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Anthony Merulla Wins 2014 World Poker Tour Borgata Winter Poker Open Main Event

39-Year-Old Financial Worker Earned $842,379 For The Win

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Anthony Merulla topped a gigantic field of 1,229 entrants in the 2014 World Poker Tour Borgata Winter Poker Open $3,500 no-limit hold’em main event, earning $842,379 and 1,440 Card Player Player of the Year points for the win. As a result the 39-year-old financial professional climbed to sixth place in the 2014 POY race standing.

This event featured a $3 million guarantee which was blown away when the strong turnout built a final prize pool of $4,055,700. The lion’s share went to Merulla, who topped a tough final table that featured the likes of Jared Jaffe (4th – $258,590) and eventual runner-up David Paredes (2nd – $499,549). Paredes, a 34-year-old poker professional from New York City, entered the final table as the chip leader. By the time he reached heads-up play with Merulla Parades still held a slight lead, but then the two battled it out for 95 hands over the span of several hours.

David ParadesAt the start of the final hand Merulla held around 23 million of the 36.5 million chips in play. Parades min-raised to 1.2 million from the button and Merulla called. The flop brought the QClub Suit6Club Suit3Spade Suit and Merulla lead out for 900,000. Paredes raised to 2.3 million and Merulla three-bet to 4.3 million. Paredes moved all-in for 12.3 million total and Merulla quickly called with the QDiamond Suit3Diamond Suit. Paredes was in trouble with the QSpade Suit8Club Suit. The turn brought the 7Diamond Suit and the river the 4Diamond Suit, securing the pot and the title for Merulla. With that Parades hit the rail in second place, earning $499,549 and 1,200 POY points. He now sits in 11th place in the 2014 POY standings.

Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded at this final table:

Place Player Earnings (USD) POY Points
1 Anthony Merulla $842,379 1440
2 David Paredes $499,549 1200
3 Anthony Maio $307,565 960
4 Jared Jaffee $258,590 720
5 Vladislav Mezheritsky $213,650 600
6 Farid Jattin $174,352 480
7 Kunal Patel $135,172 360
8 Justin Luninpack $99,910 240
9 Whangkyung Choi $71,504 120