Philadelphia poker pro Aaron Mermelstein (27) took home the winner’s prize of $712,305 and his first WPT title this weekend after besting an entry field of 989 players in the 2015 World Poker Tour Borgata Winter Poker Open.
The large field ponied up $3,500 apiece in buy-ins, taking the prize pool well over the guaranteed $3 million for the Texas Hold’Em main event.
Starting strongly on the final table of six with the second largest chip count, Mermelstein played well and with discipline to survive to a heads up confrontation with Eugene Todd holding an almost 3 to 1 chip advantage.
That ensured a relatively short heads up of just short of thirty hands that culminated in Mermelstein’s victory and Todd’s departure with a second placing check for $419,467.
Other final table pay-outs were:
3 Randy Pfeifer $253,263
4 Shawn Cunix $212,108
5 Esther Taylor-Brady $174,118
6 Justin Liberto $140,878