Sam Taylor Wins Borgata Spring Poker Open Championship

The $2,700 Borgata Spring Open Championship wrapped last night after four days of action and a field of 670 entries. A stacked final table of East Coast regs filled out the final table but it was Sam Taylor that won the title, glass Borgata statue and $390,103.

2015 WSOP Main Event champ Joe McKeehen, John Racener and Kane Kalas returned to the final table with Simon Lam, Wade Meachem, Eric Fields and Erick But.

The first hour of the final table passed without incident But open-shipped for 1 million, Kalas moved in over the top for 1.5 million and McKeehen called, covering them both with pocket aces. But held king jack of hearts, Kalas had ace king and McKeehen hit an ace on the turn to make a set and knockout both players.

Another three hours passed before Racener open-shoved holding ace jack and Meacham called with pocket tens. The board ran dry, Racener didn’t improve and was sent to the rail.

The next bustout came in another preflop showdown between Guan with Ac Tc versus Lam’s Ks Js. The board ran Kh Jd 5s 9s Ts, Lam made a flush and Guan’s day was done.

The remaining five players took a short dinner and following the break. Fields was all in with ace ten and ahead of Lam’s ace nine. They both paired the ace on the flop but the river brought a nine and Fields took a bad beat for almost $90,000.

A couple orbits later, another preflop confrontation had cards face up with Meachem at risk holding pocket tens. Taylor called with ace king, caught a king on the flop and the table was down to three players.

While Meachem was filling out his paperwork, McKeehen got all in preflop holding ace eight offsuit and Taylor called with pocket fours. McKeehen didn’t improve and was eliminated by a baby pair.

Heads-up play began with Taylor holding 14.8 million to Lam’s 5.2 million and they exchanged the lead several times over the course of 2.5 hours. The final hand played with a flop of 4d 2d 2s, Lam check-called 400,000. The turn came 4h, Lam bet 600,000 and Taylor called. The river came 7h, Lam moved all in for 3.25 million and Taylor went into the tank.

He asked for the dealer to count Lam’s stack, Taylor put in chips to call and Lam said, “Good call,” as he mucked his cards. Taylor tabled Ah 9c for just ace-high to win nearly $400,000 and his first Borgata title.

Final Table Payouts

1. Sam Taylor – $390,103
2. Simon Lam – $219,341
3. Joe McKeehen – $138,104
4. Wade Meachem – $112,108
5. Eric Fields – $89,361
6. Ricky Guan – $73,926
7. John Racener – $59,303
8. Kane Kalas – $44,681
9. Erick But – $30,870