Another new champion has been crowned on the World Poker Tour. The Season XVIII WPT Borgata Poker Open found a winner on Friday, with Donald Maloney topping the 1,156-entry field to win $616,186 in prize money.

The final hand of the tournament was a doozy, after the last three players agreed to go all in blind before the flop and that’s how the tournament was decided. On the button, Uke Dauti moved all in for 13.025 million, then Kevin Albers called all in from the small blind for 11.775 million, and then Maloney called from the big blind having both of his opponents covered.

Maloney had the , Albers had the , and Dauti had the . Dauti flopped two pair and took the lead on the flop. The turn was the and then the river completed the board with the to give Maloney a winning straight. Having both Dauti and Albers covered, Maloney not only won the pot, he won the tournament.

Dauti was awarded second place for $410,787, and Albers scored third place for $303,903.

For Maloney, the win was his first WPT title and largest live tournament score. It also pushed him to more than $1 million in live tournament earnings.

Reports from PokerNews, who was also on site for live coverage of the event, stated that a deal was struck between the final three players, such that Maloney earned $487,784, Dauti earned $464,338, and Albers earned $378,664. Official reporting from WPT.com listed the results based on the original payouts.

WPT Borgata Poker Open Final Table Results

1st: Donald Maloney – $616,186*
2nd: Uke Dauti – $410,787
3rd: Kevin Albers – $303,903
4th: Dave Farah – $227,077
5th: Jerry Maher – $171,386
6th: Victor Ramdin – $130,672

*First place includes a $15,000 seat into the season-ending WPT Tournament of Champions.

The final table of six started with Dave Farah in the lead. Farah had been in a similar position before. Last season on the World Poker Tour, Farah reached the final table of the WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open and finished second for $485,611. This time, Farah finished fourth and added $227,077 to his bankroll.

Before Farah busted, Victor Ramdin had busted in sixth place and Jerry Maher went out in fifth. Ramdin was busted by Albers when his pocket kings got cracked by the , and Maher got knocked out by Dauti.

Maloney then knocked out Farah in fourth, and he did so with pocket fives. The two got the money in on the board. Farah had flopped top two pair with the , but Maloney had the for a set. The river was the and Farah was out.

It was after Farah went out in fourth that the final three players competed for more than 60 hands before they finally decided to flip for the title.

Maloney Moves Into Takes WPT Player of the Year Lead

That’s now three events in the books in Season XVIII of the World Poker Tour. With the victory, Maloney has moved to the top of the Hublot WPT Player of the Year leaderboard with 1,200 points. Although that’s the same amount of points as WPT Legends of Poker champion Aaron Van Blarcum has, Maloney holds the tiebreaker with more money won.

Dauti, who took second in this Borgata event, is third in the race, and then WPT Gardens Poker Festival winner Roger Teska is in fourth.

1st: Donald Maloney – 1,200 points
2nd: Aaron Van Blarcum – 1,200 points
3rd: Uke Dauti – 1,000 points
4th: Roger Teska – 1,000 points
5th: Gueorgui Gantchev – 1,000 points
6th: Kevin Albers – 900 points
7th: Jared Griener – 900 points
8th: Laszlo Molnar – 800 points
9th: Dave Farah – 800 points
10th: Vahan Sudzhyan – 800 points

WPT Maryland Next Up

The World Poker Tour stays on the East Coast for its next stop, heading to Live! Casino & Hotel in Maryland for WPT Maryland at Live! Casino. The buy-in is $3,500 and the prize pool has a $1.5 million guarantee. The event starts September 28 and runs through October 2.