Borgata Early Results; WPT Back to Florida; Matusow Wins NBCHU

Kessler Among Borgata Preliminary Winners

The Borgata Winter Open is one of the largest live poker festivals at the beginning of each year and takes place in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The series began on January 15 and will culminate in the World Poker Tour Main Event beginning on January 27. That tournament will require a $3,500 buy-in and allow reentries, all while guaranteeing a $2 million prize pool.

The early events have produced some winners of note. Ting Ho won Event 11, a $400 NLHE 6-Max event, and Allen Kessler won the $560 HORSE tournament. Jeffrey Papola took down the $1,650 Mix-Max NLHE, and Brian Lemke claimed victory in Event 15, a $560 NLHE reentry.

WPT to Return to Jacksonville

The World Poker Tour announced its return to Jacksonville, Florida, for the WPT bestbet Open. Season 11 will head to the southeast US for a $3,500 Main Event, with one reentry allowed per day, from April 26 to 30, 2013. The tournament will also have a $500K guarantee.

Last November, the bestbet Jacksonville tour stop brought in 477 entries and a prize pool that exceeded $1.5 million, and Noah Schwartz won that title.

Mike Matusow Wins NBC Heads-Up Championship

The final day of the NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship took place on Saturday, January 26. The field of 64 was eventually reduced to four players. That round finished when Mike Matusow defeated Scott Seiver and Phil Hellmuth defeated Joseph Serock. Seiver and Serock each won $100K for their finishes.

Matusow and Hellmuth went to battle in a best-of-three finals round, and Matusow took the first one, Hellmuth took the next. The third match saw Matusow soar into the lead and end it with Matusow rivering a flush to beat the top pair of Hellmuth. The latter took home $300K for second place, and Mike Matusow won $750K and the trophy.