Vitaliy Kovyazin won the Borgata Fall Poker Open $600 Half-A-Milly Almighty, which drew 1 006 players. In the final, the New York contractor was dealt pocket aces twice in key hands against Omar Taveras, winning the $88 315 top prize and taking home the Borgata and BetMGM Poker trophies.
Details
Kovyazin entered heads-up play at a significant chip disadvantage. Sitting opposite him was Omar Taveras, a New York pro who had already won a trophy during the series and was hoping to claim a second title in a week. But the final duel took a sharp turn after one of the tournament’s biggest pots.
Taveras picked up a pair of sevens and moved all his chips into the middle. Kovyazin waited for pocket aces, called the shove, and doubled up to take the chip lead. The tournament was later decided in a similar spot: Taveras got his last five big blinds in, and Kovyazin once again had aces. This time, his opponent couldn’t find a way out, and the winner closed out the tournament with two all-in wins holding pocket aces.
“This means a lot to me. My first big trophy. I’m so happy, I can’t even find the words,” Kovyazin said after the win. He admitted he hadn’t made any special plans for the final table and was simply playing his cards.
The road to the title wasn’t smooth. Kovyazin reached the final table third in chips as six players took their seats on the main stage of the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa poker room. Carlos Lam Vu, who began the final with the shortest stack, quickly doubled up twice. In one hand, he had kings against Matt Matros, leaving the eventual sixth-place finisher with almost no chips.
Kovyazin himself nearly became the final table’s first casualty. In a hand against a player known as MG, he made two pair on the river, bet 3 000 000, and faced a shove. Kovyazin had 5 600 000 behind. After several minutes of thought, he folded and saw that MG had a full house.
Matros soon found himself in another big pot with Kovyazin. The three-time WSOP bracelet winner had pocket kings, but Kovyazin hit an ace on the flop and sent his experienced opponent to the rail in sixth place.
Kovyazin then found himself all-in for 9 900 000 against Vu. His opponent picked up additional outs to a straight after the flop, but Kovyazin’s ace-high held, and he took a crucial double-up. Eric Kotzinis soon got his last chips in with top pair, but MG made a straight on the final two streets and knocked him out in fifth place.
After losing a pot to Kovyazin, Vu was left with two big blinds. He couldn’t hang on for long with that stack and finished fourth. Taveras was the chip leader three-handed. MG briefly seized the initiative when he called down Taveras’s river bluff with just an ace. Later, he tried to bluff Kovyazin off the pot with a bet on the river, but Kovyazin quickly called for 11 300 000 with two pair, doubling up his opponent.
MG was eliminated in third place after his ace-nine failed to hold up against Taveras’s pocket jacks. Taveras entered heads-up play with 62 800 000 to Kovyazin’s 36 800 000, but his advantage lasted only briefly.
In the decisive big hand, Kovyazin was dealt aces on the button and limped. After Taveras raised, he just called. On a flop with a ten, Taveras bet 3 500 000, Kovyazin raised to 9 000 000, then called a shove for 29 600 000. Taveras had two sevens, and after the cards were turned over, he acknowledged his opponent’s play: “Well played with the aces.”
The final table results were as follows: Kovyazin earned $88 315, Taveras $60 885, and MG $41 915. Carlos Lam Vu won $27 465, Eric Kotzinis $18 890, Matt Matros $14 640, Jonathan Rudnik $11 590, Chan Woo Kim $9 235, and Luke Traxess $7 330.
For Kovyazin, this was his biggest score since 2008, when he finished runner-up in an LAPT event in Brazil. His tournament cashes date back to 2004, but he had to wait until now to win a major trophy.
What’s Next
After the ceremony, Kovyazin wasn’t in a hurry to get back to the tables. The Borgata Fall Poker Open Main Event was underway in another part of the casino, but the winner admitted he hadn’t decided whether he would play on. “I need to ask my wife,” he joked.
The next few days of the series at Borgata will be devoted to the Main Event. The organizers will continue the battle for the festival’s top title, while the poker community will be watching to see whether Kovyazin can keep his hot streak going after his first major win. His Half-A-Milly triumph has already become one of the series’ most memorable stories: a player with years of experience who comes to the casino for fun withstood the pressure of the final table and took home $88 315 thanks to two perfectly timed appearances of pocket aces.
