By Sean Chaffin
It will be quite the honeymoon for Erkut Yilmaz and his new bride Esre (pictured). The couple were married two months ago, but haven’t had the chance for a real trip to celebrate their nuptials. That’s about to change.
After five days of action and a field of 1,075 entries, Yilmaz emerged as the winner of the WPT Borgata Poker Open in Atlantic City on Friday night. As the champion, he walks away with $575,112 and a $15,000 entry in the season-ending Tournament of Champions.
The title didn’t come easy as he battled 56 hands heads-up against tough and experienced pro TK Miles, who has numerous big finishes and more than $2.8 million in live tournament winnings.
Yilmaz entered the final day with a significant chip lead on the rest of the table and was able to finish the job despite Miles taking the lead for a time heads-up. Yilmaz played it calm and patient, and it paid off.
“He was on my left, so it affected my game quite a bit,” he said about Miles as an opponent. “He’s a great player. He really put me in tough spots when we became heads-up. I’m really happy with the result. It feels great.”
For his runner-up finish, Miles will take home $383,399 and made a nice run after entering the final table third in chips.
The 42-year-old Yilmaz is originally from Istanbul, Turkey, but moved to Sacramento, CA about 15 years ago. His brother and wife were in attendance to cheer him on at the final table and were thrilled with his victory. Esre gave him a big hug after he officially won the title.
A professional poker player for the last 12 years, Yilmaz left his job in the business world after he was finding his poker winnings became much more than his salary. He now has more than $1.5 million in live tournament winnings. Prior to the WPT Borgata Poker Open, he had two cashes on the tour for just under $80,000.
Along with a WPT title now, he also won WSOP Circuit ring in December of 2015 at the Bicycle Casino. In June 2017 at the World Series of Poker, Yilmaz finished sixth for $175,208 in the $565 Colossus, which featured a massive 18,504 entries. That was a major score, but he’s now topped that by quite a bit.
The event featured a $3,500 buy-in and $3 million guaranteed prize pool, with the final table live streamed on the WPT YouTube channel. After several all-in moves late in heads-up play and at almost a 2-to-1 chip disadvantage, Miles limped in on the button and Yilmaz checked the action. The flop brought 
, and Yilmaz checked. Miles bet 800,000, and Yilmaz check-raised all in. His opponent called for his last 15.8 million chips.
Miles tabled 
for top pair, and Yilmaz showed 
for bottom pair and an open-end straight draw. The turn card brought the 
, giving Yilmaz two pair. The river brought no help for Miles and Yilmaz was the champion.
The Yilmazes recently moved to Philadelphia, and he definitely has plans to return to the Borgata for more poker. He congratulated the WPT and casino staff on the event.
“Everything was so smooth,” he said. “It was all great.”
What’s next for the newlyweds? Where will that honeymoon take them?
“I don’t know, honey what do you think?” Yilmaz asked his wife after winning the title. “Hawaii maybe?”
First a massive WPT win and adding his name to the Champions Cup. Now it’s time to book the flight – and schedule the luau.
Sean Chaffin is a freelance writer in Crandall, Texas, and host of the True Gambling Stories podcast. Follow him on Twitter at @PokerTraditions.
Photography by Joe Giron / PokerPhotoArchive.com
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