Event 8 Recap

$200 + $30 Big Stack No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry)

Matt Weiss (Valley Cottage, NY) had the winning recipe against three other players and earned his second Borgata trophy.  Weiss, a New York City pizza shop owner, had nearly half the chips in play before getting the rest from Jeff Epstein (2nd), Michael Drabot (3rd) and Ilya Brodetskiy (4th) on the final hand.

"It's my first big cash in years," said Weiss, who earned $39,266 for the win. "I'm pretty stoked about it."

Weiss came to the final table with the big stack and continued to chip up and move in position for the win.  On the flip side, Drabot was the short stack of the final ten and worked his way up the ladder to third place.

"Not too bad," said the retired hospital CFO and Borgata regular, "I moved up seven spots," as he earned his largest career cash and 10th at Borgata.  And runner-up Jeff Epstein was just as pleased, as his annual pilgrimage to Atlantic City produced a $22,876 payday.

"I always come to Borgata and plan it (the trip) around one of these series'," said the business owner, who almost didn't make the top four.  In a key hand against Ray Ross, Epstein hit a miracle straight with pocket 9s to crack pocket Aces.

The hand hurt Ross who eventually finished in fifth place.

"To get his far in any tournament you need a little luck," said Epstein, "it all evens itself out."

The field of 880 entries produced total buy-ins of $176,000 and lots of recognizable names made the money.  The list included Joe Opie (8th), Asher Conniff (11th), Joe DiBello (12th) and Mike Marder (20th).

For Wiess, his first Borgata trophy came in the 2012 Borgata Winter Poker Open when he won the heads up tournament.  "That meant a lot because that was my thing on-line," said Weiss," who only had a few hours to get to the shop after the tournament's 7 am finish.

Weiss said he used internet earnings to start his business and has less time to play cards. But for one day taking a break from work delivered a tasty win.

Final Table Results

Entries: 880
Total Buy-In: $176,000

Place-Name-Amount

1st Matt Weiss (Valley Cottage, NY) $39,266
2nd Jeff Epstein (Omaha, NE) $22,876
3rd Michael Drabot (Riverside, NY) $13,999
4th Ilya Brodetskiy (Staten Island, NY) $11,524
5th Ray Ross (Philadelphia, PA) $9,390
6th Anthony Merculla (New York, NY) $7,682
7th Mike Bonney (Mays Landing, NJ) $6,146
8th Joe Opie (Fair Haven, NJ) $4,609
9th Scott Love (Philadelphia, PA) $3,244
10th Hang Liao (Pleasantville, NJ) $2,134

Final Results