Tournament Details

The World Poker Tour got a double dose in Atlantic City's this season with the inaugural Borgata Poker Classic. Following in the footsteps of its slightly bigger brother, the Borgata World Poker Open, this aptly named tourney indeed looks to be an instant classic in its own right. Drawing a strong field of 381 players, each looking to carve out the big hunk of a $3,700,000 prize pool. The final table featured three of tournament poker's best and brightest, facing off with three lesser-known, but just as dangerous, rivals. Here was the lay of the land at the start of final table play.

In Seat 1, tough New York journeyman pro Amnon "Guts" Filippi, the short stack with $820,000 in chips. In Seat 2, young Florida pro and WPT newcomer, Stuart Paterson, in 5th chip position with $1,060,000. In Seat 3, former Player of the Year and two-time WPT winner Erick "E Dog" Lindgren, the chip leader with $2,635,000. In Seat 4, Michael "the Grinder" Mizrachi, the only two-time back-to-back finalist in WPT history, in 2nd with $2,040,000. In Seat 5, hot young gun and three-time WPT finalist, John "Dags" D'Agostino, in 4th position with $1,340,000. In Seat 6, vacationing New Jersey business executive and satellite qualifier, Josh Spiegelman, in 3rd with $1,635,000

The Grinder started exactly where he left off in the last tourney, playing just about every two cards he was dealt, and winning with many of them. Lindgren started without many cards, and attempted to use his power stacks to push around players with smaller stacks.. Early on, he found surprising resistance from Spiegelman, but did manage to put a dent in the Grinder after flopping top pair with K-J offsuit. In the first critical hand, the Grinder tried to make a move after limping with 4h-2h under the gun, calling D'Agostino's $100,000 pre-flop raise. When the flop came As-Qh-7h, giving him the heart flush draw, Grinder sprung his bluff-trap by check-raising, coming over the top of D'Agostino's $200,000 bet, pushing all-in. But Dags was holding pocket kings, and with so much invested in the hand, even with an ace on board, he called him down. Dags was able to dodge hearts on the turn and river, and put a big crimp into Mizrachi's stack.

This didn't slow down the Grinder, though. Waking up with As-Kd on the very next hand, he brought it in for $150,000. Used to seeing Mizrachi raise with all sorts of junk, Stuart Paterson, on the short stack, found Ad-Th, and pushed all-in over the top for $530,000. The Grinder made a quick call, happy to find himself a 3-1 favorite. The flop came a cooperative K-7-6, all spades, giving him top pair and the nut flush draw, and Paterson found no miracle when the turn and river came 5d, Kc. In short order, the amiable Floridian, Paterson, was out in 6th place, taking home $110,871.

With a fresh pile of raisin' chips, the Grinder showed the difference between the pros and the other guys, pushing Spiegelman off A-K with a nice bluff into a Q-high flop. Lindgren, on the other hand, seemed to be out of sync. He paid off Spiegelman with a loose early hand, and later missed a golden opportunity when he flopped trips with pocket 4's. D'Agostino, with pocket T's, had an overpair to the junky board of 7h-5c-4h, and when Lindgren checked, he raised $350,000. Lindgren check-raised him all-in, hoping to convince Dags that he was on a heart draw, however the massive overbet scared him out, and Lindgren was displeased with himself for not playing the hand more straightforwardly.

D'Agostino was steaming a bit after losing two consecutive hands to Lindgren. With the antes and blinds up to $10,000, $40,000, and $80,000, Dags found Js-8s, and impulsively pushed all-in for his last $895,000. Spiegelman, now the short stack with just $670,000, called from the blind with Kd-Qc. The flop saved Dags when it came Qs-Jd-8h, giving him two pair. The turn and river came, 5s, Td, provided no help for Spiegelman. Dags found himself the latest beneficiary of one of poker's three-letter acronyms – BPR – for "Bad Play Rewarded" – and consequently, Spiegelman found himself on the rail, in 5th place, with $147,828.

D'Agostino, ever the pro, instantly made hay while the sun shined, quickly doubling up on Mizrachi when his pocket Q's held up against the Grinder's pocket 9's. Dags was now just shy of the chip lead, still held fast by Lindgren. Then came the pivotal hand of the whole tournament. Lindgren, with As-Qc, made it $300,000 to go, and Grinder, with yet another pocket pair, this time 4's, pushed all-in over the top, for another $1,460,000. With more than twice the Grinder's chips, and with a chance to knock out his chief rival, Lindgren quickly called, accurately assessing that he was just a small underdog to the small pair. He was immediately rewarded with a Qh in the window, followed by 5h-2c, suddenly making his top pair a dominating 9-1 favorite. After the board paired 5's, Mizrachi was on fumes, dead to the remaining two 4's in the deck. Stunning everyone, the 4h hit on the river, keeping the Grinder alive in one of the sickest suck-outs of this season on the WPT.

Before the buzz died down, Dags woke up with As-Ks, and brought it in for $500,000. Filippi, quiet for most of the day, decided that now was the time to make a stand with Ac-Td, and quickly pushed over the top all-in for $880,000. Dags called even faster, and Filippi's hopes were all but snuffed when the flop came Kd-8d-3h. With a 9h on the turn, the young New Yorker's tourney was over, the Ah on the river was perfunctory. Filippi went out a respectable 4th place, with a payout of $184,785.

Now play was down to the three hottest young-guns in the game, with 11 WPT final tables and 3 titles among them. They wasted no time pummeling each other with every trick in their collective bags. Dags doubled up when his big-blind junky 3-2 offsuit caught lucky with two treys on the flop. When the Grinder attempted an $80,000 steal, D'Agostino countered with a $300,000 re-raise, making it look like a re-steal instead of a suspicious call. Grinder came back over the top for another $300,000, and this time Dags just called smooth, hoping for more on the turn. But after a 4d hit and Dags pushed out $500,000, Mizrachi came to his senses and folded. In the blink of an eye, D'Agostino had taken the chip lead.

All three players hiked up the aggression level in the short-handed game. Lindgren, As-2h, raised to $300,000 from the small blind, and Mizrachi, with Ks-3s, called from the big. After the flop came Js-5h-4s, Lindgren decided to see if he could get a free card to his inside straight draw, and checked. Mizrachi checked behind him, looking for his flush card. The Grinder was the one rewarded, yet again, when he made his flush with Qs on the turn. Lindgren picked the wrong time to explore, putting out a $320,000 feeler bet. Mizachi countered with a call-me-please $500,000 re-raise, and Lindgren made a big mistake by reading it for weakness. He pushed all-in for $2,495,000, based on his nut flush draw, and Grinder quickly called. This time the dominating favorite held up, and 8c on the river left Lindgren crippled, with barely enough to make the next big blind.

With the antes and blinds now up to $15,000, $60,000, and $120,000, Lindgren pushed in his remaining $150,000 blind. Mizrachi found another hand, 6c-6d, and called, as did D'Agostino, with Kc-6h, hoping to tag-team the two-time WPT champ. The flop came A-K-7 rainbow, and Dags indicated his strength with a $75,000 bet. Grinder folded, and Lindgren flipped up Jd-8d. A brief flicker of hope came in the guise of a fourth diamond on the turn, the 3, but it was quickly ended with Ts on the river. A disappointed Lindgren, one of the toughest competitors on the tour, had to make the hard walk to the rail, going out in 3rd place with $282,721 to console him.

Now down to two, the customary WPT money presentation featured a new twist – the unveiling of a brand new Cadillac Escalade, tossed in as an additional prize for the winner. As if they needed more incentive, but hey, who couldn't use a new set of wheels? The Grinder, with just a small $4,960,000 to $4,565,000 lead, quickly reminded everyone how he got the nickname. He pushed chips on every hand, and, granted, he did hit some flops, and he quickly found himself with a bit of an operating edge, up $6,405,000 to $3,120,000. Then he got out the fine grit paper, and with the help of consecutive flops on which he flopped middle pair and top pair, he really started to fine tune Johnny Dags.

After the young Jersey pro finally pushed back and took down a pot, the Grinder simply continued his campaign, calling from the button with Jh-6c. D'Agostino finally caught a decent hand for heads-up, Ks-Td. But, tired of feeling like Mizrachi was getting away with murder, he decided to conceal his strength by simply checking in the blind. The flop came J-9-6 yardsale, once again hitting Mizrachi, hard, with top and bottom pair, and giving Dags the inside straight draw. D'Agostino checked, and true-to-form, Mizrachi put out a bet, a smallish, stealy looking $120,000. Dags called on his gutshot draw, and the turn came 2s, helping neither. He checked once more, but this time when Mizrachi put out another weak-looking $425,000 bet, D'Agostino picked the wrong time to test the Grinder. He pushed all-in, and knew instantly that he was in deep trouble. The Grinder couldn't have called any faster. When he slapped his cards on the felt, Dags saw the bad news. He needed a queen and only a queen to fill up his straight, and stay alive. But this was definitely Mizrachi's day, and nobody else was going to hit a 9-1 shot to beat him. The river brought a Th was and that was the final card of a tremendous new tournament, sending John D'Agostino out in 2nd place with a fat payday of $591,312, and giving Michael "the Grinder" Mizrachi his 2nd WPT title and a bounty of $1,173,000 to go with it.