Bin Weng Wins Borgata The Return Main Event for $1 million

Joe McKeehen as overhauled in dramatic fashion late on Sunday as Bin Weng won the $5,300-entry The Return at the Borgata for a career-high live tournament score of $1 million. With challenges from others such as the Mystery Bounty winner Sam Laskowitz also seen off, Weng managed to seal the deal and win a seven-figure score in the process.

Weng Gets Off to a Great Start

Busting the first player of the eight to lose his stack, Bin Weng started as he meant to go on as he sent Sam Laskowitz home. Laskowitz was all-in with pocket eights but was unable to hold as Weng’s ace-queen hit in unlikely fashion, a pair of both tens and jacks coming on the board to make Weng’s ace-kicker count and send Laskowitz to the rail with $144,006.

Out in seventh was Christopher Ng, who, after a dramatic Day 1a and Day 1b of this event , particularly for Joe McKeehen, who led going into the final day, busted to Weng as the chip leader McKeehen started to feel some breath on his neck. Ng’s pocket jacks looked good pre-flop but once again, Weng’s two overcards won through as his ace-queen flopped an ace to skittle Ng’s chances and reduce the field to seven, Ng busting for $193,855.

If McKeehen was worried about Weng winning every all-in, he needn’t have been. McKeehen scored the next knockout, his own pocket jacks good enough when all-in behind more chips than Lanny Vaysman’s stack when he held pocket tens. Vaysman couldn’t hit and the game was up in sixth place for $246,472.

Saliba Falls Short of Trophy Glory

With five players remaining, Justin Saliba fell short of winning his first live trophy of a glittering career. Al-in with ace-queen, he rain into an absolute monster as Joe McKeehen had the simple task of calling with pocket aces and surviving the board, which he did to skittle Saliba’s chances of ending his wait for a trophy picture, the American leaving with $304,629 in fifth place.

The next player to leave was Jonathan Borenstein, who cashed for $368,324 as he finished in fourth place. Borenstein’s tournament came to an end when he got his remaining chips into the middle with pocket kings on a flop of 8-6-4. They were no good against the six-four of Bin Weng, whose two pair were more than able to hold as they helped the eventual winner go into three-handed play with both chips and momentum.

After another big confrontation saw Weng take full command of the table. Weng won a big coinflip for the third time when holding overcards, as his ace-king was enough to beat McKeehen’s pocket jacks. Two aces on the flop were fine for Weng as he scored a full double-up, piling up 27.4 million chips. At that stage, McKeehen had just 9.75 million, with Sundiata DeVore holding 2,850,000 chips.

DeVore Denied Victory

Three-handed, it was the overnight chip leader McKeehen who left first. Cashing for $440,327 in third, the former WSOP Main Event winner got his final chips in good, as his ace-jack led DeVore’s ace-five. That didn’t remain the case through the board, however, as it came Q-4-2-T-5 to hand the winning hand to DeVore and eliminate McKeehen.

Heads-up, DeVore’s busting of McKeehen helped him amount a stack of 18.4 million chips. That was still behind Weng’s 21.3 million, but DeVore, after an initial drift, won some back. He was back in contention when disaster struck. All-in with ace-queen, DeVore was dismayed to see Weng call with ace-king, and that held with ease through the board, as a king arrived on the flop, sending DeVore home with $926,128 after the two players agreed a deal before the final duel reached its conclusion.

After the event, Weng told PokerNews: “I used to play here [The Borgata] a lot. Cash games, tournaments, casino games, I lost a lot of money here! Borgata is [mine] and my wife’s favorite. She will occasionally travel with me for poker, but this stop is her favorite. I [play] for the trophy, I play for the win. If you watch the stream, you will see that I take a lot of risks on high-variance lines because I just want to win.”

That he did after an exciting play down to the winner and Weng’s win was worth a cool million dollars, the best score of his live career, beating just $200,000 before Sunday evening.