Vance Martin III Wins Borgata’s Monster Mirror Mystery Bounty After Pulling Top Prize
The Lebanon, Pennsylvania player turned 12 big blinds into more than $37,000 in bounties and a $25,650 first prize.
Vance Martin III turned a short stack into a title run at Borgata, winning the $580 Monster Mirror Mystery Bounty after pulling the event’s biggest bounty and then beating George Grabe heads-up. The Lebanon, Pennsylvania player took home $25,650 for first place and finished with more than $37,000 in bounty cash across a 12-hour final-table grind.
According to PokerNews, the Monster Mirror format paired bounty amounts with payouts, and the $310,000 prize pool was split evenly between the two sides. The event drew 620 entries, and 76 players came back for Day 2.
Martin entered Day 2 with just 12 big blinds, but he kept climbing. He had about $24,000 in prior live tournament earnings, almost all of it from this year, and the strong final-table run led to him doubling his prior tournament winnings.
The early pace on Day 2 was fast, but none of the biggest bounties came off the board right away. Action slowed once the field reached three tables, with Kaifan Wang finishing 16th for $1,375, Todd Lewis 15th for $1,665, and Simon Lau laddering all the way to 11th for $2,015 after leaving at the first break and letting his stack blind out.
The final table began with Shane Brown in the lead and the field split between the top stack group and the short stacks. Martin changed the shape of the table quickly by knocking out Alan Johnson and David Lu in one hand, then collecting the two largest remaining bounties for $27,650 and $6,125.
Brown later finished fifth for $6,125 after a preflop setup where Bernstein’s jacks stayed best. Four-handed play also saw Robert Bernstein’s pocket sevens run into Grabe’s jacks, while Anthony LaRocca bowed out short for $13,275.
Grabe started heads-up with a slight edge, and the two agreed to flatten the payouts, but the duel stayed cautious. Once the stacks got under 40 big blinds, Martin and Grabe traded small pots until the end, when Grabe shoved ace-deuce suited for 18 big blinds and Martin snapped with ace-queen.
Neither player paired the board, so Martin’s ace-queen held and he closed out the title. Grabe finished second for $21,150.
