Mike Marder Borgata Heads-UP Champ for $59,362; Uppalapati Leads WPT BPO Day 1a
Event #16 of the 2019 Borgata Poker Open was the $3,150 Heads-Up NLH, which saw 51 players vie for the BPO trophy. After several rounds, it was Mike Marder finishing as the last man standing on Sunday night to capture a $59,362 first-place prize and his third BPO trophy. He has now earned over $1.3 million throughout his tournament career.
The New Jersey pro made short work of his first few opponents on his home turf and faced off with Ian O'Hara in the final round.
"I picked some good spots and also feel like I ran good in the final match," Marder said.
Marder cruised through the first match of the finals in no time but things didn't come so easy in the second. The two players battled it for nearly an hour until Marder eventually came out on top.
2019 BPO Heads-Up Results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michael Marder | $59,362 |
| 2 | Ian O'Hara | $29,682 |
| 3 | Adam Zeltser | $14,841 |
| 4 | Shannon Shorr | $14,841 |
| 5 | Joshua Heinzl | $7,421 |
| 6 | Andrew Ostapchenko | $7,421 |
| 7 | Ricky Guan | $7,421 |
| 8 | Arian Stolt | $7,421 |
2019 WPT Borgata Poker Open Main Event Day 1a Recap
The first flight of the WPT Borgata Poker Open $3,500 Championship saw a total of 271 entry slips sold and when the last chance saloon had closed for business only 129 remained. The biggest stack to emerge from Day 1a was owned by Mukharji Uppalapati, who will be entering Day 2 with 252,400.
Uppalapati caught fire early in the day and never really looked back as he sits on top of the star-studded field. The Gaithersburg, Maryland native has over $100,000 in tournament cashes with his biggest cash coming at Borgata. Uppalapati is yet to register a cash in the WPT but is off to a promising start in the $3,500 Championship.
Nipping at the heels of Uppalapati is a WPT champion in Asher Conniff, who bagged in impressive 247,800 in the first flight. Two other players finding a stack on the larger side of things are Ryan Olisar (229,700) and Bruce Kramer (211,600), having the only other stacks above the 200,000 mark aside from the leaders.
Many familiar faces bagged and tagged, including Andrew Ostapchenko (165,800), Frank Stepuchin (147,200), Joe McKeehen (143,500), Victor Ramdin (140,200), Patrick Eskandar (108,000), Stephen Song (95,800), and WPT's Tony Dunst (75,500). Two Borgata Pros also found a Day 2 birth in Vlad Alexandrov (135,400) and Michael Gagliano (105,000).
The Day 1b flight will begin tomorrow at 11 a.m. local time on Monday, September 16. A total of eight 60-minute levels will be played before players bag up for the night.
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