As the action at the World Series of Poker continues to ramp up, down the street there was another event capturing the attention of the poker world this week. The BetMGM Poker Championship ran as the marquee event of the ongoing ARIA Poker Classic.
1,141 players ponied up the $3,500 buy-in to generate a total prize pool of $3,651,200 -- with $613,914 going to the eventual winner of the event.
After four long days of grueling play, Daniel Maor emerged victorious from the field of competitors. Moar's achievement was made all the more impressive as the final two tables included some big names and bigger talents. Amongst them were Andrew Moreno, two-time WSOP bracelet winner Eric Baldwin, Jordan "JWprodigy" Westmorland, Ethan 'Rampage' Yau, and Shannon Shorr, who notably started the final table with a massive chip lead.
BetMGM Poker Championship Final Table'Not an easy feat'
Maor managed to outlast them all, taking advantage of his position at the table directly to the left of Shorr and avoiding any bloated pots. Maor won a massive flip when his 
ran down fourth place finisher Westmorland's 
to keep his stack healthy.
The infusion of chips allowed Maor to hang around as others busted and, eventually, helped him to score back-to-back eliminations of Westmorland and Lyu Jun Qiang. When heads up play began, Maor held a significant chip advantage over his opponent Shorr and made quick work of the veteran, finishing him off in just five hands.
The final hand saw Maor raise from the button with 
only to see a three-bet from Shorr in the big blind with 
. Maor made the call and the dealer spread the 
flop. Shorr opted to move all-in with his two over cards and double-gutter straight draw for nearly two times the size of the pot. The massive bet sent Maor into a brief tank as he waited for the dealer to count out Shorr's remaining chips.
Maor eventually put in the call with his top pair and straight draw to put Shorr at risk. The turn 
kept him in the lead and the river 
locked up the victory.
In his winner's interview, Maor said, “I mean, obviously, it feels great to win $600k, especially at a final table like this. I mean you have guys that have millions in earnings and have guys with fifteen to twenty years at the top of the game. To beat a guy like Shannon Shorr heads up is not an easy feat so yeah, it feels great.”
After numerous close calls and deep runs, Maor scored his first-ever live tournament win in one of the biggest events of the summer -- an achievement that clearly meant a great deal to him. Maor continued, telling PokerOrg, "I’ve had some close calls recently. I final tabled the Wynn Millions this year. I had a couple final tables at WPT Australia, but I wasn't able to close the deal. So yeah, it feels great to be able to kind of get that monkey off your back and win a prestigious event like this.”
He later acknowledged the strain of the victory while also expressing his desire to get back in the tournament streets later this summer, telling PokerOrg, "Might take a couple of days off. Decompress a little bit. But it's a long summer. There's a lot of events to play and hopefully more events to win. So yeah, we'll be out there."
BetMGM final table results
| Place | Player | Prize (USD) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Daniel Moar | $613,914 |
| 2 | Shannon Shorr | $430,367 |
| 3 | Lyu Jun Qiang | $279,207 |
| 4 | Jordan Westmorland | $206,914 |
| 5 | James Romero | $156,344 |
| 6 | Eric Baldwin | $126,405 |
| 7 | Ethan 'Rampage' Yau | $104,424 |
