Li Liang Becomes First Female Champion at Borgata Super Deep 6-Max
The local regular beat Giorgi Arveladze heads-up for a $41,150 score after a 401-entry event at Borgata.
Li Liang won Event #11, the Borgata Summer Poker Open $650 Super Deep 6-Max, and became the event’s first female champion. She beat Giorgi Arveladze heads-up to take the $41,150 first-place prize from a field of 401 entries that generated a $228,570 prize pool.
PokerNews described Liang as a local cash game and tournament regular at Borgata. The report said the win more than doubled her prior live tournament earnings, according to The Hendon Mob.
The final table was set after 65 players returned for Day 2, all already in the money with a minimum cash of $1,120. Arveladze led the pack into the final table with 4,495,000 chips, or 56 big blinds, while Liang advanced as the last woman standing with 2,330,000.
The final six played down to a winner on Friday. Day 3 started with Arveladze holding a substantial lead and Liang coming in fourth on the leaderboard.
Frank Costigan was the first final-table casualty after jamming 23 big blinds with pocket tens and getting called by Arveladze’s ace-king. Nearly 90 minutes later, Bin Weng went out after moving all in for his last 19 big blinds with ace-king and running into Arveladze’s pocket tens.
Ryan Syrko finished third after jamming his last seven big blinds with ace-three and running into Arveladze’s pocket sixes. Yuriy Kudrynskyy exited in fourth after getting outflopped by Liang’s jack-six. Heads-up play then began with Arveladze holding about a 2-to-1 advantage.
Liang chipped back with a few small pots, then won the key hand described when Arveladze shoved the turn for more than three times the size of the pot with an open-ended straight draw and Liang called with second pair and the nut flush draw. Liang improved to trips on the river after Arveladze missed, and the next hand ended it when Arveladze shoved with ace-four and Liang called with queen-six suited, leaving him drawing dead on the turn.
Afterward, Liang said she played hard and kept going through a long three-day battle. She said the title mattered as much as the money, added that she plays at Borgata all the time, and said the home-casino advantage worked in her favor and gave her more confidence.
