John Lytle Takes Down Black Chip Bounty for $36,166!
The fourth event of the 2019 Borgata Fall Open has come to an end after two exhilarating days of action, and it is John Lytle who emerged victorious in Event #4: $500 Black Chip Bounty for $36,166, along with a prestigious Borgata Trophy after besting a 417 player field in which he accumulated 20 bounty chips along the way.
The Rumson, NJ native has over a quarter of a million in cashes with most of them coming in this very building, including his career-best result for $114,833 in the 2017 Borgata Fall Poker Open $600 Deepstack Kick-Off. This is the third Borgata trophy that Lytle will be adding to his resume and looks like it will definitely not be his last.
Lytle started the day third in chips and instantly started to build a stack as he steamrolled over his table. Lytle took his hot start and began to apply tremendous amounts of pressure on his opponents, showing no signs of taking his foot off the gas pedal through the day. He ran over the final table without losing the chip lead until heads-up play against Julius Heftler.
Heftler and Lytle had a back and forth battle that took well over an hour to play out, with multiple lead changes in between. Heftler had Lytle against the ropes but couldn't keep the champ down as Lytle fought back, taking the lead back through two doubles. Heftler played with heart, attempting a bluff for all of the marbles but ran into the straight of Lytle as he was eliminated in second.
Event #4 Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Hometown | Prize (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | John Lytle | Rumson, NJ | $36,166 |
| 2 | Julius Heftler | New York, NY | $20,882 |
| 3 | Efthymia Litsou | Brooklyn, NY | $12,741 |
| 4 | Ryan Herold | Staten Island, NY | $10,264 |
| 5 | Joseph Grusel | Brachville, NJ | $8,070 |
| 6 | Jason Dominici | Bowle, MD | $6,725 |
| 7 | Deonarine Itwaru | South Ozone Park, NY | $5,380 |
| 8 | Robert Marsh | Little Silver, NJ | $4,106 |
| 9 | Venkat Kumar Nagarajan | Newark, DE | $2,831 |
Finale Day Action
The tournament returned on Day 2 with 49 players set to battle it out for a Borgata trophy, along with the $36,166 first-place cash. The unofficial final table was formed during level 21 after the elimination of David Nodes, and Lytle was leading the way with an immense chip stack as the final ten started to play.
Elliot Barinberg was the short stack to begin the table and was also the first player to be put at risk as he moved all in with ace-eight. Heftler called the all in, holding ace-jack and the board came down clean, eliminating Barinberg from the unofficial final table in tenth place. Next to take an exit was Venkat Kumar Nagarajan who called his chips all-in with ace-jack of clubs to the three-bet of Efthymia Litsou who had a pair of tens. The flop came down ace-high but the ace was accompanied by a ten, giving Litsou a set. Nagarajan failed to catch up as he was sent out the door in ninth place.
Moments later Robert Marshall saw Joseph Grusel shove from the small blind. Marshall woke up in the big blind with a pair of ladies and snap-called. Grusel turned over ace-seven and Marshall was well ahead until two aces fell on the flop. Grusel held on for the pot and Marshall took an exit. The very next hand had Deonarine Itwaru shove his remaining stack into the middle from the cutoff with ace-king and Litsou called with her ace-ten. The board rolled out ten-high and that was the end for Itwaru who took an exit in seventh place.
Two chip stacks collided during the next elimination when Jason Dominici put his monster stack into play on the turn, holding a set of aces and John Lytle instantly called with his straight. Dominici failed to fill up and Lytle then took a considerable chip lead over everyone else at the table. Lytle continued his heater just a couple of hands after when he looked down at two aces in the small blind and moved all in. Grusel called from the big blind with his two jacks in a cooler of a spot and failed to land a fishhook during the runout, sending another bounty chip to Grusel.
Ryan Herold was on short stack duty for a few rounds of play before putting himself at risk with two sevens. Heftler moved in as well, holding a pair of tens and Lytle called both with his ace-nine. The board changed nothing, cementing the pot for Heftler who sent Herold on his way in fourth place. Litsou was a player that brought much aggression to the final table, putting her opponents to the test as often as possible. Lytle being on the other end of most of those transactions until the two entered a pot where the dealer spread out a seven-four-two flop with two hearts. Litsou led out, Lytle raised and Litsou moved all in for most of Lytle's stack. Lytle called with his queen-five of hearts, giving him a flush draw, Litsou tabled ace-four and was ahead with her pair. A ten of hearts on the turn secured the pot for Lytle who now had over eighty percent of the chips in play as heads-up began.
Heads-up play took almost two full levels before a champion was crowned, after a real war of attrition. Heftler and Lytle shifted the lead multiple times but it was Lytle who ended up reigning supreme after catching Heftler in a bluff during the last hand of play. Heftler took home a respectable $20,882 for his efforts, which was a career-high cash for the New York, NY native.
That wraps it up for the PokerNews live coverage of Event #4: $500 Black Chip Bounty, but tune in to Event #6: $400 Saturday Series for all of the action as it unfolds.