Event 1 Recap

Event 1 - $500 + $60 Deep Stack No Limit Hold'em  

When Ben Bianco's pocket sixes won the race against Dan Wach's KQ, Bianco (Franklin Square, NY) claimed his first Borgata Open trophy, along with $309,196.  "Day one, I got hit with the deck" he said.  "I had a lot of big hands and people were giving me their chips."  The home builder and semi-professional poker player claimed the largest single cash of his career.

Second place and $200,793 went to poker pro Dan Wach (Boonton, NJ).  He played a solid game for three days, but came up just short of a win.  Wach is more of a cash player, but couldn't pass up this event.  He played a solid game, never being all-in and at-risk and behind -- until the last hand.

Despite the opportunity to re-enter, neither of the final two players needed to.  Third place finisher Walter English (Washington, DC) works in real estate and plays poker recreationally.  He busted out on day 1B when all in holding AK on an flop of A K x.  His opponent had pocket Aces and English was busted.  He took the opportunity to re-enter and it paid off nicely when he collected $131,492.

The 2012 Borgata Poker Open kicked of with a $1 Million Guarantee event with two starting days.  With 3,705 entries at $500 + $60, the massive turnout generated total buy-ins of $1,852,500.  That also put more than 92 million chips in play, which combined with the great structure, caused the two-day event to stretch to a third day.  This event also featured a $10,000 bonus for end of day 1A & 1B chip leaders, which is usually reserved for the Championship event. 

Listing all the notable players who entered would take days.  Suffice to say that all the Borgata Regulars who could be here, were here.  One notable exception is Ryan Eriquezzo (Danbury, CT).  Eriquezzo is a tournament regular here but after winning the WSOP National Championship and his first bracelet this summer, he vowed to take six months off from playing poker.  About his absence, he Tweeted:  "Honoring a commitment made to myself/the people I love".

The top three finishers will all be back for the main event next week, but want to get some rest first "and a gin and tonic" said English with a smile.

"Awesome.  They should do it every month."  Bianco said about this new event.  "The turnout was insane.  Beating 3,700 players -- that's unbelievable."


Final Table Results
1 - Ben Bianco (Franklin Square, NY) - $309,196

2 - Dan Wach (Boonton, NJ) - $200,793

3 - Walt English (Washington, DC) - $131,492

4 - Gary Ackerman (Collegeville, PA) - $111,946

5 - Brian Polito (Cranford, NJ) - $93,289

6 - Wendy Freedman (Las Vegas, NV) - $75,519

7 - Rob Klein (Niskayuna, NY) - $58,639

8 - Hobart Adkins (Ona, WV) - $42,646

9 - Tevy Wellins (Hollywood, FL) - $31,096

10 -  John Alfera (Arnold, PA) - $20,435