Event 16 Recap

Eric “POOLS” Siegel has just won Event 16. He outlasted 316 entries all vying for a piece of the $94,800 Total Buy-In.

Eric started the day at 12 noon with 12,000 chips and ended the tournament at 3:15 am with all the chips. Hey kids out there, "if at first you don't succeed, try, try, again". Eric busted out of the 1K on a bad beat. Instead of hanging his head, he jumped over to buy-in, and ultimately win this event.

Anyone who regularly plays Borgata Poker knows Eric and respects his game. Surprisingly, in all the years Eric has played professionally at Borgata (since its inception) he’s accumulated many, many cashes, but failed to capture the #1 spot - until now. Finally Eric is taking home the hardware – along with $24,828. "It feel great to finally get the gold" exclaimed Eric fresh of the victory.

You may know that Eric is the marketing guru behind PPI – Poker Players International and has integrated PPI into Borgata Poker, producing several successful joint promotions.

Early on in this tournament Eric was on the ropes until his cowboys cracked pocket aces. His stellar start allowed him to pretty much set the cruise control until the final table where he was somewhat short stacked and had to shift gears. Through good hands and great reads, Eric dominated the final table, knocking out several players and finishing off Saad Ghanem heads up.

The tough field of players and regulars trying to make the top 27 cash spots included: 2002 WSOP Main Event winner Robert Varkonyi, 2005 WSOP Main Event runner-up Steve Dannenmann, Joshua Cranfill, Ed Abendschein, Mike Kalfa, Matt “Muffins” Mazzeo, and Joanne Monteavaro.

Many players, including Angelo Modica re-entered while Gil Sacks and Frank Gangemi both opted to play this event instead of the $1,000 NL event.

At the dinner break the big stacks were Matt Mazzeo (135,000), Matt Turner (115,000) and Steve Fiorentini (110,000)

After dinner, Chris Costa (Honolulu, Hawaii) took down a 350,000 pot along with the chiplead but failed to make the final table. The lucky ten included: Eric Siegel (Melville, NY), Ryan McCarney (Jefferson, NJ), Joe Lee (Cresskill, NJ), Truong Hung (Freehold, NJ), Allen Chou (Metuchen, NJ), Chris Costa (Honolulu, HI), Eric Beringer (Bryn Mawr, PA), May Sui (New York, NY), Eric Miller (Long Island, NY), and Saad Ghanem (Rosedale, MD)

Notice there are three Eric's at the final table - E-Beringer, E-Miller & E-Siegel.

Third place of $8,552 went to Eric Miller (Long Island, NY).

Second place in the amount of $13,793 was awarded to Saad Ghanem (Rosedale, MD).

But once again, the "Last Eric Standing" and our big winner of the $24,828 1^st place prize went to Eric “POOLS” Siegel who busted out of the 1K early, only to enter Event 16 and take her down.

After coming so close to winning a major, so many times, tonight Eric made PPI, Borgata, and all his friends, fans and family extremely proud.

Well done our Borgata Brother!