It’s clear that live poker is alive and thriving at the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in Atlantic City. The 2024 Borgata Spring Poker Open (BSPO) kicked off about one week ago, and players are lining up to register and participate. They’re smashing the guarantees and stereotypes, live streaming some riveting games, and finding new poker champions through it all.
Borgata Spring Poker Open Is Seriously Surpassing Guarantees
Event 1 of the BSPO was a big one, a $500 buy-in tournament with five starting flights and a $1 million guarantee. It was the Kickoff event called the Almighty Million. It was so well-attended that the final prize pool was nearly $1.5 million.
- Entries: 3,407
- Prize pool: $1,447,975 ($1M GTD)
Event 4 wasn’t a highly marketed event but a popular one, nonetheless. It was a $600 buy-in bounty tournament with deep stacks and a turbo structure. There was a modest $25,000 guarantee on it.
- Entries: 178
- Prize pool: $62,300 ($25K GTD)
Event 5 of the series was a $200 buy-in progressive bounty shootout called the King of Poker, (which is also the tagline for BetMGM Poker.) It was a one-day tournament with a $20,000 guarantee on the prize pool. The actual size of the field more than doubled that amount.
- Entries: 310
- Prize pool: $46,500 ($20K GTD)
Adam-Castrillo Captures Kickoff Title
As mentioned, the Borgata Spring Poker Open led with the Almighty Million Kickoff event, and the turnout was well beyond expectations. By the time the final eight players reached the final table, they were able to get some rest and then play for the win on Saturday, May 4.
David Adam-Castrillo entered the table with 92.6M chips and the lead, with Aaron Hendi holding 76.2M and Denis Kurlyand in a distant third with 48.9M. Kareem Cowart followed in the chip counts, as did Brian Tolley and David Stevens. Chris Lovett and Rajesh Desai each brought less than 20 big blinds into the action.
Desai was, in fact, the first to leave the table, courtesy of Kurlyand. Adam-Castrillo took over from there, eliminating Tolley, then Lovett, Kurlyand, Stevens, and finally Hendi in third place. While Adam-Castrillo took a significant chip lead into heads-up play against Cowart, the latter managed a couple of double-ups to keep the battle going. But Adam-Castrillo did regain control and ultimately eliminated Cowart in second place.
David Adam-Castrillo won his first major tournament and $214,615 in prize money.
https://x.com/pokerorg/status/1786901180372635955
For those who want to see how it played out, it happened on a live stream, straight from the Borgata tournament floor. Check it out here:
A Queen of Poker Reigns
The fifth event of the series was a one-day shootout. Players had to win their table to move on to the next round. The final table started with 11 players, one of whom was a female player who went on to win the table and the tournament. Cindy Spier, who recently took third place in a WSOP Circuit Main Event in New York, became the Queen of Poker champion. She won the first-place prize of $8,041, plus thousands in bounties, and a BSPO trophy.
Poker Live Streams Galore
Poker players and fans love a good live stream and the Borgata Spring Poker Open has them – complete with commentary from the likes of Nikki Limo, Jeremy Geist, and Sethy Poker.
On May 3, a table full of players competed in a $2/$5 No Limit Hold’em game that was quite animated at times.
Then, on Sunday, a mystery drawing determined the players in the $10/$10 Pot Limit Omaha game, complete with some run-it-twice boards and a lot of action.
But wait, there’s more!
The BetMGM Online Hybrid Championship final table, which takes the players from the online portion of the tournament to a live final table at the Borgata, will play out on Thursday, May 9. And the invitation-only High Roller Big Buy-in game will stream on Sunday evening, May 12. Both are free to watch on the BetMGM YouTube channel.
To play poker (including tournaments!) online, register at BetMGM Poker.