Daniel Maor Wins $3,500 BetMGM Event At Aria Poker Classic

Daniel Maor took home the title in the BetMGM Poker Championship that was part of the Aria Poker Classic along the Las Vegas Strip. Maor also captured $613,914 in prize money for the biggest score of his career inside the PokerGO studio after facing off against a stacked final table. His career earnings now stand close to $1.14 million. It was also the first tournament victory for the Director of Product Marketing at WPT Global.

“I mean, obviously, it feels great to win $600k, especially at a final table like this. I mean you have guys that have millions in earnings and have guys with fifteen to twenty years at the top of the game. To beat a guy like Shannon Shorr heads up is not an easy feat so yeah, it feels great,” said Maor after the win.

He continued with these thoughts on his first tournament win, “I think I’ve had some close calls recently. I final tabled the Wynn Millions this year. I had a couple final tables at WPT Australia, but I wasn’t able to close the deal. So yeah, it feels great to be able to kind of get that monkey off your back and win a prestigious event like this.”

The $3,500 buy-in no-limit hold’em tournament saw a field of 1,141 runners join the race during two starting flights. The total prize pool climbed all the way up to $3,651,200, and the top 143 players all cashed for at least $4,966. There were 311 players remaining when the starting flights combined for Day 2, and that number was down to 37 for the start of Day 3.

The march to the final table continued with decorated poker professional Shannon Shorr taking the chip lead to end Day 4 with the final seven players still in the hunt. Notables lost along the way during the penultimate day included Joseph Cheong (12th), Andrew Moreno (16th), Alexander Condon (17th), Michael Rossitto (22nd), TK Miles (24th), Robert Schulz (27th), Joe Kuether (27th), Upeshka De Silva (33rd), Matt Stout (34th), and Cliff Josephy (36th).

Maor had his work cut out for him sitting fifth in chips when cards got into the air on the final day. Maor founds quads and pocket kings during the early going to sustain his stack, and then he woke up with pocket aces against the A-J of Eric Baldwin to take him out in sixth place.

Maor had moved up to second in chips behind Shorr during four-handed play. He then moved into the chip lead by taking out Jordan Westmorland in fourth place. Maor also eliminated Lyu Qiang in third place to take a better than 2:1 chip advantage into the final match against Shorr.

The endgame was short, with all the chips going into the middle only once. Shorr was all in with AQ, and Maor had him covered holding QJ. The money got in with the flop reading J108, and then the turn and river fell 84 to finish the hand and the tournament. Shorr added a score of $430,637 to take his career earnings above $13.9 million.

Here is a look at the payouts and rankings points awarded at the final table:

Photo Credit: Aria / Poker.org

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