Back-to-back Brian: Wood wins second BetMGM Hybrid Finale

It took nearly six hours and two big hands against Frank Funaro at the end for Brian Wood to lock up his second straight BetMGM Online Hybrid Championship at the Borgata Spring Poker Open. 

Wood entered the live portion of the tournament in the second spot on the leaderboard behind Funaro, followed by Tomasz Zakrzewski in third and Michael Bohmerwald in fourth, with Ryan Hohner and Noah Sharp rounding out the six returnees. 

Wood, primarily an online player, previously won the inaugural edition of the unique hybrid format at the Borgata Winter Poker Open in January.

"It's crazy because a lot of these guys I've played with for seven or eight years and I wouldn't know if they were next to me on the bus," Wood said in his post-win interview. "Now I can put a face to it and they're all good dudes."

The BetMGM Online Hybrid Championship final table qualified for the tournament last weekend.

The opening stage of the event happened on the BetMGM online poker platform and the final six players showed up on Thursday to play down to a winner. The atmosphere was palpable for a group of players who are accustomed to taking down a tournament in the privacy of their own homes. 

"If you win an online tournament it's two in the morning and I don't even want to wake [my partner] up. Here, all of my friends and family are sweating it. "It's a really cool experience and I really love the hybrid format. I'm probably biased."

Wood has millions in earnings online, primarily playing cash games and high-profile tournaments. 

"It's a cool format to play online and live when you are doing well. Part of the challenge of live poker is that it's hard to travel."

Brian Wood has never lost a hybrid final table.

For the champ, it's not about any new-found hybrid strategy that made him the "two-time". It still comes down to a combination of good cards and experience playing deepstack poker in the end game. 

"You have to run well to win any tournament. More than anything, I've been running well. The structure is really good for me in general because I am more of a cash player and I play deeper. The slower structure in some tournaments is really beneficial. The fact that we rolled back two blind limits helped me a lot."

Despite evidence of his domination, Wood was humble in his second straight victory in this format. 

"Ultimately, it's good luck more than anything. I'm lucky to be standing here and I am grateful to win two in a row."

Funaro builds big lead

Sharp was the first player to take his shot shortly after play began when he jammed ace-ten with the shortest stack. Funaro was there with pocket eights and the big stack to score the first elimination of the day when the board ran out with no help for Sharp. He earned $7,800 for the effort and jumped into the Borgata SPO Championship a few moments later. 

Next out the door was Bohmerwald in fifth after an ill-timed shove with ace-queen. Wood had ace-king and the board was clean to send Bohmerwald off with $10,575 for the deep run. 

Frank Funaro dominated the final table but the cards went bad.

The final four settled in and quad-handed play lasted a while. After some time, Hohner drifted to the back of the pack, and with a dog on his lap, he took his shot with ace-eight. Funaro looked down at pocket eights (again) and put Hohner (and his dog) at risk. The board had no ace and Hohner was out for a walk in fourth place for $13,650. 

The final three players stepped out for the final break and Funaro had what might have seemed like an unstoppable chip lead with over 10 million, while Wood and Zakrzewski sat around 2.5 million each.

The tables turn

Moments after they returned from the break, Zakrzewski jammed with ace-five and ran into Wood's Big Slick. The Woodside, New York native was out in third for $18,000 after the board couldn't produce a five. The hand moved Wood closer to Funaro, and he soon got it all in with ace-six. Funaro called with ace-ten, but a flopped six flipped the counts and Wood was on top. 

The big moment came a few moments later when Funaro shoved with ace-queen and Wood met him with a suited ace-jack. The flop produced a flush for Wood to claim victory and the final two players shook hands.

The conclusion of the Hybrid final table gives way to the final stretch of the series with the Mirror Mystery Bounty final table on Friday and the Borgata SPO Championship throughout the weekend. Be sure to keep it with the PokerOrg team for live coverage from the floor for the rest of the way. 

BetMGM Online Hybrid Championship Results