Tournament Details

The Borgata Poker Open is always one of the most exciting stops on the World Poker Tour, and it turned into a battle of new school versus old school at this fabulous Atlantic City resort. Out of 540 competitors, six outlasted the rest of the field and ended up under the lights and cameras of the WPT production set.

The players and chip counts were as follows:

Seat 1: David Sklansky Chips: 665,000
Seat 2: Chris Bell Chips: 1,260,000
Seat 3: Mark Newhouse Chips: 7,025,000
Seat 4: Chris McCormack Chips: 3,055,000
Seat 5: Blaise Ingoglia Chips: 840,000
Seat 6: Tony Argila Chips: 700,000

Play began with a 3000 ante and 15,000 and 30,000 blinds.

The tone for the final table was set by the two chip leaders, Mark Newhouse and Chris McCormack, as each were playing an aggressive game. McCormack raised the very first hand of the night with pocket Q's in early position, and he received no callers. Newhouse took the second pot of the night with 5-3 offsuit against Blaise Ingoglia's pocket 4's with strong betting and a good bluff.

Ingoglia had been fairly quiet until he saw an opportunity with Q-J suited. When McCormack simply called Newhouse's initial raise with A-K, Ingoglia reraised All-In for 660,000, and McCormack called. The board came 9-7-3-7, then a surprising Q came on the river to double up Ingoglia.

McCormack came back quickly, though, with pocket 9's against Newhouse's A-6 suited. The board gave Newhouse a 6 on the flop, but McCormack's 9's held up, and he took a pot worth over a million chips to put him in the chip lead.

Chris Bell put his game on the line by moving All-In with A-7 suited against Newhouse's A-J. Bell nervously watched the board show K-J-4-Q-10 in that order and was all smiles to split the pot with the straight. He took the next pot from Ingoglia with A-J against A-K by betting strong on a rag board. Bell was intent upon building up his stacks.

Tony Argila played his first pot of the night with pocket 10's and moved All-In for 355,000. David Sklansky called with A-J, and the board came 5-3-2-8-6. Argila doubled up and left Sklansky crippled. Sklansky then moved his short stack of 465,000 in with pocket 6's against Ingoglia's A-10, and it looked dismal when the flop came 10-5-5. The turn, however, gave Sklansky another 6, and the river was a J to double up Sklansky.

Newhouse was anxious to regain his chip lead and raised to 250,000 with J-8 suited, Ingoglia reraised All-In for 635,000 with A-Q, and Newhouse called. The board came J-9-6-10-Q to give Newhouse the straight and the chip lead again, and to send Blaise Ingoglia packing in 6th place with a consolation prize of $261,901.

Soon after, Newhouse made his standard 250,000 raise again, this time with A-9, and Bell reraised All-In for 550,000. Newhouse called, and the board came 8-6-2-J-9, and Bell was eliminated in 5th place for $340,280.

Argila took his 550,000 All-In with K-6 suited against McCormack's A-4, and the board came K-9-6-8-4 to double him up with two pair. Several hands later, the two tangled again. McCormack made the initial raise to 635,000 with K-5, and Argila moved All-In with K-8 for 970,000, receiving a call from McCormack. The board showed 10-4-2-5-7, and Argila was sent home in 4th place with $366,660.

In three-handed play, Sklansky was ready for the action. He moved All-In for 1,590,000 with A-Q against McCormack's K-Q, and the board gave Sklansky two more A's to make trips and double up. Sklansky then took a pot from Newhouse to add to his growing stack. The following hand, when Sklansky looked down at pocket 5's, he raised to 400,000, McCormack reraised to 2 million with pocket 10's. Sklansky reraised All-In, and McCormack called. The board came 10-8-8-4-K, and Sklansky was eliminated in 3rd place for $419,040.

Heads-up play began with a 15,000 ante, 60,000 and 120,000 blinds, and the following chip counts:

Chris McCormack 9,350,000 Mark Newhouse 4,215,000

Newhouse raised to 400,000 with K-5, and McCormack called with K-7. The flop showed K-8-5, Newhouse bet 800,000 with his two pair, but McCormack raised to 3 million. Newhouse reraised All-In, and McCormack called. The turn was a 4, and the river was a 3. Newhouse doubled up and became the 2-1 chip leader with 9,395,000.

Two hands later, Newhouse looked down at K-K and quickly moved All-In, but McCormack made a fast call with A-8. The board came A-Q-2-5-J to double up McCormack.

On the very next hand, Newhouse moved All-In again – this time with pocket Q's. McCormack quickly called with A-J. The board was 10-5-4-10-Q, and Newhouse won with a full house.

Chris McCormack was the 2nd place finisher and took home $802,985 for his extraordinary play at this WPT final table.

Mark Newhouse, the second youngest person to ever win a WPT tournament, claimed victory at the Borgata Poker Open and was awarded $1,519,020, a WPT championship title, and a seat into the $25,000 buy-in WPT World Championship for his efforts. Congratulations, Mark!