Event 18 Recap

$1850 + $150

The second largest prize pool of the Borgata Winter Open was won by Daniel Cai (Brooklyn, NY) who took home $113,556 for first prize.

Daniel outlasted 225 other players who were chasing the $418,100 total buy-in.

The two day tournament featured a lot of recognizable names who were starting to gear up for

Sunday's Championship Event. The field featured Dwyte Pilgrim, 2010 Borgata Poker Open 2010 Main Event Winner, Josh Brikis, Dave Fox and Mike Leah, but none of them made it to Day 2.

The most accomplished Borgata player at the final table was Dennis Summers (Charlottesville,VA) who began the day with a below average stack and was joined by end of Day 1 chip leader Jacob Schindler (Bryn Mawr, PA), but they were at opposite ends of the spectrum of the deck.

Schindler had his pocket aces cracked by Edward Pham (Lansdale, PA) who held pocket kings and wound up with quads, as Schindler finished a disappointing 10th ($5,272).

On the flip side, the cold deck heated up for Summers who held A 5 twice at the final table while all-in and behind, and both times sucked out to stay alive. Summers, who finished 2nd to Brikis in the 2010 Borgata Poker Open $1,500 event, used his luck for a third place finish $38,528.

Pham used the quad kings to take the chip lead and managed his stack into 2nd place $66,917 after a long heads-up battle that ended after 4am.

Rounding out the top 5 were Mark Tyson (Philadelphia, PA) - 4th/$31,228, and Derek Buonano (Tolland, CT) - 5th/$24,333.

Once again, our big winner was Daniel Cai who thanked all his friends for rooting him from the rail and wanted to take home the trophy for Brooklyn.

His winning hand started with Q-8 and improved into a full-house on a board of 9-Q-Q-9-2.

Daniel will enjoy $113,556 after taking down what some say is the toughest field of the most skilled Borgata poker players.