Friday night's Event #12: $20,000 GTD NLH of the Borgata Spring Poker Open Online Series saw 188 entries obliterate the guaranteed prize pool and generate its own figure of $37,600, with 21 players making it into their money and earning a share of the prize pool.

However, it was one person's night to shine. "thekid32" rode a roller coaster to the top, outlasting the field en route to the first-place prize of $9,682. The victory came after a heads-up match that lasted over 30 minutes saw "thekid32" two cards away from defeat at one point, only to regain momentum and ultimately earn the win.

Friday Night Fun

The tournament started with just 17 players registered, though that number grew quickly and steadily over the course of the three-hour late registration period. Just thirty-four remained when registration closed and that number dropped to 27 by the break that occured 10-minutes later.

Half an hour later, the bubble burst and play was in the money. It took only another 35 or so minutes before the field of 21 was reduced to nine, and Ari "spinach_kale" Engel found himself the first to depart the final table after losing two consecutive pots to the eventual champion of the tournament.

Players fell from there one by one and eventually three remained. [B"]rumpthumper"[/B] was the next to go after nearly two full levels of play after finding themselves short and running ace-jack into the pocket kings of "mmflpoker."

Heads-Up Play

"thekid32" entered heads-up play with a slight chip lead but "mmflpoker" pulled ahead, eventually gaining as much as 80% of the chips in play. However, "thekid32" clawed back and then found an improbable double after stacks got in on an ace-four-three flop. "thekid32" had four-three suited and was up against the ace-three of "mmflpoker," but hit a four on the turn to improve to a full house and double.

From there, "thekid32" pulled away further and eventually called a shove from "mmflpoker" with ace-four. "mmflpoker" had queen-three and the outcome remained unchanged when the runout was finished, resulting in "thekid32" claiming the most recent title of the series.

Event #12 Final Table Results