While the World Series of Poker is where most of the top players are competing, there are also other events taking place in the United States. The BetMGM Poker Championship was just held, and it was an event that was a part of the Aria Poker Classic.
This event actually gave players a chance to head over to the Aria from the WSOP action as it was an event that was held in Las Vegas. All of the action unfolded at the PokerGO Studio, and there was actually a number of big names in attendance.
The BetMGM Poker Championship attracted 1,141 entries, and that pushed the prize pool to more than $3.6 million. Since there were so many players competing in this tournament, the BetMGM Poker Championship had to be played in two starting flights.
Maor might not be a big name when it comes to playing live poker events, but he is a big name in the industry. He is currently the Director of Product Marketing at WPT Global, but he has been entering more poker tournaments over the last few years.
By winning the tournament, Maor was able to take home a massive prize of $613,914, and it’s easily the biggest win of his career. He spoke about being proud of his play after the win, and he should be based on who he had to take down.
Some Great Action
Since the buy-in for this event was $3,500, it was mostly reserved for those players that have had plenty of experience. Just 311 players were remaining when the Day 2 action kicked off, but only the top 143 finishers were going to get paid out.
Shannon Shorr had the chip lead when action on Day 4 ended, and there were six other players still competing for the top prize. When the final day of poker started, Maor was in just fifth place in terms of total chips.
The cards were definitely in his favor when the final table action began as he continued to pull the high cards. By the time that there were just four player remaining, Moar had moved up to second place behind Shorr.
The next two eliminations were delivered at the hands of Maor, and that allowed him to take the chip lead by a 2:1 count heading into heads up action. It didn’t take long for this tournament to end, giving Maor a huge victory.
Final Table Results
It certainly wasn’t the end that Shorr was expecting when she had the lead entering the final day, but she still took home $430,637 with a second place finish. Lyu Qiang was one of the players that Maor eliminated, and that led to a $279,207 payout in third place.
Jordan Westmorland looked as if he was going to make a big run at one point, but it was a fourth place finish that led to a payout of $206,914. James Romero rounded out the top-five in this tournament after playing great poker over the five days of action.
