Bobby Oboodi Wins WPT Borgata Poker Open

Bobby Oboodi survived 138 hands of play at the final table to win the 2011 World Poker Tour Borgata Poker Open. Oboodi won $922,441 for first, including a $25,000 seat into the season ending WPT World Championship.

Oboodi entered the final table as the chip leader, but was nearly tied with Fred Goldberg for that lead. The first player to be eliminated was Ricky Hale, who lost when his AT offsuit lost to Oboodi’s AK of hearts. After Hale’s elimination, it would be over 50 hands before the next elimination, as Darren Elias’ JJ was no match for Oboodi’s KK.

Another long wait followed before Fred Goldberg was eliminated in fourth place. Soon thereafter, Daniel Buzgon was eliminated in third, bringing the competition down to heads up play.

Oboodi entered heads up play with a slight chip lead, holding just over 23 million in chips to just over 17 million for Jin Hwang. While Oboodi held the chip lead for the majority of the final table, Hwang’s run to second was surprising, considering he had entered the final table as the short stack.

Heads up play lasted just 18 hands. The final hand began with Oboodi having slightly expanded his lead, holding about 24.6 million compared to Hwang’s 15.75 million. With the blinds at 250k/500k, Oboodi limped in before Hwang raised preflop to 1.25 million. Oboodi called, and the flop came 7-6-6 with two spades. After both players checked through, the turn came the jack of spades. Hwang checked, and Oboodi put out a bet of 1.6 million. Hwang then moved all-in on a check-raise, which Oboodi quickly called. Hwang showed KJ for two pair, but was well behind Oboodi’s Q2 of spades, which was good for a flush. Hwang needed a jack or a six to make a full house, but a 3 on the river did not improve his hand, making Oboodi the winner.

The victory marks Oboodi’s first win in a major tournament, though he does have several cashes over the last two years. High profile cashes include three cashes in WSOP events (including a 522^nd place finish in this year’s Main Event) as well as cashes on the European Poker Tour and the North American Poker Tour. However, the WPT win is by far his largest cash; his total live tournament winnings are now approximately $1 million.

The complete final table results were as follows:

1^st: Bobby Oboodi $922,441

2^nd: Jin Hwang $554,303

3^rd: Daniel Buzgon $335,433

4^th: Fred Goldberg $280,925

5^th: Darren Elias $230,610

6^th: Ricky Hale $186,585