As we had earlier promised, we are bringing comprehensive news and details of the 2007 Borgata Winter Poker Open. The mood was set and the atmosphere was electrifying to say the least as a WPT title and a cash prize of $1.6 million dollars was up for grabs.
The game was held at the Borgata Events Center, and the play began with $25,000-$50,000 blinds and $5,000 antes. The audiences were able to watch one of the best Poker games in the recent times. The six finalists were Chuck Kelley, Jon James, Michael Sukonik, John Gale, Joe Simmons and John Hennigan.
Jon James started the proceedings with an excessive short-stack and stirred all-in twice before getting a call. A tough competition ensued and in spite of taking the lead James had to finish in the sixth place. Michael Sukonik’s loss to Gale cost him a lot of his chips, and he was placed at the end of the leader board.
John Hennigan, who was the big blind, saw to it that Sukonik was eliminated. It smacked Hennigan’s stack to $7 million mark. Some aggressive play ascertained that the distance between the new leader and others was noticeably increased.
The fourth place finisher was Joe Simmons and A finished Hennigan’s club flush. Hennigan’s closest competitor was Chuck Kelly and Hennigan was now in charge of $ 10 million dollars. His chip lead increased by almost 3-to-1 over Kelly.
Hennigan then had to go in for a heads-up match against Gale and that was because of Gale’s steady decline in the leaderboard. Gale tried his level best and his A 6 had improve over Hennigan’s A 9 , but because of some hard luck Gale had to finish in the third place.
The two men standing were Hennigan and Chuck Kelly, and there was more to this fight than what seems to the eyes. The heads-up match was between the experience and skill of Hennigan and the aggression and wit of Chuck Kelly. The chip counts of Chuck Kelly and John Hennigan were $5,460,000 and $11,670,000 respectively. The gap between Kelly and Hennigan was very difficult to breach, and Kelly tried to fight it out but was unsuccessful.
Following on a Kelly call, which was very crucial, Hennigan was crowned the Borgata Winter Poker Open Champion. In Hennigan’s words “It’s a lot of money, it’s the biggest tournament I’ve ever won,” which were enough to demonstrate the happiness that he was feeling. He went home richer by $1,606,223 dollars and his first World Poker Tour title.
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