Event 14 Recap

$500 + $60 No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry) 

At a final table that featured many wild swings, it was a heads up grind that gave Arnuflo Vidal (New York, NY) the title over John Kostelac (Enola, PA). It took Vidal more than two hours to overcome a 2.5 to 1 chip deficit two-handed.

"It's fantastic," said Vidal who earned the trophy and the $28,225 first place prize. "I told my friends that I was going to hit a big one. This is the beginning," he said after his first career live tournament cash.

The pivotal hand came when Vidal held pocket 10s and hit a set against Kostelac's AQ in a double-up that gave him most of the chips.

"I got married to Ace-Queen," said Kostelac who earned $15,525 as runner-up. "I had to go with it. Heads up that's a pretty strong hand."

Adding insult to injury is that Kostelac was eliminated by A♠ Q♥ after being left with 2 bb, but was fortunate to still be playing.

Kostelac was nearly on the rail when play was three-handed, but after being dominated by Mike Comar preflop A 10 to AK, he was given new life when a straight on the board chopped the pot.

Comar didn't recover and would up in third place.

Fourteen players returned for Day 2 with Arnuflo the chip leader, but relinquished the lead at the final table to Jin Ro who wound up in 4th place.  The lead changed hands many times as nobody could pull away. 

194 players put a total buy-in of $97,000 as 18 players grabbed a piece of the prize pool.

Familiar names in the money included Event 4 runner-up Dr. Raul Munoz (12th), Borgata regular Robert Melo (15th) and 2011 Borgata Summer Poker Open Champion Tyng Low (17th).
 
Vidal was thrilled to win on Father's Day and will make a quick trip home to see his three daughters before returning to play in Day 1B of the Championship event.

"I have business to take care if I'm going to be here for four days," he said while clutching the Borgata trophy.

Final Table Results
Place-Name-Amount

1st Arnuflo Vidal (New York, NY) $28,225
2nd John Kostelac (Enola, PA) $15,525
3rd Mike Comar (Manalapan, NJ) $8,939
4th Jin Ro (Sewell, NJ) $7,527
5th Edgar Lemus-Argueta (Ortley Beach, NJ) $5,645
6th Brad Yazici (Essex, MD) $4,705
7th Adrian Corona (Floral Park, NY) $3,764
8th DJ Whorley (Washington, DC) $2,823
9th Paolo Nigris (Tenafly, NJ) $2,117
10th Joshua Palmer (Hamptonville, NC) $1,882

FINAL RESULTS