John Malczan Bags 75 Million-Chip Lead at Borgata Almighty Stack Final Table
The Trenton contractor led six players in the $500 event after a 2,209-entry field was trimmed and $23,075 was locked up for each finalist.
John Malczan took a big chip lead into the Borgata Summer Poker Open $500 Almighty Stack final table after Day 2 whittled a 2,209-entry field down to six players. He bagged 75,000,000 chips, and the final six had already locked up $23,075 apiece, with the champion set to earn $144,250.
According to PokerNews, Malczan was described as a general contractor from Trenton, New Jersey with nearly 50 tournament titles and $865,000 in live tournament earnings. His march to the top stack included a key hand against John Malvasio, where he made trips, and he closed the night by flopping top two pair to bust Toby Gafner in seventh place.
Day 2 began with 279 players back in the Borgata poker room, and the event played down to the final six from there. The final table was scheduled to start at noon local time, with 40-minute levels, 17 minutes left in Level 34, and blinds at 500,000/1,000,000 with a 1,000,000 big blind ante when action resumed.
Yuriy Kudrynskyy held the second-biggest stack at 57,500,000 after waking up with pocket aces to bust Michael Mann in a huge pot. He was also back for another shot at a title after finishing fourth in the $650 Super Deep 6-Max just a few days earlier.
William Shaw sat on 31,000,000 chips, with John Wilson close behind on 29,500,000. The short stacks were Baruch Fishman with 16,000,000 and Raymond Ferretti with 12,000,000.
The final table path also included a few notable knockouts. William Shaw ended Bin Weng’s run in 17th place after picking up two queens, while Daniel Lazrus fell in 22nd when Toby Gafner made a big call with two sevens and held against Lazrus’ flush draw.
Early exits included Li Liang in 274th, Matt Matros in 266th, Mukul Pahuja in 192nd, Randy Pisane in 118th, and Lingyu Zen in 112th. Will Failla, the WPT champion and start-of-day chip leader, made it to the final table before losing most of his chips to John Wilson and busting in eighth place shortly afterward.
