Veerab Zakarian Leads WPT BWPO Championship Final Table; Altman Looks to Go Back-to-Back
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The 2020 Borgata Winter Poker Open $3,500 World Poker Tour BWPO Championship established its official final table of six after four long days of poker at the Borgata Hotel, Casino & Spa. That final table will not go on hiatus for two months before reconvening on April 1st at HyperX Esports Arena at Luxor Las Vegas to play down to a winner.
A total of 1,129 entry slips were sold for the tournament and now just six remain, all of which have booked their ticket to the live-streamed final table where someone will walk away with $674,840.
Leading the final table is Canada's Veerab Zakarian with an 11,990,000 stack for the final day. Zakarian started the day in second on the leaderboard and hovered around the same stack throughout the early parts of the day with a few small hiccups. During the 26th level is when he started to heat up, taking two pots from the start-of-day chip leader Patrick Serda which put Zakarian atop the field, a place he hung about for the rest of the night. The Toronto, Ontario, native is now guaranteed the biggest cash of his career and is a prime position to add a WPT title to his resume.
Closest behind Zakarian on the leaderboard is James Anderson with 10,040,000. Anderson started the final day second-last in chips but ran it up and now is guaranteed at least a six-figure cash headed into the final day.
The biggest story of the table has to be two-time WPT Champion Brian Altman finding another WPT final table in back-to-back events, winning the WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open just last week. Altman had a rollercoaster of a day but managed to accumulate a healthy-sized 9,865,000 stack headed into the final table. Altman already has a commanding lead in the WPT Player of the Year race and is sure to extend that with another remarkable run in Atlantic City.
WPT BWPO Final Table Lineup
| Place | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nathan Russler | United States | 3,990,000 | 33 |
| 2 | James Anderson | United States | 10,040,000 | 84 |
| 3 | Andrew Hanna | United States | 6,730,000 | 56 |
| 4 | Bin Weng | United States | 8,890,000 | 74 |
| 5 | Veerab Zakarian | Canada | 11,990,000 | 100 |
| 6 | Brian Altman | United States | 9,865,000 | 82 |
The final three remaining players that make up the final table are Bin Weng (8,890,000), Andrew Hanna (6,730,000), and Natha Russler (3,990,000). The trio will all be adding new career cashes to their names, pulling in at least $143,264 for a sixth-place finish but all players will have a different amount on their minds, the $674,840 that awaits the winner. Along with their name sketched into the history books by taking down a WPT title.
Remaining Payouts
| Place | Payout |
|---|---|
| 1 | $674,840 |
| 2 | $449,904 |
| 3 | $333,012 |
| 4 | $248,913 |
| 5 | $187,900 |
| 6 | $143,264 |
Final Day Action
The Day 4 action started off just how the third day ended, with chips flying in every direction and after just two levels, the field dropped from the initial 24 that returned, down to just 18. The next level of play saw Robert Mclaughlin (18th - $28,264) and Jesus Martinez (17th - $28,624) both hit the rail, bringing the tournament down to the final two tables with Zakarian leading.
A total of three more levels took place before an unofficial final table was formed and it was Serda who ended up being dubbed as the final table bubble boy. The Canadian had a back-and-forth day that seemed to be back on the upswing after landing a duck to double through Altman but other plans were in store for him as Altman shoved a queen-high board that had two nines showing. Serda hit the tank but in the end, he called with his king-queen, only to see the ace-nine of Altman for three nines, sending the start-of-the-day chip leader out in tenth place.
The unofficial final table saw Alex Queen bust first when he shoved his pair of ladies into the middle, finding a call from Zakarian who held kings. The board ran out clean and Zakarian pulled in the pot, sending Queen out in ninth place. Jorge Confesor came into the final nine on the shorter side of things and saw his stack dwindle down to just a couple of blinds before he moved all in with ten-eight. Russler woke up with a pair of queens and ended the hand with a set to send Confeso out in eighth.
Peter Vitantonio was the last player to be eliminated in what was one of the worst beats of the day, at the worst possible time. Russler opened, Altman three-bet from the small and Vitantonio four-bet. Russler folded, Altman moved it all into the middle and Vitantonio obliged. Altman tabled king-queen and was dominated by the ace-queen of Vitantonio, even more so after the ace-three-two flop. But a jack on the turn brought a Broadway draw for Altman and the ten river completed it as he went runner-runner straight to send Vitantonio out the door in seventh.
