Event 8 Recap

$350 + $50 Deep Stack NLH (Re-Entry)

After two days of poker and two and-a-half hours of heads up play Joey Liberta (Berlin, NJ) beat Mitchell Mantin (Las Vegas, NV) to win the title and the $49,029 first place prize. Mantin uses a set of 2s on the final hand for his first live tournament win of his career.

"It feels great, especially after a lot of deep runs," says the 22 year-old pro, who has a 2nd (Summer Open) and a 5th (Spring Open) earlier this year. "So I'm stoked to finally get a win."

Liberta says he grinded during Day 1, which saw 53 of the 580 players make it through to Day 2, and got hot the rest of the way.

Mantin's second place finish ($27,565) is his second cash of the Borgata Poker Open and he now has more than $57,000. "It's my second cash of the week," says the real estate investor. "I'm looking forward to the next event and jump in to play another."

Manh Nguyen (Munhall, PA) also picked up his second cash of the series, but the Event 4 winner ($49,000) was derailed in 10th place when confusion led to the river card going back in the deck. When 5th street was run again, his straight draw bricked the second time after connecting the first time through.

The field featured a lot of Borgata regulars including WSOP bracelet holder Mike "Little Man" Sica, Ryan Eriquezzo, Gordon Eng and James Boyle with Sica the only one to cash. The total buy-in of $203,000 was finally tapped into on the last hand of Day 1 when the bubble broke and sent 54 players into the money.

Mike Hahn (Indianapolis, IN) was the chip leader heading into Day 2 and maintained his stack until he was the first elimination at the final table finishing 9th for $3,938.

The stacks were deep enough at the final table for play to last 7 hours, including the marathon heads up session. In the end Borgata regular Liberta, who had his mother on the rail, took home the trophy.

"I'm really happy to get a win. It's awesome, especially in an Open Event.