Cranston, Rhode Island pro Anthony Zinno (31) is the new WPT Borgata Poker Open champ, having bested a field of 1,189 to claim the honours and the first prize of $825,099 after a six day poker marathon that ended in a tense heads up with high profile international pro Vanessa Selbst.
The weekend saw Zinno facing a final table of Vanessa Selbst, Cong Pham, Jeremy Kottler, David Randall and Eric Fields in a battle for the lion’s share of the massive $3,805,989 prize pool, generated by the $3,500 a head buy-in to the NLHE event. By the end, every member of the final table received a six-figure pay-out.
Zinno’s first prize includes the WPT Champions Cup and a $25,000 seat at the WPT World Championship later this year.
When Zinno eliminated Cong Pham in third place for $301,225, the scene was set for the heads up against Vanessa Selbst, with Selbst holding a small chip lead, which over just 20 hands she leveraged into a 2 to 1 chip advantage, only to see it dissipated at hand 134 in level 37 when Zinno triumphed in a massive pot that thrust him into the lead.
Coming back from such a reversal of fortune was never going to be easy, even for a seasoned pro like Selbst, and just nine hands later it was all over with Zinno claiming the spoils of victory, and Selbst taking the second placing pay check of $492,569 with grace and the respect of the railbirds.
The other final table pay-outs looked like this:
3rd Cong Pham $301,225
4th Jeremy Kottler $251,968
5th David Randall $208,394
6th Eric Fields $168,610