Olivier Busquet took over five years away from the live tournament scene, but if this week can be used as evidence, it is clear that he hasn’t skipped a beat.
The New York native Busquet to the Borgata for the Borgata Summer Poker Open Championship, the same site of his 2009 WPT victory for nearly $1 million. Just like sixteen years ago, Busquet held all of the chips once the dust settled.
A starting field of 685 hopefuls entered the event to generate a prize pool of $1,644,000, comfortably surpassing the $1 million guarantee. After four days of battle, it was Busquet who hoisted the trophy along with $255,135 in first-place prize money after striking a heads-up deal with Abe Gordon.
Busquet is back
Busquet boasts an impressive resume with over $9 million in career live earnings and millions more online, according to The Hendon Mob, and now he has added another prestigious title to his name. He has a long list of accomplishments in poker, but decided to take some time away from the live streets following COVID, partially due to him meeting his wife and starting a family. However, Busquet still gets his reps playing online, and his love for the game never went away.
The champ would go over five years between live cashes after recording a 12th-place finish in a $3,000 No-Limit Hold’em event at the WSOP this year, with his next cash coming today.
“I fell in love and got married and I have a family now,” Busquet explained, “I’ve been playing a lot online. I haven’t really taken any breaks. This summer I played at the World Series and wanted to try to play a few more tournaments.”
Busquet’s return to the live arena has been a profitable one, and he hopes to continue to play.
“I ran incredibly well here, I’m probably gonna play some more. I really enjoy live poker, the social aspect,” Busquet continued, “With this win, it feels great, and I’ll probably play more.”
Busquet has played poker tournaments for almost 20 years and has been able to gain invaluable experience navigating different types of fields.
“I think my experience definitely helps, in particular. I have a better sense of what gears to be in.” Busquet elaborated, “Sometimes people can get a little too passive and also can start to go for it a little too much. I think a bit more even-keeled because I’ve been there before and I get the flow of tournament poker.”
Busquet was quick to give some shoutouts to his family for their support and inspiration.
“Big shoutout to my family. My beautiful wife, and my daughter and my son. That’s who I play for.”
The road to victory
Just eight players returned to action today for the official final table, with Busquet holding the chip lead. Busquet also held a commanding chip lead after Day 2, showing that it was truly a wire-to-wire victory.
Gerard Brady and Jeremy Flieder exited during the first frame of play before six-handed play was an extended affair.
Ultimately, it was Ryan Dodd who was the next to hit the rail. The young gun from New Jersey would four-bet all-in with ace-jack suited, but lost a flip to the pocket tens of Busquet in a pivotal pot.
Colombian crusher Farid Jattin would be the next casualty. He would lose a few flips before getting his final 11 big blinds into the middle with queen-nine suited, but he could not improve against the ace-jack of Sridhar Sangannagari.
Sangannagari was the next to fall. He lost an all-in to become the short stack and he got the rest of chips into the middle with ace-ten against the ace-queen of Matthew Beinner. Sangannagari flopped a ten but Beinner turned broadway to end Sangannagari’s run. However, he qualified for this tournament from a $250 satellite on BetMGM Poker for a truly impressive return on his investment, cashing for over $90,000.
Beinner would then finish in third place. The young gun has added another deep run to his short but lucrative career after he got his final 10 big blinds into the middle with queen-jack against the ace-eight of Gordon, who made two pair to eliminate Beinner.
Following his elimination, Busquet and Gordon would take a look at the ICM numbers before agreeing to a deal. Busquet held 60% of the chips in play when the deal was made. Both players took home one of the two winners’ trophies as a cordial and friendly negotiation ended between two happy participants.
2025 Borgata Summer Poker Open Championship final table results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Olivier Busquet | $255,135 |
| 2 | Abe Gordon | $233,255 |
| 3 | Matthew Beinner | $138,076 |
| 4 | Sridhar Sangannagari | $91,171 |
| 5 | Farid Jattin | $63,339 |
| 6 | Ryan Dodd | $49,176 |
| 7 | Jeremy Flieder | $39,350 |
| 8 | Gerard Brady | $31,750 |
