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He commented, “It was a tough field. There were a lot of poker pros and it’s been a long time coming for me, personally. Winning the tournament was dramatic. Midway through it, I was the chip leader or in the top five and never looked back.” The fun started for Borchetta early on: “A couple hours into tournament, I had been getting hit with the deck. I had pocket queens and was sitting in late position. Someone in front of me raised 450 chips. I re-raised to 1,500 to go with queens and he slow called. The flop came 9-5-2 with two diamonds (I held the queen of diamonds). I led out and he re-raised to try and take control of the pot. I thought he might have made a set, so I just made the call. The next card was the king of diamonds. I checked, he checked. My thought process was that he’s not playing a king. The river came another diamond. I had the second best flush and pocket queens. He pushed all in for all my chips and it would have been my tournament life on the line. I had to stand up and really think about it. He could have raised me with an ace of diamonds in a hand like A-Q or A-J. He could also have had pocket 10s with the 10 of diamonds. I called and sure enough he had pocket 10s.”

Around the money bubble, Borchetta was to be put to the test: “Down to four tables. I had a pretty big chip lead at the time and picked up pocket sixes. Someone raised before me and I was in the small blind. I re-raised three times his raise and he called. The flop came 8-8-8. It wasn’t a great boat, but I still had a boat. I bet around 40,000. He deliberated and smooth called. I put him on a bigger pocket pair or A-K. The turn was a five and we both checked. The river was a nine. Nothing on that board scared me. He pushed all in. I stood up and had another big decision to make. I deliberated for at least five minutes until they called the clock. I asked him how big his boat was because I also had one. He stuttered in his response, so he was shocked. I called and won the hand. He turned over Q-J suited. It was a defining hand.”

To show how well he was running, Borchetta highlighted this hand, which occurred when play was three-handed: “The third place stack had around one million chips. I let him have some pots by folding and now it was my turn to take charge. I made a 200,000 chip raise with Q-4 off. He smooth called me and the flop came A-Q-6. I knew he had an ace, otherwise he’s not making that call pre-flop. I threw out a 100,000 feeler bet and he re-raised me 200,000. I called to try and score a four, which came on the turn. I moved all in and he called with A-K. The last card was a queen and I knocked him out of the tournament. Who plays Q-4 in that position? It was a gift.”

Borchetta is the proud father of four kids. The oldest is 19 and currently studies sports journalism. His wife also plays poker which, in his words, “makes my life very easy.” Congratulations to Michael “Mborch” Borchetta on taking down Event #4 of the Borgata Poker Open.