Jimmy Lillis (1st), Thomas Balla (2nd), and "Rey Mysterio Jr." (3rd) Chop Event 9 for $33,000 Each
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After a grueling day on the felt which spanned nearly 20 hours in sum, a three-way chop was arranged to end Event 9 at the Borgata Spring Poker Open.
Jimmy "Bagels" Lillis signed for first-place money and won the random hand to decide who held the trophy. Thomas Balla took down second on the official scorecard, while a player who declined to provide his name throughout the tournament was third. Each player took home $33,000 for their deep run through a huge field, a well-deserved reward after spending nearly 24 hours playing poker.
The $300 buy-in, $100,000 Guaranteed Big-Stack NLHE Reentry event proved to be a smashing success, attracting 843 entries and reentries to generate a $212,605 prize pool. Among the notable names to show up before being showing the door were Men "The Master" Nguyen, Chris Tryba, DJ MacKinnon, James Woods, Megan Milburn, and Tony Sinishtaj.
The usual hubbub surrounding the money bubble was a bit protracted, with three players going bust on the same deal of hand-for-hand play and a premature announcement from the tournament staff leading to mass confusion. After a nearly hour long wait, Gary Rosenzweig discovered that he had failed to make the money, despite hearing congratulations on over the microphone and participating in the collective cheer which always signals the bubble bursting.
Pros like Joe Kuether (56th) Anthony Maio (53rd) did manage to make the money, but each fell short far short of their perpetual goal of the final table.