It's the midway point of the Borgaga Poker Open and the $1,250 Mirror Mystery Bounty has crowned a winner with Mykhailo Lendel surviving the final table to win the top prize of $60,000, in addition to the bounties he collected over the last two days.
Lendel outlasted a field of 619 entries before he defeated Jason Pardy in heads-up play for the victory. James Scoppa followed Pardy in third place and Matthew Hoynowski finished fourth. Pavlo Tkach and Stanton Tentnowski rounded out the final six players who returned on Monday for the finale.
'I don't like to do things just for fun'
"It was up and down," Lendel said about the win. "Yesterday (with 10 left) I doubled up with ace-king. That was the most important all-in for me and from that, I think from that point I just was more confident in my game. These players were all good — really good players."
Lendel isn't a professional — he owns a tile installation business and treats poker as a hobby. He still studies, but not as much as a pro.
"I don't like to do things just for fun so it's gotta have some result. I was trying to give myself some goals — to win at least one trophy. I won a tournament at another casino but there wasn't a trophy. This one is great,it's one of the most important trophies at Borgata."
He lives in the area now and plans to play a lot more poker.
"I don't have that much time you know to travel around but I just moved to New Jersey. The staff at Borgata is amazing, all the players — a lot of professional players. I'm not professional, so it's hard to play with them, but I'll try."
Day 3 highlights
The day started quickly with the unlikely elimination of Tentnowski. Tentnowski entered the day as the bottom stack, but he found a great spot with ace-king when he got it in against the king-four of Hoynowski. The ace-king was well ahead after the flop, but a four on the river gave Hoynowski the win and sent Tentnowski to the door.
Tkach was next to go in fifth place when his ace-jack couldn't beat Lendel's king-jack. Hoynowski wasn't far behind in fourth when his suited ten-nine couldn't catch up to Scoppa's ace-king.
The final three settled in and Pardy cooled off Lendel with a kings-versus-queens cooler, but Lendel got most of it back a few minutes later when Pardy called a big river bet.
Lendel slowed down and had aces cracked before he doubled Pardy to open up the possibilities. The stalemate broke quickly when Lendel fought back and eliminated Scoppa in third place.
Heads-up play settled in and Lendel continued to gather chips until the big moment came when Pardy shoved a pocket pair but lost to a runout that gave Lendel a straight.
Main Event on deck
The Borgata Poker Open continues this week with opening flights of the $500 Almighty Million before the surviving meet for Day 2 on Thursday. All roads lead to the $3,500 Main Event, which kicks off the first of its two opening flights on Friday.
Be sure to follow PokerOrg's Instant Live coverage all week long for the latest updates from the floor of the Borgata Poker Open.
$1,250 Mirror Mystery Bounty Final Table results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mykhailo Lendel | $60,000 |
| 2 | Jason Pardy | $41,539 |
| 3 | James Scoppa | $28,729 |
| 4 | Matthew Hoynowski | $18,974 |
| 5 | Pavlo Tkach | $13,185 |
| 6 | Stanton Tentnowski | $10,417 |
