The Borgata Poker DeepStacks Challenge has just been completed with Niko Markatos from Astoria, New York topping the field of Event #9: $400 No-Limit Hold’em DeepStack. The player collected the amount of $20,628 in prize money and the final DeepStacks Challenge trophy for the tournament.
The one-day $400 No-Limit Hold’em DeepStack attracted a field of 217 entries. The event featured a guaranteed prize pool of $50,000. However, its entries generated an overall prize pool of more than $73,000. The top 27 finishers received a share of the money, with lowest payouts worth $663.
The tournament’s slow structure and the deep stacks gave players the chance to consider carefully every single of their moves. This resulted in more than 13 hours of play before the money bubble burst. The remaining 27 players then made their way to the ten-handed final table quite slowly.
At the time when the final table was eventually set, Mike Dobbs and Dennis Belcher were the ones to hold the majority of chips in play. This made it easier for them to actually pick up the action. Due to this, there were four players to be eliminated within the first 30-minute level of final-table play.
Yee Mau Cheung from New York City was the first to leave the final table. His elimination occurred on the very first hand of play. The player collected the amount of $958 for his 10th place in the tournament. Amir Genzel from Flushing, New York was the next to go. His 9th place secured him with a payout of $1,473.
Robert Taylor from Henderson, Nevada hit the rail in 8th place, good for $2,210. Hunter Helal from Dallas, Texas finished 7th to collect $2,947 of the entire prize pool. Glenn Macartney from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania was eliminated in 6th place for $3,684. Dan Marder from Sewell, New Jersey took 5th place in the tournament to scoop a payout of $4,420. Paul Plotkin from Brooklyn, New York busted in 4th place for $5,673.
At the time when there were only three players left at the final table, Markatos was second in chips with a total of 3,900,000. Mike Dobbs from Sayville, New Jersey was holding the majority of chips at that point and Dennis Belcher from Amity Harbor, New York was the short stack. Eventually, it was Belcher whom Markatos had to face heads-up. As for Dobbs, his 3rd place in the tournament secured him with a payout of $6,999.
On what turned out to be the last hand in play, Belcher could not hold up against his opponent’s pocket fours and had to settle for the runner-up finish and the amount of $12,156 as a consolation prize.
