Short Stack Gets His Fairy Tale Ending as Final Four Strike a Deal at the Borgata
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — Oliver Simon was the shortest stack when the final four players sat down to talk numbers. He still walked out with the championship ring.
The inaugural RunGood Passport Season Atlantic City Main Event ended in a four-way ICM deal at the Borgata Hotel, Casino & Spa, with Simon giving up $1,000 to each of his three opponents to claim the title and the RunGood Poker Series ring. The 710-entry field generated a $497,000 prize pool.
"This is like a fairy tale right now," Simon said as the ring and chips were assembled on the table for his winner's photo.
The Connecticut native finished with $47,375, a number that dwarfs his entire previous live tournament resume. He had just $15,000 in career earnings heading in, with a best score of $6,500. He declined to be interviewed after photos.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Oliver Simon | United States | $47,375* |
| 2 | Michael Cohen | United States | $58,480* |
| 3 | Michael Cheng | United States | $55,385* |
| 4 | Cenk Cerci | Germany | $54,745* |
| 5 | Ilya Ashmyan | United States | $18,980 |
| 6 | Soukha Kachittavong | United States | $14,825 |
| 7 | Yusuf Buber | United States | $11,835 |
| 8 | Wooyang Lin | United States | $9,525 |
| 9 | Travis Hartshorn | United States | $7,660 |
denotes four-way ICM deal
Michael Cohen held the chip lead at the time of the deal and took the largest share at $58,480. Michael Cheng received $55,385 and Cenk Cerci $54,745.
Cerci's Week at the Borgata
No one had a better run at this festival than Cerci. The German player had already won the Super Stack event earlier in the series, topping a 74-player field to collect $11,270, and made a point of showing off that ring to his final table opponents. A deep run in the Main Event then added another $54,745 to his week.
Cerci was also the one who floated the idea of a deal when four-handed play got short and the blinds kept climbing.
"Basically, we were pretty even stack-wise. It was more or less a coin flip. All four players are more or less at the same skill level. That's why I offered it and the guys accepted, and I'm glad we made the deal," he said.
It was Cerci's first RGPS stop, and he made clear it would not be his last.
"This is my first RunGood event. I think it's a very well-organized event. The staff here is always great, so I think it was a good combination. I think I'm going to play every other event in the future," Cerci said.
He also credited the Borgata itself for his focus throughout the week. "I love playing here at Borgata because I can focus here purely on poker, forgetting family and responsibilities. That's why I can make deep runs. Basically, I almost cashed every event. I made two deep runs. Perfect, perfect week."
Day 2: Kings Get Cracked Twice, a No-Show Burns Down a Million Chips
Day 2 opened with 87 players returning to the Borgata poker room at noon. Start-of-day chip leader Lucas Vergara ran into Yusuf Buber twice with kings and lost both times. First, Buber made a running straight. Then he turned a pair of aces to send Vergara to the rail in 53rd.
Other notable eliminations in the early going included Mukul Pahuja (79th), three-time WSOP bracelet winner Ryan Eriquezzo (78th), Nan Min (61st), Eric Buchman (56th), Chris Conrad (54th), Nicholas Rigby (50th), and Vinny Pahuja (40th).
Day 1c chip leader Greg Himmelbrand ran a big pot against Simon, who shoved the river and put Himmelbrand in the tank. Himmelbrand eventually called off his last 750,000 with a set of sevens, but Simon had a flush and sent him out in 30th.
Opening-flight chip leader Alen Habib never showed up for Day 2. His million-chip stack was blinded away over the course of more than five hours before his last chips were posted and he was officially eliminated in 21st.
NFL player Avery Williams got his last 1,700,000 in on the turn holding a set of queens, but Travis Hartshorn had hit a set of kings to win the pot and eliminate Williams in 20th.
Keith Becker fell in 18th to Simon. Michael Cheng then cracked Federico Castro's kings by spiking trip queens on the turn. Joe Foote got his chips in good against Cerci with ace-king versus king-queen, flopping top pair, but Cerci backdoored a running flush to bust Foote in 14th.
Cheng kept running hot when both he and Chris DeQuatro flopped top pair of jacks. DeQuatro held the lead with his ace kicker until Cheng rivered two pair to eliminate DeQuatro in 12th. Simon then won a flip, his pocket jacks holding against Aytumen Akyildiz's king-queen, to set the nine-handed final table.
Final Table: Cohen Builds, Cheng Fades, Deal Gets Done
Cheng came to the final table with 11,500,000 in chips, more than double the stack of second-place Cohen. The dynamic shifted quickly.
Hartshorn opened in ninth place, running ace-five into Cohen's ace-queen with top pair flopped on Cohen's side. Cohen then raised to 400,000 under the gun and got calls from Cheng and Wooyang Lin in the blinds. Lin moved all in for 2,400,000 on an eight-high flop and Cohen reshoved. Cheng released ace-eight. Cohen turned over pocket queens against Lin's nine-eight, and Lin bricked the turn and river to exit in eighth.
Buber tried a bluff against Cohen with seven-deuce that did not get through, then called off his last 1,300,000 against Cerci holding king-seven. He was ahead of Cerci's queen-ten until a ten fell on the river to give Cerci the pair and the knockout in seventh.
Cheng flopped a full house with pocket threes to eliminate Soukha Kachittavong in sixth. Simon picked up tens and called Ilya Ashmyan's shove of 2,025,000. Ashmyan held ace-six and could not improve, exiting in fifth.
Four players remained, stacks were close, and the blinds were only going up. Cerci suggested a deal. Everyone agreed, and the first-ever RGPS event at the Borgata was done.
Cohen took the most money, Simon took the ring and the title, and Cerci closed out a week that will be hard to top.
