nine of hearts. The flop of jack-high saw Martorella flop a straight flush draw and both players got in their chips. Both the turn and river bricked out which was good for Medrano and the two New York Free Poker club members embraced while Martorella took home $55,000 for his finish in second place.
Thank you for reading along here at PokerNews for all of the updates for the Bar Poker Open Championship! Stay tuned for all updates on your favorite tournaments around the world.
