Steve 'Thorladen' Weinstein Wins Borgata Winter Poker OpenTops Field of 1,017 |
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Previously known as a top-notch cash game player and backer for some of the online world's best players, Steve "Thorladen" Weinstein can now add live tournament champion to his résumé after taking down the Borgata Winter Poker Open. Weinstein has previously experienced some success in main events, but fell just short of the final table in two World Poker Tour championships. This time, he dominated the field and closed it out when it mattered most.
The day began with 27 players, and in no time at all was down to the final table. Along the way, a few notables were eliminated, including Paul Spitzberg (26th), Bill Edler (17th), John Myung (16th), Andrew Barta (15th), Manelic Minaya (13th), and Ken "kenny05" Smaron (12th).
Recent WPT final-tablist Charles Marchese was eliminated in ninth place, adding $61,020 to his bankroll.
Carl Pion came into the day with the chip lead, but his pocket threes ran into Robert McLaughlin's pocket aces to bust him in eighth place, good for $83,902.
Both Ory Hen (seventh) and Frank Caldwell (sixth) lost coinflips to end their tournaments, and they were followed out by Michael Contessa in fifth place when his pocket fives ran into pocket queens.
Despite dominating the early part of the final table, Robert McLaughlin was eliminated in fourth when his A-Q went up against Todd Terry's pocket aces. Terry continued to run well when he eliminated Anthony Merulla in third place.
When heads-up play began, Terry held roughly a 4-1 chip lead over Weinstein. However, Weinstein doubled up and eventually took the lead when his top pair held up against Terry's flush draw. Within the hour, Weinstein's top pair of aces took out Terry's busted open-ended straight draw to win the tournament and the top prize of $658,405.
Here were the final table results:
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