Tournament poker returned to Atlantic City in a big way this week with the The Return - A Borgata Championship Event $2,200 Mystery Bounty Event, a tournament that attracted 1,361 entries and awarded a $2,670,340 prize pool!
Samuel Laskowitz of Bayport, New York won that tournament for $146,609 in prize money after an ICM deal at the final table. Right behind Laskowitz in chips was Anthony Maio, who ended with $142,054 in prize money to add to his over $1 million in career earnings.
Also scoring a big payday in the tournament was Ryan Dodd, who not only made the final table as the short stack but also pulled the highly sought-after $250,000 top bounty! The moment was captured by PokerNews:
Here’s a look at five of the more interesting hands captured by the PokerNews Live Reporting Team in the Borgata $2,200 Mystery Bounty event.
Foxen Falls to Better Full House
On Day 1a, it was Level 2 (100/200/200) when, just as quickly as he entered the tournament, Alex Foxen was eliminated.
As relayed to PokerNews by the table, Foxen opened to 500 and received two callers, including Frank Bland. Foxen bet 500 on the flop of 6x
Foxen sized up to 3,000 on the 7x
Bland showed 7x7x for sevens full of deuces, while Foxen showed an inferior full house with a♣️6♣️ for sixes full of deuces.
Foxen quickly bought back into the event and sat down with a fresh starting stack of 35,000.
"Call the Press!" Lonis Scoops for Double KO
On Day 2 in Level 15 (2,500/5,000/5,000), PokerNews got to Table 7 just as a massive hand involving three players was underway. Action kicked off with Martin Mirkovic opening to 11,500 from under the gun and the next player to act calling before a middle position player three-bet jammed for around 65,000.
Action folded to Jesse Lonis in the small blind, who four-bet jammed a bigger stack. The big blind then also moved all in with around 70,000.
"Call the press!" Lonis yelled as the massive hand played out and he alerted his friend at another table who had a piece of his bounty.
"The press is here!" someone replied.
Mirkovic went deep in the tank and eventually folded, while the flat-caller also folded.
Middle Position: a♥️k♦️
Big Blind: q♠️q♣️
Jesse Lonis: a♣️a♠️
Lonis was in good shape but the big blind had two live outs and was screaming for a queen.
"Queen!" he yelled as the flop landed j♥️3♣️9♠️. "QUEEN!" he repeated before the 4♠️ turn. The opponent gave up asking for a queen before the 9♣️ bricked off on the river for Lonis to eliminate both opponents.
"Scoop!" he cheered.
After the hand, Mirkovic told the table that he folded ace-king.
"That's the Way to Go Out, Boys!"
Also on Day 2, albeit in Level 26 (30,000/60,000/60,000), Gerard Petrocelli open-shoved from under the gun and Alexander Tumay re-shoved from the next seat with 685,000, slightly having Petrocelli covered. Baruch Forst called in the big blind with both players covered.
Gerard Petrocelli: j♦️10♦️
Alexander Tumay: 6♦️6♠️
Baruch Forst: a♥️k♥️
The flop landed 7♦️j♣️q♠️ to give Petrocelli the lead with a pair of jacks and the j♥️ on the turn only improved his hand. "Ten!" yelled Forst without realizing such a card would give Petrocelli a full house.
But it was Tumay who made the full house as the river brought the 6♣️ to give him sixes full of jacks and to send Petrocelli out in excruciating fashion.
"Holy shit! This is crazy," Nathan Cho reacted in real-time.
"That's the way to go out, boys," Petrocelli said stoically.
Bianco Slays Failla in Huge Dramatic Pot
In Level 24 (20,000/40,000/40,000) on Day 2, there was a commotion at the table as the board read 10♠️j♠️4♦️a♥️ and two boisterous players ended up all in on the turn in a massive pot, one of the largest of the day thus far.
Emanuel "Will the Thrill" Failla held the nuts with the k♠️q♠️ while Benedetto Bianco had the a♠️5♠️. The river dramatically came the 4♠️ to give Bianco the nut flush and crush Failla.
"Yes! You can't beat me, I'm the luckiest guy in the world!" said Bianco to Failla.
The two New Yorkers loudly razzed and boasted at each other while the dealer counted out the stacks to see who had the larger stack.
"I don't care, I got 30 jobs I want to get out of here," said Bianco about his turn call.
"My watch is worth more than both of your lives," said Failla in retort while gesturing to the two players next to him.
Eventually, it was determined that Failla was barely covered and he was eliminated in dramatic fashion while Bianco became one of the biggest stacks in the room.
Misclick Costs Anthony Giliberti His Tournament Life
On Day 2 with just 17 players remaining in Level 27 (40,000/80,000/80,000), Anthony Maio opened to 175,000 from the cutoff and Anthony Giliberti three-bet jammed from the button for around 3,000,000. Maio quickly called with a slightly larger stack when the action got around.
Anthony Giliberti: q♠️5♠️
Anthony Maio: ♦️aa♣️
Giliberti was startled as Maio announced "call" to his right and told the table he didn't realize there had been a raise and instead thought he was open-ripping into the short-stacked blinds. Instead, he found himself at risk of busting a more than 37 big blind stack with far less than a premium.
The flop landed 8♦️9♥️5♣️ to give him some hope with a pair, but nonetheless, the board ran out 10♣️8♣️ and others at the table sat gasping after witnessing the accidental implosion. Just like that, he was out in 17th place for $8,936.
