Heading into today’s final table of the World Poker Tour’s Borgata Poker Open, one man stands perched comfortably atop the field: Vivek Rajkumar. Known as “Psyduck” in the online poker world, Rajkumar has about 50% more chips than his next closest competitor, two-time WSOP bracelet winner Mark Seif. Play resumes at 4:00pm ET and the champion of the six-handed final table will be known within a few hours.
Rajkumar recently placed second in the $100 rebuy on PokerStars in July, cashing for $15,640. He also reached the final table of the Sunday Million back in March, finishing sixth and pocketing $32,335. In live play, Rajkumar made the final table of a $3,000 buy-in Limit Hold’em tournament during the 2007 World Series of Poker, busting out in sixth place for $36,763. He recorded three cashes during the most recent WSOP, upping his lifetime earnings to $161,884. When play was ten-handed at the Borgata, Rajkumar knocked out three out of the next four players leading up to the final table and holds 6.5 million chips heading into Thursday’s final table.
Seif is a two-time WSOP bracelet holder. He took down a $1,500 buy-in Limit Hold’em Shootout tournament during the 2005 WSOP. Seven events later, he won a $1,500 buy-in No Limit Hold’em tournament. Seif is no stranger to WPT final tables. He finished fourth in the Legends of Poker during Season I for $38,700. In Season V, he logged another fourth place finish, this time in the World Poker Challenge, and cashed for $159,478. Seif has eight total WPT cashes for $334,000 and comes armed to the Borgata Poker Open final table armed with 4.6 million chips.
Dan Heimiller has 3.3 million chips, good for third overall. He has three lifetime WPT cashes for a total of $45,917 and has had a considerable amount of success in the World Series of Poker. In 2008, he finished third in a $1,500 buy-in No Limit Hold’em tournament for $275,695. He won a coveted WSOP bracelet after taking down a $2,000 buy-in Limit Hold’em and Seven Card Stud Mixed tournament in 2002 for $108,300. His very first WSOP cash came all the way back in 1997. On Thursday, Heimiller will be looking to claim his first WPT title.
Sang Kim enters the final table of the Borgata Poker Open with 3.1 million chips, the fourth largest stack in the room. Kim made a deep run in the 2007 WSOP Main Event, finishing 261st out of 6,358 entrants. He also finished 21st in a $2,000 buy-in No Limit Hold’em event at the 2007 WSOP, cashing for $21,884.
Jason Strochak holds 1.6 million chips, the fifth largest stack at the final table. He cashed in a $1,500 buy-in Pot Limit Hold’em event at the 2005 WSOP and finished 81st in the WPT Championship during Season IV for $43,935. The short-stack entering the final table is Andrew Knee, who holds 1.4 million chips, about one-quarter of Rajkumar’s stack. Knee, an amateur, will look to get his chips in early in order to mount a comeback at the Borgata.
Play will resume at 4:00pm ET on Thursday with WPT hosts Mike Sexton and Vince Van Patten on hand to call the action. The tournament will air as part of the WPT’s seventh season on Fox Sports Net. We’ll have a full recap tomorrow on Poker News Daily.
