BetMGM hosted their Las Vegas Poker Championship this past week and a few New Jersey players made a deep run. Benji Felson of Newark and Michael Wang of Livingston made final table appearances in the event.
BetMGM announced earlier this spring their first ever BetMGM $1 Million guaranteed Poker Championship would take place at the Aria Casino, Las Vegas on June 23-26.
BetMGM NJ online poker satellite winner’s big payday
The $3,500 buy-in tournament allowed players to compete against some of the best. The tournament was out of reach for some but BetMGM ran online satellites to allow NJ online poker players to get a seat in the event. One of those qualifiers was Felson.
According to an interview with BetMGM, Felson seemed a little in shock after winning some big money.
“Everything here was great and hopefully I’ll be back,” he said of the BetMGM Poker championship event.
Felson won his seat by playing in a $500 online tournament. In the championship in Las Vegas he came in 5th place and brought home $51,587. The event met the guarantee and included 343 entries. Of those entries, 68 of them were online qualifier winners like Felson.
NJ poker player goes on a royal ride
Wang is another New Jersey player who found success. And he is no stranger to the poker world. Wang currently has a WSOP bracelet and over $3.8 million in live tournament cashes.
Wang finished fourth for $65,856 but had a wild ride at the final table.
He went all in with pocket queens and was called by Joey Weissman (from New York) who had ace jack of diamonds. When the board ran out Wang made a full house, queens full of 10s. Usually this is a good hand, but for Weissman he made a royal flush.
BetMGM Poker championship final table results
Weissman took the Royal Flush pot and cruised on to take down the entire event.
“It feels good to win any event because first place is hard, especially in an event of this caliber, as well as it’s been run and with the difficulty of opponents,” Weissman said. “I loved winning at the PokerGO Studio and couldn’t be any happier.”
Future big BetMGM Poker events on the horizon
BetMGM is promising even more events with online qualifying opportunities in the coming months.
“I think this Aria event is just the beginning and this is kind of what players can expect from BetMGM and our live poker events where you’re playing at the premier poker destinations in the country and run by great staff,” BetMGM ambassador and four-time World Poker Tour champion Darren Elias said.
He went on to say,
“So I think we’re going to create more of these events at other MGM properties across the country and be looking for those events similar to this coming up at the end of this year and next year where we’re going to be sending online qualifiers from our eligible states and creating events like this one.”
