Recently, Phil Hellmuth has cut down on his schedule of live poker tournaments played beyond the World Series of Poker. The all-time leader in WSOP bracelets had actually moneyed in just one live tourney since winning his record-furthering 15th win at the series in the $5,000 turbo no-limit hold ’em event on July 11, 2018.
Hellmuth damaged the drought and got his 2019 off to a strong begin by taking down the Borgata Winter Poker Open $1,590 no-limit hold’em heads-up event. The ‘poker Brat’ beat an area of 64 entries in event to gain $37,248.
Hellmuth virtually really did not make it to the finals. As reported on the Borgata Winter Poker Open blog, Hellmuth was linked 1-1, and down to just 3,700 to Ryan Hall, who had 26,300 at his high-point in the choosing match. Hellmuth was able to fight back from that big deficiency, however, to establish a final-round face-off with Joseph Cappello, whom had beat World Poker Tour champion as well as online heads-up sit-n-go legend Olivier Busquet.
Hellmuth took the first match in the best-of-three showdown, getting all-in on a 10Heart Suit7Heart Suit5Spade Suit9Club Suit board with the 10Club Suit9Diamond Suit for two pair. Cappello had 10Diamond Suit6Heart Suit and was in need of help heading into the river. The 5Heart Suit secured the first match for Hellmuth.
The second match saw Cappello build a 2:1 lead before Hellmuth was able to mount a comeback. By the time the final hand arose Cappello was down to just a handful of big blinds. He moved all-in with the QHeart Suit7Heart Suit and Hellmuth called with the KHeart Suit9Club Suit. The board came down JDiamond SuitJClub Suit4Spade SuitASpade Suit3Club Suit and Hellmuth’s high card earned him the pot and the title. Cappello was awarded $18,624 as the second-place finisher.
Hellmuth took to Twitter to celebrate the win and the fact that he was able to take a break in between matches to enter day 1A of the World Poker Tour main event at the series and run up an 88,500 stack.
Final Table Results
| Position | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Phil Hellmuth | $37,248 |
| 2 | Joey Cappello | $18,624 |
| 3 | Ryan Hall | $9,312 |
| 4 | Olivier Busquet | $9,312 |
| 5 | Steven Sarmiento | $4,656 |
| 6 | Mike Vela | $4,656 |
| 7 | Dylan Gang | $4,656 |
| 8 | Chris O’Hara | $4,656 |
