It only took 16 months and a world-wide pandemic, but the 2020 WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open finally has a champion. The $3,200 buy-in event started in January 2020 with 1,290 runners. They played down to a final table with Veerab Zakarian bagging the lead. They thought they were going to wait a couple of months and play the final table out in Las Vegas but the pandemic hit and delayed the final table until May 2021. WPT Player of the Year Brian Altman finished in third place and missed out on winning a third WPT title. Zakarian edged out James Anderson to win the title and $674,840.

We finally having a champion! The final table was originally set for April Fools Day, or two months after the final table finally played down to a champion. The PokerGo Studio at the Aria hosted the WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open final table that was streamed live on Twitch and YouTube as they slugged it out for the WPT title, $674K in cash, and a freeroll into the season-ending Tournament of Champions.
The 2020 WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open started in January 2020 and the $3,500 buy-in Main Event attracted 1,290 runners. They generated a prize pool wort over $4.1 million. Only the top 162 places paid out with most of the heady cheesecake set aside to the champion.
The final six for the 2020 WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open included Veerab Zakarian, James Anderson, Brian Altman, Bin Weng, Andrew Hanna, and Nathan Russler. Veerab Zakarian bagged the lead nearly 16 months ago with 12M. Russler was the shorty heading into the final table with a shade under 4M.
On Hand #24, shortstacked Andre Hanna made a final stand with pocket deuces against Veerab Zakarian's . The pocket tens held up for Zakarian and Hanna headed to the rail as the first player to bust. Hanna banked $143K for his run. Zaka chipped up to 18.3M and padded his lead with five to go.
Bin Weng didn't last long, only ten more hands, before he headed to the rail when pocket nines were ambushed by James Anderson and his pocket cowboys. Anderson flipped a set and turned a full boat and beat out Weng's smaller boat. Weng earned nearly $1878K for fifth place. With four remaining, Anderson and Zakarian were neck-and-heck with the lead. Nathan Russler was the shorty with 4.5M. Brian Altman was third overall with 8.8M.
On Hand #48, Nathan Russler made a final stand with but ran into Zakarian's pocket Queens. Russler flopped a pair of Kings, but Zakarian flopped a set of Queens. The Queens held up and Russler hit the bricks in fourth place, which paid out nearly a quarter million bucks. With three to go, Zakarian led with 23.1M, with Anderson in second with 20.6M, and Altman bringing up the rear with 7.7M.
Ten hands later, Altman and Zakarian tussled. Altman's two pair with lost against Zakarian's four-deuce after Zakarian turned a Wheel. Altman busted in third place which paid out $333K and he missed out on winning his third WPT title.
With two to go, Zakarian led with 28.3M versus Anderson's 23.1M. The two slugged it out for 81 hands, which is long considering it took 58 hands to trim to field from six to two. Zakarian finally put away Anderson late in the evening when a shortstacked Anderson made a final hand with Jack-four offsuit against Zakarian's . And yes, the ten-five held up after Zakarain flopped an open-ended straight draw and then filled in the straight on the turn. Anderson hit the rail in second place, while Zakarian won the delayed final table and the 2020 WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open title.
Anderson earned $449,904 for a runner-up finish. Not too shabby, eh?
Zakarian banked $674,840 for the victory. He also wins a freeroll into the season-ending Tournament of Champions, which is valued at $30K.
2020 WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open
Buy-in: $3,500
Entrants: 1,290
Prize Pool: $4,129,290
Payouts: 162
Final Table Results:
1. Veerab Zakarian $674,840
2. James Anderson $449,904
3. Brian Altman $333,012
4. Nathan Russler $248,913
5. Bin Weng $187,900
6. Andrew Hanna $143,264