Event 21: 6th Place - Wolper

$260+40+100 Black Chip Bounty No Limit Hold 'Em

6th Place - Howard Wolper (Atlantic City, NJ) - $3,417

 

Wolper missed an up and down straight draw with two overcards against Ruslan Dykshteyn's second pair and was eliminated in 6th place.  The hand did not end well as Wolper took exception to Ruslan's post hand comments and was not in a good mood as he went to the window to pick up his check for $3,417.

Event 21: 7th Place - Wright

$260+40+100 Black Chip Bounty No Limit Hold 'Em

7th Place - R.J Wright (Toms River, NJ) - $2,734

Event 20: Bubble Time

$1000 + $90 + $500 Purple Chip Bounty NLH (Re-Entry)    

Down to 28 players, which means it is bubble time.  They're playing hand-for-hand until one more player busts out.

They've also just gone up a level.

Level 15:  Blinds 1,500/3,000 with 400 ante.

When they reach the final 27, they'll bag for the night.

Event 21: 8th Place - Kilcullen

$260+40+100 Black Chip Bounty No Limit Hold 'Em

8th Place - Scott Kilcullen (Ocean Township, NJ) - $2,050

Event 21: O'Halloran (9th) and Alafogiannis (10th) Eliminated

$260+40+100 Black Chip Bounty No Limit Hold 'Em

A massive four-way sent Larry O'Halloran (Colonia, NJ) and Nicolas Alafogiannis (Toronto, ONT, CAN) to the rail in 9th and 10th.

O'Halloran was the first all-in on the hand followed by Alafogiannis.  Then RJ Wright got in the action along with Joseph Argon.  On the J86 flop, Argon went all-in and Wright called.

Hands:

O'Halloran - KK, Alafogiannis - AQ, Wright 86h, Argon - 88.

The turn brought a 7 and the river a 6 giving Agron the nearly 300k pot and sending O'Halloran out in 9th and Aloafogiannis out in 10th.

9th Place - Larry O'Halloran (Colonia, NJ) - $1,367

10th Place - Nicolas Alafogiannis (Toronto, ONT, CAN) - $889

Event 20: The Thrill is Gone

$1000 + $90 + $500 Purple Chip Bounty NLH (Re-Entry)    

Will 'the Thrill' Failla was short-stacked and got his last chips in with A9 against Terry Grimes' J8 suited.

Terry made his flush on the river to take the pot, sending Will to the rail, so 'the Thrill' is gone.

Down to 29 players.  Average is 171k. 

Event 20: Tough Table Three

$1000 + $90 + $500 Purple Chip Bounty NLH (Re-Entry)    

Table Three is once again the toughest in the room.

Will Failla, Joey Cappello, & Ray Shackelford

Currently seated there are Terry Grimes, (not pictured) Will 'the Thrill' Failla, Joey 'Bobo' Cappello, and Ray Shackelford.

Will Failla narrowly missed winning WPT Player of the Year for Season X.

Event 21: Final Table

$260+40+100 Black Chip Bounty No Limit

Final Table and Chip Counts for Event 21
Seat 1:  Larry O'Halloran (Colonia, NJ) - 183,000
Seat 2: Nicolas Alafogiannis (Toronto, ONT) - 63,500
Seat 3: Ruslan Dykshteyn (Brooklyn, NY) - 600,000
Seat 4: Nissim Benjamin (Brooklyn, NY) - 30,000
Seat 5: Cuong Phung (Atlantic City, NJ) - 720,000
Seat 6: Scott Kilcullen (Ocean Township, NJ) - 70,000
Seat 7: R.J. Wright (Toms River, NJ) - 531,500
Seat 8: Joseph Agron (Langhorne, PA) - 220,000
Seat 9: Howard Wolper (Atlantic City, NJ) - 550,000
Seat 10: Ed Rappa (Fort Lauderdale, FL) - 195,000

Event 20: Grimes Gaining

$1000 + $90 + $500 Purple Chip Bounty NLH (Re-Entry)    

Level 14:  Blinds 1,200/2,400 with 300 ante.

A little while ago, a player was all-in with AT on a flop with an Ace.  His opponent called with pocket Queens.

Then a Queen on the turn sent the pot the other way.  When the stacks were counted, the player was left with a single black chip (100).  

Of course that went in for his partial ante on the next hand, and he won, climbing up to 900.

Then after several more all-ins, he was back up to about 4k.

Unfortunately we was finally taken out in a four-way pot when his pocket 2s didn't hold up.

Terry Grimes

32 players remain.  Average is 155k.

Big stacks are still Aaron Massey and Terry Grimes, who's closing in on him.

Event 20: Color Up Break

$1000 + $90 + $500 Purple Chip Bounty NLH (Re-Entry)   

End of level and time for a color up break.

35 players remain.  Average is 142k.

Just before the break, Steve Dannenmann quadrupled up to about 75k.

Event 17 Recap

$1500+150 8/7/6 Max No Limit Hold 'Em

One of the top players playing this series finally got his win.

Vinny Pahuja (Hicksville, NY) survived a few rough moments in Event 17 to take down his second Borgata Open championship and $58,491.

A field of 134 players took on the challenge of the new 8/7/6 event and battled through two days of play to reach the final table.  And what a final table it was.

With the emotions of Austin Wentling (Monroeville, PA) and Hyon Kim (Hillsborough, NJ) on display, it was a fight to the finish.  Pahuja already had to fade a massive pot early in the tournament against Matt Affleck and the final table was no different as he cracked Thomas Hoglund's aces with kings by catching running straight cards and never looked back.

Hyon Kim took out Eugene Fouksman (Morganville, NJ) and Thomas Hoglund (New Bedford, MA) on back to back eliminations narrowing the field to three.  Kim went to the short stack after getting caught in a semi-bluff against John Andress (Doylestown, PA) but a collision between Andress and Pahuja took John out in 3rd and left Kim in dire straits against Pahuja's massive stack.

Given the chip counts, it didn't look like it would last very long and it didn't.  One hand later with Pahuja holding A9 vs. Kim's A7, the final clash begun with Kim hoping for a miracle.  The board blanked out and Vinny Pahuja picked up the title and the Event 17 trophy.

Final Table Results
1st - Vinny Pahuja (Hicksville, NY) - $58,491
2nd - Hyon Kim (Hillsborough, NJ) - $36,069
3rd - John Andress (Doylestown, PA) - $26,808
4th - Thomas Hoglund (New Bedford, MA) - $19,984
5th - Eugene Fouksman (Morganville, NJ) -  $15,110
6th - Alex Bolotin (Brooklyn, NY) - $10,723
7th - Austin Wentling (Monroeville, PA) - $8,286

Event 20: Bounty Hunting Continues

$1000 + $90 + $500 Purple Chip Bounty NLH (Re-Entry) 

 Aaron Massey

Aaron Massey appears to be the chip leader and is the only player over 400k.  He's also got three bounties in his pocket, which means he's practically free-rolling.

38 players remain in the hunt.  Only 27 get paid.

Event 19 Recap

$350 + $50 Omaha H/L 8B

Well-know poker pro Allen 'Chainsaw' Kessler (Las Vegas, NV) came out on top of the field of 170 Omaha H/L players, taking $17,314 and his second Borgata Open trophy.  This is Kessler's second win in a Borgata Open series, so he's now got Borgata trophy bookends.

Just missing out on the win was Candi Verrastro (Pt. Pleasant, NJ) who finished second for $9,523.  Verrastro won her first Borgata trophy in the 2011 Borgata Winter Open Ladies event ($8,323) and was hoping to complete her set of bookends today, but came up short.

Jason Rivkin (Eatontown, NJ) began day two as the chip leader, but got frustrated with the "sitcky" play at his table.  His stack suffered but he got a boost during play-down to the final table when he scored a double KO, knocking out David Pacheco (Fall River, MA) and Tim D'Alessandro (Boothwyn, PA).  They finished 13th & 14th, earning $1,010 each.

A total of 170 Omaha High/Low players started on Thursday afternoon, bringing total buy-ins to $59,500.  Seventy players made it to day two, but only the final 18 made the money.

This is Kessler's second final table of this series.  He finished 8th in the Big Stack Pot Limit Omaha event ($1,538).  "I really like playing at the Borgata.   They have a lot of [non-hold'em] events.  I skipped two big No Limit events to play these."  He will be playing in the Championship event next week, however.  No skipping the big one.


Final Table Results

1 - Allen Kessler (Las Vegas, NV) - $17,314

2 - Candi Verrastro (Pt. Pleasant, NJ) - $9,523

3 - Jason Rivkin (Eatontown, NJ) - $5,483

4 - Claudangelo Beaudouin (Ozone Park, NY) - $4,617

5 - Joe Brand (Fairlawn, NJ) - $3,463

6 - Grzegorz Trelski (Middletown, CT) - $2,886

7 - Jerry Cana (Egg Harbor Twp, NJ) - $2,309

8 - Robert Renner (Plainsboro, NJ) - $1,731

9 - Jeffrey Moses (E Rutherford, NJ) - $1,299

10 - Monty Dennis (Tucker, GA) - $1,154

Event 17: 1st Place - Pahuja

$1500+150 8/7/6 Max No Limit Hold 'Em

 Vinny Pahuja (Hicksville, NY)

$58,941

Event 17 has a champion!  Vinny Pahuja (Hicksville, NY) knocked off Hyon Kim in one hand heads-up to take down a star-studded field and bring his second Borgata Open championship along with $58,941.

Pahuja called the severly short-stacked Kim's all-in holding A9 vs Kim's A7.  The board ran out 5-6-3-5-5 and gave Vinny the title.  Congratulations to Vinny Pahuja!

Event 17: 2nd Place - Kim

$1500+150 8/7/6 Max No Limit Hold 'Em

2nd Place - Hyong Kim (Hillsborough, NJ) - $36,069

Event 17: 3rd Place - Andress

$1500+150 8/7/6 Max No Limit Hold 'Em

Andress made the push with A3 but ran into Vinny Pahuja's AQ and was eliminated in 3rd place for $26,808 leaving Pahuja with a massive chip lead going into heads-up.

3rd Place - John Andress (Doylestown, PA) - $26,808

Event 7: Andress Doubles Up

$1500+150 8/7/6 Max No Limit Hold 'Em

Hyon Kim's big move didn't work out.

Kim had been raising John Andress's big blind for most of three-handed play.  This time, he decided to put Andress to the test going all in and Andress quickly called.

Andress had A10 vs Kim's QJ of hearts.  Andress hit top pair on the A-K-3 flop but Kim also hit two hearts along with the straight draw.

But after an 8-6 turn/river, Andress doubled to 720k and left Kim on the short stack against the two Borgata veterans.

Event 17: Pahuja Wins Battle

$1500+150 8/7/6 Max No Limit Hold 'Em

Vinny Pahuja continues to hold on to the chip lead as he wins one off Kim.

A board of 4-2-8-6-4 got enough action to get around 300k in the pot before Vinny put a bet of 260k out and pushed Hyon Kim off the hand without a showdown.

Three players still remain with Pahuja leading and John Andress still holding on to his short stack.

Event 19: 1st Place - Kessler

$350 + $50 Omaha H/L 8B

Allen Kessler (Las Vegas, NV)

$17,314

Allen Kessler outwitted, outplayed, and/or outlasted the field of 169 other Omaha H/L players to take the top prize of $17,314.

This is Allen's second Borgata Open title.  The first he won during the 2010 Borgata Winter Open in a Stud/8 and Omaha/8 mixed event ($14,744).

Allen's lifetime tournament earnings are over $2.5 million.

Event 19: 2nd Place - Verrastro

$350 + $50 Omaha H/L 8B

Candi Verrastro (Pt. Pleasant, NJ)

$9,523

Candi started the day 5th in chips with 75k and within one level was up to 137k, but then things took a turn for the worse.  She managed to quadruple up when she got short, and then hung on to make it to the final table.  She just missed the win, surrendering to well known poker pro Allen Kesser who had her out-chipped.

The former computer programmer plays poker as a hobby.  This is her fourth event and she's done for the series, ready to go home and get some rest.

Event 19: 3rd Place - Rivkin

$350 + $50 Omaha H/L 8B

Jason Rivkin (Eatontown, NJ)

$5,483

Jason started day two as the chip leader, but felt the game was playing too passively for his style.  "There was a lot of limping at my table...a little sticky" and he got frustrated, but held on make the final table, eventually finishing in third place for $5,483.

"I'm relieved to break a cold streak at Borgata" he said.

Event 19: 4th Place - Beaudouin

$350 + $50 Omaha H/L 8B

Claudangelo Beaudouin (Ozone Park, NY)

$4,617

Event 17: Three Remain

$1500+150 8/7/6 Max No Limit Hold 'Em

Chip counts for the final three players:

Vinny Pahuja - 1.41 million
Hyon Kim - 927,000
John Andress - 326,000

Event 19: 5th Place - Brand

$350 + $50 Omaha H/L 8B

Joe Brand (Fairlawn, NJ)

$3,463

Event 17: 4th Place - Hoglund

$1500+150 8/7/6 Max No Limit Hold 'Em

Short stacked in the big blind, Hoglund was called down by Hyon Kim.  Kim's 6's held up against Hoglund's K10 and gave Kim another quick elimination at this final table.  Hoglund is eliminated in 4th place for $19,984.

Thomas Hoglund (New Beford, MA) - $19,984