Event 4 Recap

$500 + $60 No Limit Hold'em  

Pete Mavro (Las Vegas, NV) came out on top of an epic three-hour heads-up battle with Matt 'Muffins' Mazzeo to claim the top prize of $43,734 and his first Borgata Open trophy.  Runner-up Mazzeo had to settle for $24,229 and second place.

Mavro was chip leader at the start of day 2, but surrendered that lead early to Joe Verrecchia.  With five players still in the hunt, an exciting three-way pre-flop all-in changed the course of the tournament.  Joe Verrecchia (4th) and Perry Johnston (5th) were both eliminated on the hand by Pete Mavro, giving Mavro a massive chip lead going into the final three.

It took longer for them to get heads-up than expected.  Mazzeo had a short-stacked Mike Marder all-in pre-flop and dominated with AK versus AJ, but a jack on the flop sent the double-up to Marder.

Mazzeo was left short-stacked, but battled back and doubled through Mavro when he sucked-out with the worst hand, then won a coin flip with two over cards against Marder's pocket pair.  Mike Marder was sent packing in third place, taking home $15,065.

When heads-up play began, the two were nearly dead even in chips.  Mazzeo, who gets his nickname 'Muffins' from his family bakery, chipped away at Mavro's stack until he had him all-in with less than 600k, but Mavro managed to grind his way back into contention, eventually holding all 4 million chips in play.

334 players began this two-day event on Friday morning, bringing total buy-ins to $167,000.  Only 36 of those earned a payout with a min-cash being worth $972.

Notable participants in this event were former Borgata tournament winners David Zeitlin, Ryan Eriquezzo, Gordon Eng, Austen Johnson, Mike Dentale, Christian Harder, 'Action' Bob Hwang, Amanda Musumeci, Harry Korotki, Josh Brikis, Keith Crowder, Bill Blanda, and Jeff Papola.  None of who managed to make the money, however.

"I ran really well with table draws.  It seemed like every seat re-draw went my way. The tougher players were always seated to my right," said Mavro.  Mazzeo, who has one Borgata trophy won during the 2010 Borgata Spring Poker Open, gave props to Mavro, calling it his toughest heads-up match ever.

Final Table Results

Place-Name-Amount

1. Peter Mavro (Las Vegas, NV): $43,734
2. Matthew Mazzeo (East Williston, NY): $24,299
3. Michael Marder (Sewell, NJ): $15,065
4. Joseph Verrecchia (Haddonfield, NJ): $12,149
5. Perry Johnston (Oak Island, NC): $9,395
6. Philippe Casciola (New York, NY): $7,938
7. John Kern (Harrisburg, PA): $6,399
8. Sal Pena (Chesapeake, VA): $4,779
9. Elliott Zaydman (Glen Rock, NJ): $3,240
10. Michael Santoro (Egg Hbr Twp, NJ): $2,106