Borgata Spring Poker Open

Kim Sclafani and Russ Dunlevy

With 13:00 remaining in Level 20 and the blinds at 20,000/40,000/40,000, Kim Sclafani moved all in on the button for roughly 475,000, and Russ Dunlevy called with a covering stack from the small blind. 

• Sclafani -
• Dunlevy -

It was a flip for Sclafani's tournament life, and when the board ran out she failed to find a king or a queen and hit the rail to send the other 23 players in Flight B into the money and onto Day 2 on Sunday, May 3rd at 12:00 pm. 

Leading the 23 players that found a bag is Hamza Alqit, who put 1,920,000 into the bag for Day 2. Overall, seven players put over a million chips into the bag as Dunlevy (1,555,000), Rajagopal Sankaranarayanan (1,475,000), Rishi Mehta (1,325,000), Anthony Crapanzano (1,250,000), DeeAngelo Seng (1,135,000), and Joseph Molitor (1,055,000) all have seven figures heading into Day 2. 

Hamza Alqit

Rajagopal Sankaranarayanan

Rishi Mehta

That wraps up coverage for Day 8! Be sure to check back tomorrow for more coverage from the Almighty Stack plus the live-streamed final table of the $580 Deep Stack 6-Max! 

Zachary "Yossarian22" Lipeles

Zachary "Yossarian22" Lipeles defeated a field of 187 players to take home his first career major live tournament title, the $46,440 first place prize, and the Borgata/BetMGM trophies in the $1,000 Hybrid Championship.

Lipeles came into the final table of the $1,000 Hyrbrid Championship with the chip lead after the online portion of the tournament, but the script quickly flipped once the live final table began as chips started flying around the table. 

Lipeles rather quickly dropped to the bottom of the counts, but with the final seven players trading chips back and forth for the first two hours of play, it was still anyone's game for the taking.  

"Pretty quickly, I was in last place, but things went my way, and in the end, it worked out," Lipeles said of his final table performance. "It was nice to meet a lot of the people I play online with, and this is a really fun format."

Once the final seven players returned from the first break of the day, eliminations finally started to flow. After no eliminations in the first two hours four occured in the span of about an hour and a half as Stanton "Stonniepokes" Tentnowski (7th place for $7,800), Stephen "Goodbye Toby" Jarrett (6th place for$9,900), Neil "Neilsanjay" Pradhanang (5th place for $13,300) and Daniel "Chipstealer420" McGinnis (4th place for $17,200) all hit the rail. 

Stanton "Stonniepokes" Tentnowski

Joe Giron/Poker.Org

Stephen Jarrett

Neil Pradhanang

Daniel McGinnis

"I feel like it depends person-to-person. Some people went a little bit crazy, and then others played a little more straightforward," Lipeles said of his final table opponents. "It was kinda crazy, we were exactly even stacks (three-handed), and when chips are that close, anything can happen. 

Anything could and did happen as Lipeles, Karneet "Barney24" Arora, and Zachary "CaptianLevi" Gruneberg all took the chip lead at one point during the next hour of play before Lipeles and Gruneberg clashed all-in with Lipeles holding rockets and Gruneberg holding cowboys.

The aces held for Lipeles, and he took the chip lead while Gruneberg and Arora dropped to nearly even in chips. Those two would then clash in an all-in showdown with Gruneberg holding queen-ten against the queen-jack of Arora. 

A ten on the flop sent Arora home in 3rd place for $22,000 and left the two Zachs battling for the crown, and despite being nearly dead even in chips, the heads-up match was over in the blink of an eye. 

Karneet Arora

Following a three-bet preflop, Gruneberg check-raised all in for over six million on a nine-high, two club flop, and after about a minute in the tank, Lipeles called it off with ace-queen high.

Gruneberg had flopped top pair, and for a moment it looked like roughly 90% of the chips in play were headed his way, but an ace on the turn gave Lipeles the superior pair, leaving Gruneberg shaking his head and pulling out his phone after hitting the rail in 2nd place for $32,340. 

Zachary "CaptianLevi" Gruneberg

"That felt pretty good, (when the ace hit the turn), but before that, it was he either had a nine or a flush (draw), so I thought I was doing well enough," Lipeles said of the final hand. "I just want to thank my parents, I know they have been watching the whole thing at home in Tennessee!

Final Table Payouts from the $1,000 Hybrid Championship: 

• 1st: Zachary "Yossarian22" Lipeles - $46,440
• 2nd: Zachary "CaptianLevi" Gruneberg - $32,340
• 3rd: Karneet "Barney24" Arora - $22,000
• 4th: Daniel "Chipstealer420" McGinnis - $17,200
• 5th: Neil "Neilsanjay" Pradhanang - $13,300
• 6th: Stephen "Goodbye Toby" Jarrett - $9,900
• 7th: Stanton "Stonniepokes" Tentnowski  - $7,800

Heads Up

Level 37 - 150,000/300,000/300,000 - 1 Remain

Zachary "CaptianLevi" Gruneberg opened to 600,000 on the button with , and Zachary "Yossarian22"  Lipeles 3-bet to 2,200,000 from the big blind with . 

Gruneberg called, and the flop fell before he checked, and Lipeles continued for 1,250,000. Gruneberg moved all-in for 6,700,000 effective, and after about a minute, Lipeles verbally announced a call. 

Gruneberg had the best of it with top pair, leaving Lipeles looking for an ace or a queen to end the tournament. 

The turn immediately improved Lipeles to a better pair, and when the river completed the board, Gruneberg hit the rail in 2nd place for $32,340. 

Zachary Gruneberg

Karneet Arora

Level 37 - 150,000/300,000/300,000 - 2 Remain

Zachary "CaptianLevi" Gruneberg moved all in for 3,150,000 from the small blind with , and after a tank in the big blind, Karneet "Barney24" Arora called for his tournament life with .

Arora was in great shape to find the double, but disaster struck when the flop fell , giving Gruneberg top pair, leaving Arora looking for a jack or runner-runner to stay alive. 

The turn gave Arora a few more outs, but the river bricked out, and Arora hit the rail in 3rd place for $22,000.