Borgata Crowns 2008 Poker Open Champion

Twenty-two year old wins $1,424,000.00 in record-breaking tournament

ATLANTIC CITY, NJ - Borgata’s record breaking 2008 Borgata Poker Open, which offered a $5 million prize pool, the largest ever guaranteed by a casino in history, concluded late Thursday night with twenty-two year-old Vivek Rajkumar walking away with the $1,424,000.00 first-place prize and the Poker Open title.

The day’s play began quickly as it took only six hands before the first elimination, Andrew Knee, hit the rail when his Ace/Four failed to pair the board. Knee earned $237,500 for finishing sixth.

The next player to see his title hopes dashed was Mark Seif. Always a threat to go deep in a big tournament, Seif ran into some bad luck when he had his pocket Aces cracked by Vivek “Psyduck” Rajkumar’s set of tens. Seif collected $287,500 for his tournament play.

In keeping with the day’s theme of rapid bust-outs, it took only nine more hands before the day’s next elimination. This time it was Jason Strochak who fell victim to lady luck after losing a crucial hand to Sang Kim’s pocket Kings. Strochak took home $337,500.

With only three final players at the table, the action continued rapidly as World Series of Poker bracelet-owner Dan Heimiller made a run at the top spot. Unfortunately for Heimiller, he was unable to overcome a short stack and was eliminated in third place. He earned $387,500 for his five days of tournament play.

Once play reached heads up, it wasn’t long before the online whiz kid Rajkumar took down Virginia’s Sang Kim. “Psyduck” made quick work of Kim and took down the title in six hands of heads up play. Kim collected $750,000 for his second-place finish, while the Seattle, Washington native, Rajkumar banked the $1,424,000 first-place prize.