Event 13: Mike Holm - 1st Place

$350 + $50 Big Stack NLH

Mike Holm - 1st Place - $34,284

Mike Holm (Chicago, IL) is your Event #13 winner. Tonight experience and a little luck at the right time was the right combination for the sound victory. And Mike is no stranger to sound as he owns his own High End "Holm Audio" store back home in Chicago.

"Good to win and have fun at the same time" exclaimed Mike. He complimented Borgata dealers and said he really had a blast.

Mike spent three hours card dead before hitting a heater at the final table. The key hand that started the ball rolling was when he cracked James English's pocket aces after hitting a club flush.

Holm is a tournament poker veteran of 53 years. Everyone liked Mike at the table and he developed a somewhat tight image that paid off handsomely.

Mike wanted to say hi to all his friends and family reading the blog back in Chi-town - His wife Jill, son Steven, and daughters Katie & Ally. Wait wasn't that a TV series on NBC way back.

Apparently Ally's soon to have a spin-off series as Mike is gonna be a Grandpop in a few months.

I asked Mike what he's gonna do with his $34,284 and without hesitation he said he's gonna enter the WPT Borgata Poker Open Championship Event.

Not bad for his first trip to Borgata.

Event 13: Alek Givotovsky - 2nd Place

$350 + $50 Big Stack NLH

Alek Givotovsky - 2nd Place - $19,046

Event 13: James English - 3rd Place

$350 + $50 Big Stack NLH

James English - 3rd Place - $11,808

Event 13: Jim Welsh - 4th Place

$350 + $50 Big Stack NLH

Jim Welsh - 4th Place - $9,523

Event 13: John Campbell - 5th Place

$350 + $50 Big Stack NLH

John Campbell - 5th Place - $7,364

Event 13: Ari Buchman - 6th Place

$350 + $50 Big Stack NLH

Ari Buchman - 6th Place - $6,222

Event 13: Trevor Deeter - 7th Place

$350 + $50 Big Stack NLH

Trevor Deeter - 7th Place - $5,015

Event 13: Frank Gangemi - 8th Place

$350 + $50 Big Stack NLH

Frank Gangemi - 8th Place - $3,746

Event 13: Ryan Meyers - 9th Place

$350 + $50 Big Stack NLH

Ryan Meyers - 9th Place - $2,539

Event 13: Jim Morton - 10th Place

$350 + $50 Big Stack NLH

Jim Morton - 10th Place - $1,651

Event 13: Justin Nguyen - 11th Place

$350 + $50 Big Stack NLH

Justin Nguyen - 11th Place - $1,651

Justin Nguyen was card dead for three straight hours. About to be blinded out, looking for a hand, he looked at the first card, saw an ace, and shipped.

Small blind Ryan Meyers snaps off and shows A-Q. Justin's kicker was only a 3.

Both see a club heavy flop of A-10-9. Justin improves on the turn, hitting his three for two pair.

Except it's a club so now he has a sweat as Meyers is sitting on the Queen of clubs.

Sure enough a club falls and Nguyen is four flushed out of Event 13.

Justin admitted he's been playing 48 hours straight of poker. This is his second cash as he took 3rd in the $1000 NL event last week.

He also accused a couple players at his table for playing soft as he claims they kept checking their blinds down to each other, even with two pair. Nobody wanted to be the final table bubble but it popped on Justin's watch.

Congrats on your second 2011 Borgata Poker Open cash - this one for $1,651.

Now go get some sleep!

Event 13: Final Table Time

$350 + $50 Big Stack NLH

Brew some coffee!

Seat.......Player.......Chip Stack
1. Trevor Deeter - 390,000
2. Frank Gangemi - 600,000
3. Ryan Meyers 395,000
4. John Campbell - 450,000
5. Mike Holm - 630,000
6. Jim Welsh - 750,000
7. Ari Buchman - 645,000
8. Jim Morton - 730,000
9. James English - 400,000
10. Alek Givotovsky - 2,000,000

Underway at 4am.

James English took a hit against Mike Holm. Mike shoved all in with A♣ 7♣ .

After the jam, before English looked at his cards he said to himself, "I'm gonna have a big hand and get sucked out on". Sure enough he sees pocket aces and calls.

Mike was gathering his stuff until the miracle board of 5♣ 5x 3♣ 8♣ 8x hit.

"That's how they do it in Chicago" joked English who was left with only 400,000.
"I don't know how you call me with that" Holm replied.

Event 13: The Dirty Dozen

$350 + $50 Big Stack NLH

Table 1:
1. Frank Gangemi - 975,000
2. Ari Buchman - 660,000
3. James English - 800,000
4. John Campbell - 475,000
5. Jim Morton - 400,000
6. Trevor Deeter - 700,000

Table 2:
1. Alek Givotovsky - 1,800,000
2. Nathan Sipple - 233,000
3. Justin Nguyen - 553,000
4. Ryan Meyers - 302,000
5. Jim Welsh - 438,000
6. Mike Holm - 262,000

Everybody just returned from a fifteen minute break.

The red bulls are flowing as last call was announced.

Right before the break David Tran (Annandale, VA) busted in 13th place for $1,270.

Event 13: Checkmate for Chess Ricci - 14th Place

$350 + $50 Big Stack NLH

Chess Ricci & Wife/Masseuse Jody

Chess Ricci (Montreal, Canada) was short stacked and his A-8 ran into KK of Ari Buchman.

Look for Chess in the upcoming PLO tournament. Also look for his wife Jody to keep him loose and ready to play.

"If you have to lose, that's the way to go" said Chess who just received what looked to me like a professional massage from his wife Jody.

Chess takes home $1,270 for his 14th Place finish.