Championship Interview

Jeff Madsen (Las Vegas, NV)
Borgata Winter Open Champion - $625,006

Championship Event Final Table Payouts

Place-Name-Amount

1. Jeff Madsen $625,006
2. Sirous Jamshidi $367,794
3. Tom Marchese $190,027
4. Barkley Hamilton $165,508
5. Nick Kamen $140,988
6. Al Grimes $116,468
7. Dave Fox $91,949
8. Ross Mallor $67,429
9. Chan Pelton $49,039
10. Matt Matros $31,876

Madsen Wins!

Championship Event
Borgata Winter Open

Jeff Madsen
1st Place - $625,006

Jeff Madsen (Las Vegas, NV) goes virtually wire to wire to win the Borgata Winter Open Championship Event.

"It feels good," says Madsen after beating Sirous Jamshidi (Broomall, PA) heads up to take the title and the first place prize of $625,006. "It takes a while for it to set in, but in a few days I'll look back on it. It was a really good tournament."

Madsen, who finished Day 2 two with the chip lead, played Jamshidi heads up for more than an hour and a half, controlling the action. He turns virtually even stacks, into a huge advantage by winning small pot after small pot.

With only 10 big blinds left, Jamshidi, who entered the day as the chip leader, shoves his last 1.9 million into the pot with Q ♠ 2 ♠. After a brief count, Madsen calls with K ♥ 10 ♦.

The board is J ♦ 7 ♥ 6 ♣ K ♦ 5 ♣ and Madsen wins with a pair of kings.

"It feels good. I'm happy, but frustrated I couldn't get any cards," says Jamshidi, who takes home $367,794 for second place. "I had no hands, I didn't have a pocket pair the whole time we played (heads up). I had all low cards."

Madsen, who's only been playing professionally for four years, adds the Borgata Winter Open Championship to his impressive resume. Madsen's a two time WSOP bracelet winner, and the 24 year old now has more than $3 million in career tournament earnings.

"I've had success in the past," Madsen says, "but it feels good to get these big wins and to continue to prove myself in the poker world." And while he doesn't feel the need to validate his success, he says winning this championship will build his confidence and, "shows me all my hard work is paying off when it comes to working on my game."

Sirous Jamshidi
2nd Place - $367,794

2010 Borgata Winter Open Champions

Event 1 Brian Woods (Lutherville, MD) - $350 NL Deep Stack
Event 2 Robert Perry (Highland Beach, FL) - $500 NL
Event 3 John Binns (Ft. Myers, FL) - $350 PLO
Event 4 Daniel Mulhall (Little Neck, NY) - $700 NL
Event 5 Bart Fooden (Port Lookout, NY) - $350 HOSE
Event 6 Mike Beasley (Hollywood, FL) - $1,000 NL
Event 7 William Hine (Bricktown, NJ) - $350 Omaha H/L
Event 8 Anthony Brushi (Pompton Lakes, NJ) - $300 NL, re-entry
Event 9 Kim Findura (Bulter, NJ) - $260 Ladies NL
Event 10 Joseph Cutler (Bay Shore, NY) - $500 Deep Stack
Event 11 Ahmed Mohamed (Scotch Plains, NJ) - $300 Limit
Event 12 Taylor Shpur (Witherbee, NY) - $400 6-handed, re-entry
Event 13 Henry Olszewski (Staten Island, NY) - $350 NL, Seniors
Event 14 Alex Lindh (Goshen, NY) $170, 100k Guarantee, re-entry
Event 15 Chris Reslock (Atlantic City, NJ) - $350 PLO
Event 16 Freddie Najafabadi (Brigantine, NJ) - $2,000, Heads Up
Event 17 James Lee (Ellerose, NY) - $300 NL
Event 18 Daniel Garon (Sunny Isles Beach, FL) - $1,500 NL
Event 19 Allen Kessler (Las Vegas, NV) - $350 Omaha/Stud
Event 20 Jeff Madsen (Las Vegas, NV) - $3,300 NL Championship Event
Event 21 Michael McCarty (Highland Park, NJ)- $400 NL
Event 22 Steven Curtain (Indian Trail, NC) - $350 NL
Event 23 Steven Macchia (Wood-Ridge, NJ) - $300 NL
Event 24 Robert Perry (Highland Beach, FL)- $200 NL, re-entry

Pot After Pot

Another 35 minutes of heads up play has passed and Jeff Madsen continues to play small ball and dominate Sirous Jamshidi.

Madsen has nearly 20 million of the 23 million chips in play. Nearly every yellow, 100k chip in play is in Madsen's stack.

Not only is Madsen's dominating play, he's getting help from the deck. On a board of 3 ♣ 4 ♥ 5 ♥ 7 ♦ 7 ♣, Madsen leads out for 725k and Jamshidi calls.

Madsen 7 ♥ J ♥
Jamshidi 7 ♠ 9 ♣

Both players with trip 7s, but Madsen's better kicker takes the pot.

There's yet to be an all-in bet called in the last 90 minutes.

Still Grinding

After one hour of heads-up play Jeff Madsen's taken a 2-1 chip lead over Sirous Jamshidi.

Madsen has 15 million chips, to Jamshidi's 7 million.

Blinds are up: 100k/200k/20k (Level 33).

Marchese - 3rd Place

Heads Up Underway

Tom Marchese $190,027

On the first hand of three-handed play, Tom Marchese (Boonton, NJ) is eliminated when his pocket 9 ♠ 9 ♣ are beaten by Jeff Madsen's A ♠ Q ♥.

Marchese from the button raises to 375k
Madsen three bets from the SB and makes it 1.75 million
Marchese is all in for 4.6 million total
Madsen calls


Flop: 7 ♠ J ♣ Q ♣ (Madsen, pair of queens)
Turn: A ♣ (Madsen, two pairs)
River: 10 ♥.

Madsen's two pairs sends Marchese to the rail.

"I'm pretty happy with the results," he says, after cashing for $190,027. "Third place isn't a bad consolation prize."

After 5 long days of play Marchese's confident, even cocky about how he played. "For the entire tournament I destroyed the field," he says, adding, "I was always the best player at the table."

Jeff Madsen and Sirous Jamshidi begin play heads up even in chips.

Madsen (left) & Jamshidi Playing Heads Up

3 Handed

(l-r) Madsen, Jamshidi & Marchese

Chip Counts as three-handed play begins:

Sirous Jamshidi 11 million
Jeff Madsen 7 million
Tom Marchese 5 million

Barkley - 4th Place

Set Over Set

Barkley Hamilton ($165,508)

To put it simply, it's a big hand between Barkley Hamilton and Jeff Madsen.

Madsen (4♦ 4 ♥) from the cut off bets 375k
Barkley (3 ♣ 3 ♦) in the big blind raises to 900k

Flop: 9 ♦ 3 ♥ 5 ♣

Barkley check
Madsen check

Turn: 10♥

Barkley bets 900k
Madsen calls

River: 4 ♠

Barkley bets 1.3 million
Madsen raises all in for 800k more

Barkley calls and tables his flopped set of 3s, only to see Madsen's set on the river. The hand cripples Barkley and leaves him on life support.

"I played it perfectly," says Barkley after staggering from the table in disbelief. "I checked the flop and I'm crushing him until he hits a two outer on the river."

Barkley's eliminated from the tournament on the next hand when his Q ♠ J ♦ runs into the K ♥ K ♣ of Sirous Jamshidi.

"I'm extremly happy with how I played," says Barkley who takes home $165,508. "I played the best poker of my life."

Jamshidi, Madsen and Tom Marchese are playing three-handed. Jamshidi has nearly half the chips in play with 11 million chips. Madsen's next with 7 million, while Marchese has 5 million

35 Big Blinds

The 4 remaining players have an averge stack of 5,745,000. The blinds are 80k/160k/20k ante, putting the big blinds remaining at 35.

All the players say they love the structure and the fact that there's still able to play poker as the blinds continue to climb.

What They're Playing For

Buy-In: $3,300 + $200 NL
Entries: 766
Total Buy-In $2,527,800

1st: $625,006
2nd: $367,794
3rd: $190,027
4th: $165,508

Back From Break

Blinds are up to 80k/160k/20k ante (Level 32).

Seat-Name-Amount
(count in millions)

2. Jeff Madsen 7
4. Sirous Jamshidi 5.4
7. Tom Marchese 4.1
8. Barkley Hamilton 6.4

Jamshidi Bleeding a Bit

Sirous Jamshidi's been involved with a lot of pots, including two recent loses to Jeff Madsen.

On a board of Q ♦ 2 ♥ 7 ♣ K ♣ 8 ♦, Madsen, from the BB leads out for 725k. Jamshidi mulls it over and makes the call.

Madsen tables K ♥ 7 ♣ for two pairs, while Jamshidi mucks.

Jamishi who, at one time was close to 8 million chips, is down to 5.4 million.

Chip Counts

Seat-Name-Amount

(count in millions)

2. Jeff Madsen 7.1
4. Sirous Jamshidi 7.2
7. Tom Marchese 3.7
8. Barkley Hamilton 5.0

Level 31 (60k/120k/10k) continues with 15 min. left on the clock.

Madsen vs Marchese

Jeff Madsen

From the button Jeff Madsen raises 275k
Marchese reraises to 650k
Madsen calls

Flop: 7 ♦ 5 ♠ 4 ♣

Marchese leads out for 410k
Madsen shoves
Marchese folds

Kamen - 5th Place

Nick Kamen ($140,988)

Nick Kamen begins the day third in chips, but never really gets anything going to finish in 5th place of the Championship Event.

"I'm estatic," he says after earning $140,988. "But there was a lot of soft play today (Friday), so I'm also kind of disappointed with my result."

Kamen goes out when he's all in for 2.1 million with A ♠ 8 ♥, but runs into the K ♠ K ♣ Barkley Hamilton.

Hamilton, who dropped as low as 800k is around the chip average of 5.8 million.

Grimes - 6th Place

Al Grimes ($116,468)

The miracle comeback for Al Grimes (Miller Place, NY) is over and the man who crippled him earlier in the day, ends Grimes' tournament.

Grimes (SB) completes the betting and sees a flop with Jeff Madsen (BB) in a blinds vs blinds battle.


♥ ♦ ♠ ♣

Flop: 10 ♦ 5 ♣ 10 ♥
Grimes leads out for 300k
Madsen calls

Turn: Q ♥
Grimes checks
Madsen bets 750k
Grimes shoves and is all in for 1.5 million
Madsen calls.

Grimes: J ♥ 9 ♣ (open ended straight draw)
Madsen: 8 ♠ 10 ♣ (trip 10s)

River: 5 ♠

Madsen wins the hand with a full house 10s full of 5s.

Grimes is pleased with his play, but can only wonder what could've been after losing a 7 million chip pot to Madsen, when Madsen went runner-runner to flush Grimes K-K.

"I thought I had him," he says. "That's the worst beat I ever took. I win that, I win the tournament.

Grimes was as low as 300k after the big pot, worked it back to 2.5 million, but isn't able to recover from the bad beat.

6 Max - Chip Counts

Coming Down the Stretch

Seat-Name-Amount

(count in millions)

1. Al Grimes 2.3
2. Jeff Madsen 4.5
4. Sirous Jamshidi 7.3
6. Nick Kamen 3.0
7. Tom Marchese 3.7
8. Barkley Hamilton 2.5

Blinds are up: Level 31 (60k/120k/10k ante)

Fox - 7th Place

Dave Fox ($91,949)

Dave Fox (Coram, NY) is out in 7th place when he loses a three handed pot to Al Grimes.

Fox shoves 375k UTG.
Grimes re-shoves, making it 790k.
Sirious Jamshidi tanks, can't resist the opportunity to knock out two players, and calls.

Fox: A-7 off
Grimes: K-Q off
Jamshidi: K-3 ♠

The flop brings a king & Grimes leads Jamshidi with the better kicker. The river is a queen and Grimes two pairs gives him a triple-up. The hand sends Fox to the rail and lamenting his bad luck of running wired tens into Barkely Hamiton's pocket jacks.

"He shoved three straight times," says Fox who wins $91,949, "and something like 7 of the last 16 hands. I'm disappointed that I got hit with a cold deck."

Earlier in the tournament Fox was down to 20k on Day 2 and is pleased with his final table run.

"I have mixed feelings. If you had told me I'd be cashing for $90,000 when I had 20k coming back from dinner on Day 2, I definitely would've taken it. But once you get to a final table, you want to try and take it to the wire."

Grimes who was down to 250k, now has 2.1 million chips.

Huge, Huge Pot

Al Grimes opens for 1.1 million (11x) and Jeff Madsen comes over the top, all in, for nearly 3.3 million. Sirous Jamshidi briefly tanks and folds.

Grimes calls the bet and has Madsen covered.

Grimes: K ♣ K ♦
Madsen: A ♥ K ♥

Flop: 4 ♥ Q ♣ 9 ♦
Turn: 3 ♥
River: Q ♥

Runner, runner flush gives Madsen the hand and the chip lead, close to 7 million chips.

"That's a mistake on my part," says Madsen. "I should've thought it through more. You made such a big bet I didn't think you were that strong," he says to Grimes who's down to 600k.

"I saw it coming," says Grimes, who was trying to dodge the ace as the hearts sneaked up on him. "I knew he was suited."

Shove, Shove, Shove - Double Up

Barkley Hamilton announces to the tables that he's in shove mode as the short stack looks to make a move with 1 million chips.

On the first two hands back from break, Hamilton shoves, but doesn't get any takers. The third straight shove gets a call from Dave Fox.

Fox: 10 ♥ 10 ♦
Hamilton: J ♠ J ♦

The board run cleans and Hamilton's all-in bet is 1.355 million, the double up, plus the blinds and taking him to 2.9 million chips.

Fox is down to 600k.

Keep Climbing

Players are back from a 10 minute break. 7 players remain with an average stack of 3.3 million.

Level 30 (50k/100k/10k) is underway as the ante's have just doubled.

Chip Counts

Seat-Name-Amount

(Count in Millions)

1. Al Grimes 3.9
2. Jeff Madsen 3.7
4. Sirous Jamshidi 6.5
5. Dave Fox 1.8
6. Nick Kamen 3.7
7. Tom Marchese 1.8
8. Barkley Hamilton 1.2

Puffing Their Chests

Two of the big stacks collide, but neither is worse for the wear. Sirous Jamshidi raises to 220k UTG and Al Grimes comes over the top and makes it 850k.

Both players stand and posture with Jamshidi saying, "At this stage of the tournament, there's only two things I can do." After contemplating a shove or fold Jamshidi continues, "I can't believe I'm second best and that I have to lay this down."

Jamshidi folds and shows A ♥ K ♣.

"Don't show me one card," he says. "I know you have an ace."
Grimes shows only the A ♦ and rakes the pot. "Come on," says Grimes, "you've played with me long enough to know I'm not betting with nothing."

Level 29 (40k/80k/5k ante) winding down.

Barkley Hamilton only has 400k and is the short stack.

Mallor - 8th Place

Ross Mallor ($67,429)

The third final table short stack is out after Ross Mallor's 8th place finish. "I had something like an M of 6," says Mallor, who ships K Q for his final 770k. Al Grimes from the cutoff calls with A 10 and flops two pairs to win the hand.

"Just making it this far and making it to a final table is always fun," he says.

Mallor began the day the second shortest stack and picks up $67,429.

Pelton - 9th Place

Chan Pelton ($49,039)

Jeff Madsen opens for 200k and Chan Pelton (College Station, TX) looks for another double up with A ♣ 10 ♥ and is all in. Madsen makes the call and tables 8 ♠ 8 ♣.

The boards is clean and Pelton is out in 9th place of the Championship Event.

"Even after my first double, I was still really short," says Pelton who takes home $49,039. "It was a great tournament experience," adding that he's "extremely" disappointed that he didn't make a deeper run.

Madsen now has 4.3 million chips. The 8 remaining players are averaging 2.9 million chips, as Ross Mallor and Barkley Hamilton the short stacks.

Interesting Nugget

Call this a reunion of sorts as Dave Fox, Sirous Jamshidi, Barkley Hamilton and Ross Mallor are all at the final table, after playing at Table 15 together for most of Day 2.

"It has to be a statistical anomaly," says Fox, "the odds of the four best players in the world making it this far is astronomical."

Fox says the four players were all around the chip average of 60k to start Day 2. Not only did they survive to make the money, they're all at the final table vying for more than $625,000.

Pelton Doubles

Chan Pelton doubles his remaining 225k with A ♠ K ♥ vs. Nick Kamen K ♠ 10 ♣.
Just before that, Sirous Jamshidi raked a decent sized pot to extend his chip lead.

Blinds are up as Level 29 (40k/80k/5k ante) is underway. Levels at the final table have been increased 15 minutes to 90 minutes.

Pay Jump

Matt Matros' elimination means the nine remaining players increase their pay day by nearly $18,000. That's good news for the remaining short stacks like Can Pelton (College Station, TX), who has the lowest remaining stack at less than half a million chips.

Championship Event Payouts

Buy-In: $3,300 + $200 NL
Entries: 766
Total Buy-In: $2,527,800

1st: $625,006
2nd: $367,794
3rd: $190,027
4th: $165,508
5th: $140,988
6th: $116,468
7th: $91,949
8th: $67,429
9th: $49,039
10th-12th: $31,876
13th-15th: $23,294
16th-18th: $14,712
19th-27th: $11,034
28th-36th: $9,317
37th-45th: $7,846
46th-54th: $6,866
55th-63rd: $6,375
64th-72nd: $6,130

Matros - 10th Place

Matt Matros ($31,876)

Matt Matros (Brooklyn, NY) is out of the Championship Event in 10th place after losing a coin flip with 6 ♣ 6 ♠ to the A ♦ K ♥ of Nick Kamen.

Kamen flops an ace to win the hand. "It's always great to get this far in a tournament with this many people," says the poker pro with more than $1 million in career earnings.

"But, when you get to a final table you want to see just how far you can go," he adds. "With the blinds this big, there's only so much you can do, it's unfortunate that things didn't work out."

Kamen opens for 145k and Matros three bet shoves, which is an easy call for Kamen, who's now second in chips with nearly 4.5 million.

Cards Are In The Air

The final 10 players return with an average stack of 2.3 million chips. Play resumes with 45:48 on the clock at Level 28 (30k/60k/5k ante).

Shuffle Up & Deal!

Calm Before The Storm

Tom Marchese (left) and Nick Kamen

Players are starting to enter the tournament area of the poker room. Play starts in a few minutes.

Al Grimes Ready for Play

Event #24, 1st - Perry

Robert Perry (Highland Beach, FL), $15,190

Event #24, 2nd - Rasile

Frank Rasile (State Island, NY), $8,607

Event #24, 3rd - Toscano

Frank Toscano (Staten Island, NY) $4,734

Event #24 Final Results

1	ROBERT PERRY	HIGHLAND BEACH, FL	$15,190
2	FRANK RASILE	STATEN ISLANDD, NY	$8,607
3	FRANK TOSCANO	STATEN ISLAND, NY	$4,734
4	JEFFREY RUTTER	GAITHERSBURG, MD	$3,544
5	CUONG PHUNG	ATLANTIC CITY, NJ	$3,038
6	GIAMPAOLO DUVA	CHERRY HILL, NJ	$2,531
7	YOSEF IZHAK LIDER	WATERFORD, MI	$2,025
8	JAMES MILLER	CATONSVILLE, MD	$1,519
9	DANIEL CHAN	NEW YORK, NY	$1,013
10	MICHAEL DENTALE	BROOKLYN, NY	$658
11	JOHN MACCABE	YARDVILLE, NJ	$658
12	JAY HINDMAN	TRENTON, NJ	$658
13	KEVIN GUGLIOTTA	LAKE HOPATCONG, NJ	$557
14	JOSEPH AARONS	FEASTERVILLE, PA	$557
15	MICHAEL FOX	WEST CHESTER, PA	$557
16	ABRAHAM GORDON	LAKEWOOD, NJ	$456
17	NATHANIEL PARENTI	BROOKLYN, NY	$456
18	JOSEPH PITTI	E MEADOW, NY	$456
19	JUSTIN WILEY	LANCASTER, PA	$380
20	DENNIS CAPRIGLIONE	ATLANTIC CITY, NJ	$380
21	FRANK DIRE	COLUMBUS, NJ	$380
22	HOWARD CRASH	WESTON, CT	$380
23	JOHN EVENSEN	TOMS RIVER, NJ	$380
24	MICHAEL SICA JR	N BRUNSWICK, NJ	$380
25	VINCENT DEVITA	BAYVILLE, NJ	$380
26	PATRICIA BARSANTI-CHOU	METUCHEN, NJ	$380
27	DAVID HAMMOND	WASHINGTON, DC	$380