'I don't chop' – Donovan Dean an unstoppable force in BPO Main Event

Donovan Dean won $2.1 million at the last Borgata Main Event.

Posted on: September 17, 2024 22:08 PDT

When the fog lifted on the Borgata Poker Open Main Event it was Donovan Dean holding the trophies in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows in the VIP suite at the MGM Tower. He added $408,836 to his lifetime earnings and continued a red-hot 2024 that has sent him over $2 million in earnings.

Dean leaned hard in heads-up play to topple Luis Ortiz, who earned $283,446 for the second-place finish. Kharlin Sued fell in third and Josh Kay came in fourth. Ryan Dodd, Andrew Ostepchenko, and Frank Funaro rounded out the seven players who returned for Tuesday’s finale.

“It’s probably the most fun one I’ve ever had,” Dean told PokerOrg after the win. “I had a good rail here the whole time. Dale and Matt on the rail — they helped me on break and kept me calm.”

The final table played out with a view of the State Marina in Atlantic City.

'I've never chopped a tournament.'

The win moves Dean to third on the all-time money Alabama list, according to The Hendon Mob. His lifetime earnings have now ticked above the $2 million mark, but Dean has a ways to go to catch Hoyt Corkins and Shannon Shorr, who top the list with $6 million and $13.3 million, respectively.

It's been a wild year. Dean recently won the WSOPC Cherokee Main Event for the second time in August. He plays to win and doesn’t compromise. His growing family is pushing his game to serious levels, and his motives were clear in an interview with PokerOrg at the end of Day 2.

“I’ve never chopped a tournament,” Dean said after the win. The offer was on the table during three-handed play, but it was a non-starter. “I love to win. They had me two-to-one. I don’t chop.”

The road to victory started just after noon on the 32nd floor of the MGM Tower, where players from the $10K High Roller Experience and the Main Event enjoyed a breakfast spread while the fog rolled in over the Atlantic City coast.

Frank Funaro gets mic'd up for the finale.

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Dean closes the deal

The final seven runners entered the finale with deep stacks and everyone settled in for a long day of play. The first elimination fell near the two-hour mark when Funaro ran out of room with king-queen for a seventh-place finish. It was almost another two hours before Ostepchenko fell in sixth and Dodd hit the rail in fifth place 90 minutes after that.

Kay’s elimination in fourth place set the table for a three-handed battle between Dean, Sued, and Ortiz. The final three played for nearly three hours and Dean fought back from the short stack to even the counts and eventually take the lead. Ortiz doubled through Dean and the final three players were back to even before Sued fell back and lost for good when his ace-king lost to Dean’s jack-nine.

Ortiz held the lead at the beginning of heads-up play, but Dean jumped right back into it with a quick double. Dean eventually took the lead once again and leaned on Ortiz until the final hand, when the champ shoved with eight-five and out-flopped Ortiz’s queen-eight.

The win wrapped up a fantastic Borgata Poker Open with 20 events over 15 days, and you can relive it all with our Instant Live coverage of the entire series.