Event 6 Recap

$1,000 + $90 No Limit Hold'em

The first $1k of the Borgata Winter Poker Open brought out the big guns and aspiring poker stars and in the end young pro Scott Schwalich (Miamisburg, OH) takes home the trophy and the top prize of $57,579. Schwalich carved through the field with patience, "thats where I have an edge," said the up and coming pro.

Schwalich's 1st place finish didn't come easy as he fought through a tough field that included a lot of tournament pros. The 212 players who put up the total buy-in of $212,000 included Mike Scarborough (8th), Bill Blanda (11th),  Matt Brady (23rd), Vinny Pahuja (25th), Matt Glantz, 'Action' Bob Hwang, Kevin Saul, Lee Childs, Josh Brikis, Ryan Eriquezzo and Gordon Eng.

A tough final table featured Schwalich, who put his stamp on the poker world with a 14th place finish in the 2011 WSOP Main Event, Scarborough and Day 1 chip leader Philip Risman, who finished 5th.  Risman, a Finance and Marketing major saw his tournament end when he ran into A♣ A♦.

Tournament regular, David Finkelstein, fought hard to record his 6th Borgata final table. "It was a good run and fun background chatter," the East Coast card player says, as he (and his loyal railbirds) fought through the grind of a 20-hour poker day. Finkelstein finished third for $19,536 and set up heads up play between Schwalich and Cedric Adam.

Adam was quiet and stoic in his approach to the final table. The Frenchman spends most of his time in St. Maarten selling Villa rentals and took up poker in his free time. His no limit hold em' tournament hobby paid off with a 2nd place finish and $33,931.

In the end it was the Ohio native, Scottt Schwalich, who became Borgata's newest champion as he adds to impressive poker resume.

Final Table Results

Place-Name-Amount

1 Scott Schwalich (Miamisburg, OH) $57,579
2 Cedric Adam (Prodo Neort, Fra) $33,931
3 David Finkelstein (Upper Saddle River, NJ) $19,536
4 Marvin Rosen (Woodbury, NY) $15,834
5 Philip Risman (Greenwich, CT) $12,338
6 Thang Van Nguyen (Mclean, VA) $10,282
7 Manh Nguyen (Munhall, PA) $8,226
8 Michael Scarborough (Lawrenceburg, IN) $6,169
9 Cynthia Albert (Germantown, MD) $4,113
10 Ray Shackelford (Fredericksburg, VA) $2,673