"It's nice to show that hard work really pays off," Joel Deutsch said after his win at the Borgata Spring Poker Open Championship. "This was for my kids."
Deutsch showed perseverance in victory after he outlasted a field of 706 entries to win $347,000. He fell to the short stack after he entered the final day with the chip lead, but he found great spots and worked his way back.
"That's the best win. Both of my daughters were sweating me. This one was a full sweat. They're still on a delay and I'm not telling them."
Deutsch beat Andrew Voor after just a few hands of heads-up play. The runner-up was followed in the final standings by George Cain, Justin Vaysman, and Carlos Alvarado. Tony Sinishtaj and Max Hoffman rounded out the seven returning players on the final day.
The last day was preceded by a marathon Day 3 that saw 45 returning players play down to the final seven. Those 45 players survived a Day 2 with lots of late registration as players flocked to take advantage of the guarantee. The top 103 players split up the total prize pool of $2,000,000.
From the bottom to the top
The livestreamed final table featured Jamie Kerstetter and PokerOrg's own Jeremy Geist on commentary and it kicked off with a quick double for Sinishtaj, who came into the final round with the short stack. Sinishtaj had nearly tripled his stack to get off the schneid and Hoffman was soon on the outs. Hoffman, the eventual seventh-place finisher, got it in with a suited ace-ten but Cain was there to send him off with pocket tens. The hand propelled Cain to the early chip advantage with nearly 10 million in chips.
Hoffman's exit shifted the focus back to Sinishtaj, and he eventually got it in with king-queen. Vaysman was lying in wait with ace-queen to eliminate him in sixth place.
The last five players returned from the first break and Cain still had the lead, but Deutsch was in a distant second and the only other player over five million.
Alvarado soon chipped up into the top spot after a clash with Vaysman while Deutsch fell to the bottom of the counts with around 20 big blinds. Voor doubled through Alvarado and sent him back down the counts, setting up a confrontation with the eventual winner. Alvarado got his shrinking stack in with king-queen, but Deutsch called with ace-queen and sent him home in fifth place after a clean runout.
Vaysman was not far behind in fourth when his suited eight-nine fell to the champ's ace-four, and Deutsch was back in the driver's seat. Cain was out next in third and the final two entered heads-up play with Deutsch holding a small lead.
The final battle did not last long after Voor took a shot after the flop with his flush draw and Deutsch called with top pair. The board ran out clean for Deutsch and he was the champion.
"That was the best part," Deutsch said about his daughters watching from afar. "To be able to pull it off for my kids while they're watching. I’ve played some other decent ones where they weren't really sweating but this was great."
2024 Borgata Spring Poker Open Championship final table results
| Rank | Name | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Joel Deutsch | $347,000 |
| 2 | Andrew Voor | $239,000 |
| 3 | George Cain | $165,256 |
| 4 | Justin Vaysman | $108,598 |
| 5 | Carlos Alvarado | $79,749 |
| 6 | Tony Sinishtaj | $58,317 |
| 7 | Max Hoffman | $46,360 |
That's a wrap
The win wraps up PokerOrg coverage of the 2024 Spring Poker Series at Borgata in Atlantic City. The series saw a wide range of exciting winners, including David Adam-Castrillo — champion of the Kick Off Almighty Million, and Shaotong Chang, winner of the Women's Championship. Not to be outdone, Bin Weng took down the Mirror Mystery Bounty tournament and picked up two of the big bounties in the process.
Check out a full helping of results and winners under the 'Event Info' section at poker.org/borgata. And be sure to head over to pokerphotos.org for a full gallery from every event — shot by 8131 Media's Matthew Berglund and Alicia Skillman.
Stay tuned for more information on the Borgata Fall Poker Open, scheduled for September in the Events Center.
