Event 3 Recap

$350 + $50 + $100 Black Chip Bounty NLH (Re-Entry)

When the last of the bounty hunters picked off their final prey, Chris Grove (Brooklyn Park, MD) was the last man standing as he took home the $49,958 top prize and the Borgata Poker Open trophy.  He finished just ahead of George Leandrou (Glen Cove, NY) and Henry Bumble (New York, NY).

"It feels great," said Grove, who is an aspiring poker pro, "I've been waiting to get a win like this for awhile."

Grove navigated his way through the final table and used ace-king on back-to-back knockouts to propel him to the top spot.  "I don't know, but I love it," says the 26-year-old, when asked why a lot of players loathe big slick, "it dominates most hands."

Grove took care of Justin Schwartz and Joe Opie in 5th and 4th places respectively with AK which set up a quick finish with Leandrou coming in second place and Bumble in third.

Leandrou, had an impressive 13 bounties ($100 each), to go along with his $28,092 second place prize.  This, a nice consolation prize, after he busted in the record setting Event 1.

"The turnout's been great," says Leandrou, who works in real estate and is impressed with the first few days of the Borgata Poker Open series and plans to come back for the WPT Borgata Poker Open Championship event.

This two-day tournament featured 613 entries putting up a total buy-in of $214,550. The field featured WSOP Bracelet winner Mike "Little Man" Sica (North Brunswick, NJ) who survived the money bubble for a min cash.

Other notables making the money included former Borgata trophy winners Lana O'Brien (14th / $1,977), Vinny Pahjua (12th / $2,705) and Jose Montes (7th / $7,596).

Day 2 began with Jim Opie holding the chip lead, but he suffered a brutal beat at the hands of Grove early at the final table.

It was a three-way all in with Opie holding pocket kings against Grove's pocket jacks and John DeGeorge's A 10 offsuit. The board ran out to give Opie a jack high straight and eliminated DeGeorge in 9th place and crippled Opie before his 4th place finish.

The suck out helped Grove to his largest career cash and first major win, this after finishing in second and third places at two other Borgata Poker Open events in the last 18 months.  Grove is now planning to continue his success throughout the series and plans on play in the Championship event.

Final Table Results
1 Chris Grove (Brooklyn Park, MD) $49,958
2 George Leandrou (Glen Cove, NY) $28,092
3 Henry Bumble (New York, NY) $17,690
4 Joe Opie (Fair Haven, NJ) $14,360
5 Justin Schwartz (Lake Grove, NY) $11,446
6 Max Digilov (Staten Island, NY) $9,469
7 Jose Montes (Bronx, NY) $7,596
8 Jon Giordano (E. Syracuse, NY) $5,723
9 John DeGeorge (Toms River, NJ) $3,954
10 Pete Sennon (Bronx, NY) $2,705