Daniel Maor Defeats Shannon Shorr to Win BetMGM Poker Championship ($613,914)
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Daniel Maor has won the $3,500 BetMGM Poker Championships, after defeating veteran tournament pro Shannon Shorr heads-up at the PokerGO Studio in the heart of Las Vegas.
The event was part of the 45-event Aria Poker Classic which kicked off on May 29, with this year's BetMGM Championship field of 1,141 breaking the record of 1,026 entries from 2023, and surpassing the guarantee to generate a $3,283,200 prize pool
Maor is the Senior Director of Product Marketing for online poker site WPT Global when he's not grinding poker tournaments. His victory comes less than a month after fellow WPT Global employee Jonty Willis won the WPT 500 Montreal event for C$105,860. It's been quite a month for the WPT Global team.
2024 BetMGM Poker Championship Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Payout (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Daniel Maor | United States | $613,914 |
| 2 | Shannon Shorr | United States | $430,367 |
| 3 | Lyu Jun Qiang | China | $279,207 |
| 4 | Jordan Westmorland | United States | $206,914 |
| 5 | James Romero | United States | $156,344 |
| 6 | Eric Baldwin | United States | $126,405 |
| 7 | Ethan Yau | United States | $104,424 |
Winner's Reaction
“I mean, obviously, it feels great to win $600k, especially at a final table like this," Maor told Poker.org shortly after his victory.
"I mean you have guys that have millions in earnings and have guys with fifteen to twenty years at the top of the game. To beat a guy like Shannon Shorr heads up is not an easy feat so yeah, it feels great.”
Not only is the $613,914 first-prize Maor's largest score to date, surpassing a tenth-place finish in the 2022 WPT Five Diamond, it's also his first-ever recorded tournament victory.
“I think I’ve had some close calls recently," he said. "I final tabled the Wynn Millions this year. I had a couple final tables at WPT Australia, but I wasn't able to close the deal. So yeah, it feels great to be able to kind of get that monkey off your back and win a prestigious event like this.”
Final Table Recap
Seven players returned for the final day with Shannon Shorr holding a commanding chip lead with more than double Jun Qiang Lyu in second place.
Having started the day with 13 big blinds, Ethan "Rampage" Yau was needing a spin but hit the rail first after busting to Shorr.
You would be forgiven for thinking Shorr would run away with it, but Eric Baldwin would double to stay alive, and keep the chip lead in check.
Baldwin would pick up pocket kings in a hand against Jordan Westmorland, but they were cracked by Westmorland's pocket jacks. Baldwin was left with less than a handful of big blinds, and would be eliminated next after running into the aces of Daniel Maor.
James Romero followed at the hands of Qiang, but Qiang remained the tournament short stack behind Westmorland, Maor and of course Shorr.
A Qiang double would lead to a leader, as Maor elimianted Westmorland, before Shorr relinquished the chip lead to Maor three-handed.
Maor would enter heads-up play with a strong chip lead after eliminating Qiang in third place. Shorr would never mount a comeback heads-up, however, getting it in with a double gutshot against the top pair of Maor, and failing to catch up.
Shorr would have to settle for second place and $430,367 — the fifth-largest of his career — while Maor was crowned champion.
Former BetMGM Poker Championship Winners
| Year | Entries | Winner | Payout |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 343 | Joey Weissman | $224,236 |
| 2023 | 1,026 | Leo Taffe | $560,442 |
| 2024 | 1,141 | Daniel Maor | $613,914 |
