When the underdog beats the favourite in football or basketball a standard reaction from the sports punditry is, “That’s why we play out the games.” One team is also higher-rated, with the very best record and residential court advantage, but they still must exit and convert those advantages right into a win. Like sports contests, poker tournaments aren’t selected paper, either. Jesse Sylvia came into the overall table of the 2016 World Poker Tour Borgata Poker Open $3,500 no-limit hold’em main event because the shortest stack, while Farid Jattin held roughly 45 percent of the chips in play and nearly thrice as many chips because the next largest stack. When all was said and done, though, Jattin finished sixth and Sylvia emerged victorious along with his first WPT title and the $821,811 first-place prize.

Sylvia finished because the runner-up to Greg Merson within the 2012 World Series of Poker main event for $5,292,889. With this latest win he increased his career live tournament earnings to greater than $6.7 million. He was also awarded 1,440 Card Player Player of the Year points for the win, enough to transport him into 129th place within the overall POY standings.

Although Sylvia did come into the six-handed final table because the shortest stack, he was removed from in panic mode with over 30 big blinds to start out. At the seventh hand of the night he tripled up through Jattin and Simon Lam, getting all-in holding the 44. Either one of his opponents held ace-king and neither improved. Sylvia doubled through Jattin again a couple of orbits later, calling a five-bet all-in from Jattin with the AK and holding against the 54. Only 22 hands into the general table and the 2 had reversed roles, with Sylvia taking an incredible chip lead while Jattin was left because the shortest stack. He was eliminated shortly afterwards by Zachary Gruneberg.

Gruneberg and Sylvia took turns eliminating their opponents, putting in place a heads-up battle after only 46 hands on the final table that began with Sylvia holding the smallest possible chip lead.

Sylvia: 17,675,000 (118 big blinds)
Gruneberg: 17,575,000 (117 big blinds)

The two battled it out for 80 hands, with Sylvia hopping out to an early lead and steadily extending it until he held roughly a 10-to-1 advantage. Gruneberg did discover a late double up, but finally it wasn’t enough to assist him mount a major comeback. Within the final hand Sylvia moved all in from the the button for Gruneberg’s 15 big-blind stack. Gruneberg made the decision with the A2 and was within the lead against Sylvia’s J4. The board ran out J98QK to present Sylvia the winning pair of jacks and send Gruneberg to the rail in second place with $490,617.

Here is a glance on the payouts and POY points awarded to the general table:

Place	Player	Earnings (USD)	POY Points
1	Jesse Sylvia	$821,811	1440
2	Zachary Gruneberg	$490,617	1200
3	Taha Maruf	$300,031	960
4	Simon Lam	$250,970	720
5	Chris Limo	$207,569	600
6	Farid Jattin	$167,942	480
7	Aleksei Vandyshev	$132,089	360
8	Phong Nguyen	$98,123	240
9	John Racener	$69,253	120

Winner photo courtesy of worldwide Poker Tour.

Read More... [Source: CardPlayer Poker News]