Event 16 - Championship (Day 4)
$2,500+$200 Championship NLH
$1,000,000 Guaranteed
Structure Sheet | Payouts
Level 28: Blinds 40,000/80,000/80,000 BB Ante
Total Entries: 437
Wenhao Ying – 1st Place – 2018 Borgata Fall Poker Open Championship
Wenhao Ying is a 24-year-old grad student who recorded his first tournament cash just over 2 years ago. He’s mostly self-taught, learning the game by watching training videos online. Those videos must be very good because he held the chip lead most of Day 3 and went wire-to-wire here on Day 4.
He warmed up in the SixMax first, finishing 5th for $8,420, against some of the best players in the game. He did the same at this final table, up against some of the best and he held his own.
For his efforts in this event, he will collect $200,000* and take home his first Borgata Open trophy. This is his first reported tournament win, but certainly won’t be his last!
Championship Final Results
| Place | Player | Payout |
| 1 | Wenhao Ying | $200,000* |
| 2 | Matt Wantman | $172,449* |
| 3 | Paul Volpe | $150,000* |
| 4 | Dat Vu | $76,830 |
| 5 | Mike Glick | $60,404 |
| 6 | Brian Altman | $50,337 |
| 7 | Dan DiZenzo | $40,270 |
| 8 | Andrew Ostapchenko | $30,732 |
| 9 | Chris Kennedy | $21,195 |
| 10 | Michael Haberman | $13,776 |
| 11 | Rudy DiRubbo | $13,776 |
| 12 | Michael Rossitto | $13,776 |
| 13 | Nobuo Tarui | $10,597 |
| 14 | Lexy Gavin | $10,597 |
| 15 | Zach Donovan | $10,597 |
| 16 | Bruce Yamron | $8,372 |
| 17 | Andrey Malinin | $8,372 |
| 18 | Dan Buzgon | $8,372 |
| 19 | Greg Aster | $6,570 |
| 20 | Mark Alvin Bayag | $6,570 |
| 21 | Asher Conniff | $6,570 |
| 22 | Eric Panayiotou | $6,570 |
| 23 | Daniel Retallick | $6,570 |
| 24 | Terrence Heinz | $6,570 |
| 25 | Ross Gottlieb | $6,570 |
| 26 | Boris Kravets | $6,570 |
| 27 | Adam Hendrix | $6,570 |
| 28 | Anna Antimony | $5,828 |
| 29 | A. Nonymous | $5,828 |
| 30 | Jesse Mercado | $5,828 |
| 31 | Dan Howe | $5,828 |
| 32 | Michael Marder | $5,828 |
| 33 | Menachem Landwirt | $5,828 |
| 34 | Namo Al-Jaf | $5,828 |
| 35 | Sumeet Wayachal | $5,828 |
| 36 | Ryan Hagerty | $5,828 |
| 37 | Peter Vitantonio | $5,299 |
| 38 | Zhan Ma | $5,299 |
| 39 | George Rakitzis | $5,299 |
| 40 | Ari Engel | $5,299 |
| 41 | Michael Lydon | $5,299 |
| 42 | Charles Furey | $5,299 |
| 43 | Ricky Guan | $5,299 |
| 44 | Alex Jim | $5,299 |
| 45 | Andrew Fegan | $5,299 |
*Indicates Adjusted Payout
$2,500+$200 Championship NLH
$1,000,000 Guaranteed
Structure Sheet | Payouts
Level 28: Blinds 40,000/80,000/80,000 BB Ante
Total Entries: 437
Matt Wantman
Matt Wantman entered the day 2nd in chips and that’s where he finished. For 2nd place he’ll collect $172,449, making this his new best live cash, pushing his career earnings over $1.33 million.
Hopefully this will help erase the memory of his early exit from the 2016 WPT BWPO Championship final table.
$2,500+$200 Championship NLH
$1,000,000 Guaranteed
Structure Sheet | Payouts
Level 28: Blinds 40,000/80,000/80,000 BB Ante
Total Entries: 437
Paul Volpe
Paul Volpe put up a valiant fight, moving up from 5th in chips where he started the day, for a 3rd place finish. He’ll collect $150,000 for his work over these four days.
This score will take his career earnings over the $8 million mark.
$2,500+$200 Championship NLH
$1,000,000 Guaranteed
Structure Sheet | Payouts
Level 28: Blinds 40,000/80,000/80,000 BB Ante
Total Entries: 437
Players Remaining: 3
Average Stack: 4.37 million
Players are back from a break and blinds are up. The final three players have agreed to go to 30-minute levels.
Here are the chip counts:
| Seat | Player | Chips | Bbs |
| 1 | Paul Volpe | 2,255,000 | 28 |
| 2 | |||
| 3 | Matt Wantman | 3,940,000 | 49 |
| 4 | |||
| 5 | |||
| 6 | Wenhao Ying | 6,885,000 | 86 |
$2,500+$200 Championship NLH
$1,000,000 Guaranteed
Structure Sheet | Payouts
Level 27: Blinds 30,000/60,000/60,000 BB Ante
Total Entries: 437
Players Remaining: 3
Average Stack: 4.37 million
Paul Volpe
Paul Volpe got all-in pre-flop with 66 against the A8 of Matt Wantman. The board fell K T 7 4 6 and Paul doubled up to ~1.5 million.
A few hands later, all three players were looking at a disjointed flop of 
. Matt (sb) and Wenhao Ying (bb) checked to Paul, who bet 210,000. Both called.
On the 
turn, they again checked to Paul who took his time, then moved in for 1.16 million. Both surrendered and Paul is up to ~2.4 million.
Matt – 3.6 million
Ying – 7.1 million
$2,500+$200 Championship NLH
$1,000,000 Guaranteed
Structure Sheet | Payouts
Level 27: Blinds 30,000/60,000/60,000 BB Ante
Total Entries: 437
Players Remaining: 3
Average Stack: 4.37 million
Dat Vu
Matt Wantman (button) opened for 125,000 and both blinds called. On the flop of 
, they checked to Matt, who bet 150,000. Vu raised to 425,000 (about half his remaining chips) and Wenhao Ying (bb) folded. Matt called.
On the 
turn, Vu moved all-in and Matt called. Vu was ahead with 
for a pair of Jacks. Matt had 
for a flush draw with gutshot straight-flush draw.
The 
completed the board and the flush for Matt. He took the pot, chipping up to ~ 5 million.
Dat Vu was felted in 4th place, earning $76,830. Not bad for the 35-year-old’s first reported tournament cash!
$2,500+$200 Championship NLH
$1,000,000 Guaranteed
Structure Sheet | Payouts
Level 27: Blinds 30,000/60,000/60,000 BB Ante
Total Entries: 437
Players Remaining: 4
Average Stack: 3.2 million
Dat Vu
Dat Vu was down to his last 530,000, which was all-in from the small blind. Wenhao Ying released his big blind and just like that, Vu chipped up to 650,000.
He moved in again from the button and got no takers, so he’s back up to 800,000.
$2,500+$200 Championship NLH
$1,000,000 Guaranteed
Structure Sheet | Payouts
Level 27: Blinds 30,000/60,000/60,000 BB Ante
Total Entries: 437
Players Remaining: 4
Average Stack: 3.2 million
Paul Volpe
In a battle of the blinds, Paul Volpe (sb) and Matt Wantman (bb) got to the river with a board of 
and Paul checked. Matt fired 360,000 and after giving it some thought, Paul let it go. He was down to ~1 million.
Paul moved in on a later hand, but got no takers. Picking up the blinds and antes at this level adds 150,000 to a stack, so it’s got to be done!
$2,500+$200 Championship NLH
$1,000,000 Guaranteed
Structure Sheet | Payouts
Level 27: Blinds 30,000/60,000/60,000 BB Ante
Total Entries: 437
Players Remaining: 4
Average Stack: 3.2 million
At the end of the level, players took a very short break and we took the opportunity to count the chips. They’re back in action now and here’s how they stack up.
| Seat | Player | Chips | Bbs |
| 1 | Paul Volpe | 1,430,000 | 24 |
| 2 | |||
| 3 | Matt Wantman | 3,250,000 | 54 |
| 4 | |||
| 5 | Dat Vu | 800,000 | 13 |
| 6 | Wenhao Ying | 7,600,000 | 127 |
$2,500+$200 Championship NLH
$1,000,000 Guaranteed
Structure Sheet | Payouts
Level 26: Blinds 25,000/50,000/50,000 BB Ante
Total Entries: 437
Players Remaining: 4
Average Stack: 3.2 million
Dat Vu
Paul Volpe opened from the button and Dat Vu moved in from the big blind for 375,000 total. Paul called, showing 
. Vu was ahead with 
.
Then Vu crushed the board of 
, making Aces-full. He doubled up to ~800,000. Paul was left with ~1.3 million.