Bin Weng Wins Borgata Return Championship for $1 Million

The first seven-figure poker tournament payday of 2023 has been awarded. Bin Weng defeated a field of 1,142 entrants The return championship $5,300 buy-in no-limit hold’em event on January 8 at the Borgata in Atlantic City, NJ. The Philadelphia resident earned a $1,000,000 payday for the win.

With this win under his belt, Weng now has more than $2.9 million in recorded tournament points. This title run also saw Weng awarded 1,920 Card player Player of the Year Points. As a result, he took an early lead in 2023 POY extension race, which is sponsored by Global Poker.

This event featured two initial flights and three more days of action. The first outbound flight saw 562 entries, with another 580 entries on day 1B. Solid turnout saw the guaranteed $3 million easily surpassed, with $5,538,700 in prize money ultimately paid out among the top 110 finishers.

Big names that went deep included World Series of Poker bracelet winner Joey Weissman (85th), bracelet winner Mike Jukich (52nd), bracelet winner Jesse Lonis (48th), bracelet winner and recent WPT World Championship finalist Frank Funaro (46th), three-time bracelet winner Dan Zack (44th) and Mukul Pahuja (14th).

The final day started with eight players left and 2015 WSOP main event champion Joe McKeehen in the lead and Weng in the middle of the pack. An early preflop coin flip saw Weng’s AQ top recent pocket eights The return mystery bounty event winner Sam Laskowitz (8th – $144,006). Weng found himself in a similar situation soon after, with AQ dueling Christopher Ng’s pair of hacks (7th – $193,855). Weng flopped an ace and held from there to narrow it down to six.

McKeehen added some distance between himself and Weng when his pocket jacks held against Lanny Vaysman’s pocket tens. McKeehen ended up with a jack full that eliminated Vaysman in sixth place ($246,472).

Two-time bracelet winner Justin Saliba’s run in this event ended in fifth place when he hit AQ against McKeehen’s pocket aces. Saliba earned $304,629, the second-highest mark of his career. He now has more than $2.5 million in recorded earnings.

Weng boosted his stack significantly when he flopped two pair with 6-4 offsuits to face pocket kings for Jonathan Borenstein. The chips came on the flop and Borenstein couldn’t improve, earning $368,324 in fourth place.

A major preflop coin flip drastically altered the standings as the three-handed action began. Weng raised from the button and then four-bet jam into McKeehen’s small blind three-bet with Acesk. McKeehen called with Jj. The board is out of AA974 and Weng made trips to win the pot and take a commanding lead.

McKeehen’s stack took another when his pocket kings were busted by Sundiata Devore’s pocket jacks. He was soon all-in and at risk with AJ leading Devore’s A-5, but a river five sent the three-time bracelet winner home with $440,327 for his third-place finish.

With that, heads-up play began with Weng leading and Devore not far behind. During a break the bottom two struck a deal that redistributed the remaining prize money, with the runner-up securing $926,128 and $1,000,000 going to the champion.

The final hand saw Weng raise from the button and call when Devore raised all-in. Weng held Akwhich had the A for DevoreQ dominated. The board went down K74A3 to lock up the pot and the title for Weng. Devore earned the payout he traded for as the runner-up, which was by far the biggest payday ever on his tournament resume.

Here’s a look at payments and POY extension points awarded at the final table:

Winner photo credit: Pokernews / Rachel Kay Miller.