Tuesday, September 18, 2012

WPT BPO: Four More hands

$3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Poker Open Championship NLH

Blinds 1.5k/3k/300 ante

The clock has been paused with 10 minutes left and dealers have been instructed to deal four more hands.  Once the hands are completed players will bag and tag for the night.

~180 players remain with an average stack of 197k (66 BB).

WPT BPO: More in the 500k Chip Club

$3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Poker Open Championship NLH

 Barry Hutter

Michael Hickman

Stephen Reynolds

WPT BPO: Feature Table Loses Affleck

$3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Poker Open Championship NLH

 Terry, Hinds & Childs

Matt Affleck is gone from a table that still features Todd Terry, John Allan Hinds and Lee Childs.

Here's a recap of the action via Twitter:

John Allan Hinds ‏@JABistro
263k at break, one more lvl to play tonite. Coming back to 1500/3000/300. Busted Affleck AQ>KK aipf #greensteined #WPTBorgata

Todd Terry ‏@toddbterry
320K. Got lucky to double up to 100K TT > AA aipf. Then AA > AKo to get to 200K. #WPTBorgata

WPT BPO: Tweet Counts

$3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Poker Open Championship NLH

Chip Counts Tweeted During the Last Break

Todd Terry 320k
Mukul Pahuja 310k
John Allan Hinds 263k
Jerry Payne 161k
Lee Childs 154k
Jesse Cohen 145k
Michael Marder 125k
Jason Paster 105k
Dave Zeitlin 82k
Allison Schultz 70k
David Stefanski 64k
Jake Toole 55k
Trevor Savage 44k

WPT BPO: Last Break of the Night

$3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Poker Open Championship NLH

The 203 remaining players are their last break of the night.  The average stack is 174k (58 BB) as blinds are moving up to 1,500/3k/300 ante.

WPT BPO: Straighten the Heck Out

$3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Poker Open Championship NLH

David Heck

David Heck (Colts Neck, NJ) is another player that's hit the 500k mark.

After raising preflop with AK, Heck and one player see a flop of Q J 10, giving Heck the nut straight.

Heck bets 50k and his opponent calls. The turn is a brick, Heck bets 70 and the player calls.  Same story on the river, brick, bet, call.

Heck's opponent also flopped a straight as he shows 9 8 for the bottom end.  Heck scoops the 430k pot and is up to 520k, while the other player drops to 100k.

WPT BPO: Gross Beat, Cherishing Chips

$3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Poker Open Championship NLH

Queen Andrews Cracks Aces

Shortly after Orson Young (Oceanport, NJ) took the chip lead with 650k, his girlfriend, Cherish Andrews (St. Thomas, PA), hits a big hand of her own.

Andrews 5-bet shoves with pocket queens and is in bad shape against the pocket aces of Jeff Gross (Baltimore, MD).  She hits a queen on the turn to score the knockout and Andrews takes her stack to 500k.

Gross takes the beat and stride and tweets

Jeff Gross ‏@Jgross5

Just got knocked out of #WPTBorgata 430k pot at 1200/2400 all in pre flop AA to QQ, queen on turn! Ouch Cherish, good luck rest of way

***************************

Texting and tweeting updates to each other is unnecessary for Young and Andrews as their tables are side-by-side.  Both are near the top of the chip counts as there are only a few stacks in the 500k+ range.

WPT BPO: "I Know What I'm Looking For"

$3,300 + 200 WPT Borgata Poker Open Championship NLH

Tyler Patterson (Everett, WA)

Tyler Patterson (Everett, WA) was one of five players at the table to call a 6,000 raise pre-flop.  Just as the flop was being put out one of the players in the hand said, "I know what I'm looking for."  The dealer put out the Q 2 2 flop, and someone else exclaimed, "Yeah...quads!!"  The original raiser put in a 22,000 bet, and Tyler Patterson went into action with a raise.  All the chips ended up in the middle, and what did Tyler table....2 2 for quads!!! He was up against A A, and ended up busting the player and padding his stack to over 200,000.

WPT BPO: Level Up, Blinds Up

$3,300 + 200 WPT Borgata Poker Open Championship NLH

The tournament director has just announced the beginning of Level 15, with the blinds increasing to 1,200/2,400/300.

Event 24: Glassman Breaks Bubble

$400 + $50 No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry)   

Glassman (seated, right) Watches the Flop

Hand-for-hand play lasts one hand as the bubble breaks with a player moving all in with pocket 10s. Greg Glassman (Brooklyn, NY) calls with A 8 and hits an ace to send the remaining 36 players into the money.

The remaining players are guaranteed $708 as the play for the $31,842 top prize. Those still playing include:

Charlie Townson
Rick "Rocket" Petroy
Joe Mosca
Chris Farley
Marsha Wolak
Mike Shasho

WPT BPO: Oh 2 B Young

$3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Poker Open Championship NLH

Orson Young 

Orson Young (Oceanport, NJ) came back from dinner break with ~400k and quickly jumps into the chip lead.

A short stack moves all in, a player with 220k calls the bet, before Young makes it 65k, which the player calls again.

Flop: J♣ 4♣ 4x

Young's opponent moves all in for 170k and Young calls with pocket king.  His opponent tables A Q, with no club and is drawing thin. 

The turn and river are blanks and Young scoops a huge pot to take the chip lead with 650k.

Marguerite Spagnuolo (Staten Island, NY), who is also at the table says, "happy birthday, it was gift wrapped."

WPT BPO: Dunst Done It

$3,300 + 200 WPT Borgata Poker Open Championship NLH

WPT's Tony Dunst

Tony Dunst (Las Vegas, NV) is a professional poker players who lives in Las Vegas and plays tournaments for a living.  He also works for the WPT as a host for the Raw Deal, and has also done commentary during the WPT's live streams.  In April of this year the WPT needed to find a fill in because Tony made the TV final table in Jacksonville.  It looks like he's going to do his best to throw a wrench in the schedule in this event as well, as Tony sits with about 130,000.

WPT BPO: $10k Winners Update

$3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Poker Open Championship NLH

It's been a roller coaster day for the two players who earned $10,000 as the Day 1A and Day 1B chip leaders.

Brian Lemke (Norristown, PA), who began the day as chip leader, dropped to 29k, but is now back close to where he started the day.  Unfortunately for Day 1A chip leader Robert Boyko (Yonkers, NY) he recently hit the rail.

Boyko's bonus is more than 55th place money ($9,589), so not a bad tournament considering he's out on day 2.

WPT BPO: Table Re-Draws Vicious

$3,300 + 200 WPT Borgata Poker Open Championship NLH

Table 11 has become one of the more difficult tables in the event, as players gain new neighbors with tables on the back end.  Some of the residents at Table 11:

Brian Lemke
Ari Albilia
Vinny Pahuja
Dwyte Pilgrim

WPT BPO: Consolation Prize

$3,300 + 200 WPT Borgata Poker Open Championship NLH

Jesse Silvia (West Tisbury, MA) has just busted, but he's got something pretty big to look forward to...the final table of the WSOP Main Event!

Sylvia is going into the final table as the chip leader, and we'd say that's something that may take the sting out of leaving this year's Borgata Poker Open Championship.  Jesse (and his girlfriend Ashley) was nice enough to sit down with me and field some questions, as I tried to get the perspective of a November Niner.



WPT BPO: Coming Back From Dinner

$3,300 + 200 WPT Borgata Poker Open Championship NLH

Players are returning from dinner, as play will resume in seven minutes from now.  When the play does resume the blinds will be 1,000/2,000/200.

WPT BPO: Dinner Time Tweets

$3,300 + 200 WPT Borgata Poker Open Championship NLH





Event 24: Dinner Time Numbers Game

$400 + $50 No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry)  

Dinner time means time to play the numbers game.

Number of Entries:  304

Players Remaining: 43

Chips in Play:  4.56 million

Average Stack:  106k (21 BB)

Big Stack:  300k (60 BB)

Next Blinds: 2,500/5,000, 500 ante


Total Buy-In:  $121,600

First Prize:  $31,842

Places Paid: 36

Play Resumes: 8:31 pm.

WPT BPO: Numbers Game

$3,300 + 200 WPT Borgata Open Poker Championship

Dinner time means time to play the numbers game.

Number of Entries:  1,181

Players Remaining: 295

Chips in Play:  35.43 million

Average Stack:  120k (60 BB)

Big Stack:  430k (215 BB)

Next Blinds: 1k/2k, 200 ante


Total Buy-In:  $3,897,300

First Prize:  $818,847

Places Paid: 110


Play Resumes: 8:08 pm

WPT BPO: Bowker Building Stacks

$3,300 + 200 WPT Borgata Open Poker Championship

Kyle Bowker

Kyle Bowker has built some big chip stacks.  He's up to ~430k, much to the chagrin of his table-mates.

He's sharing the felt on table one with

Jerry Maher
Allen Cunningham
Brandon Guss
Alex Queen

WPT BPO: Pre-Dinner Bustouts

$3,300 + 200 WPT Borgata Poker Open Championship NLH

The following players were just busted before dinner break and will not be receiving a dinner voucher on Day 2:

Travis Williams
Nelson Robinson
Kevin McColgan

WPT BPO: Dinner Break Around The Corner

$3,300 + 200 WPT Borgata Open Poker Championship

After the last twelve minutes tick down in this level, the remaining players will be going on break.  There are 324 players remaining and the chip average in the room is 110,000.

Event 24: Payouts

$400 + $50 No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry)  

Entries:  304
Total Buy-In:  $121,600

PAYOUTS:
1:                 $31,842
2:                 $17,690
3:                 $10,970
4:                 $8,846
5:                 $6,841
6:                 $5,780
7:                 $4,659
8:                 $3,480
9:                 $2,359
10 - 12:         $1,533
13 - 15:         $1,180
16 - 18:         $1,003
19 - 27:         $885
28 - 36:         $708

WPT BPO: Ladies Night

$3,300 + 200 WPT Borgata Poker Open Championship NLH

Wendy Freedman (Las Vegas, NV)

With approximately 320 players remaining, we have twelve women remaining in the field.  Here is a list of ladies left in the event and their current chip stacks:

Wendy Freedman - 177,000
Jamie Kerstetter - 175,000
Valerie Filion - 103,000
Cherish Andrews - 89,000
Helen Ellis - 80,000
Nancy Martin - 70,000
May Siu - 55,000
Pamela Paladdini - 40,000
Karen Wilner - 35,000
Joanne Monteavaro - 27,000
Alli Schultz - 22,000
Marguerite Spagnuolo - 21,000

Event 24: Chip Leader

$400 + $50 No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry) 

Down to 72 players who have just returned from a break.  Average stack is ~63k.

Level 13:  Blinds 1,200/2,400 with 300 ante.

Greg Ostrander

Looks like the chip leader is Greg Ostrander (Webster, NY).  He's up to about 150k.

WPT BPO: Tweet-Counts

$3,300 + 200 WPT Borgata Poker Open Championship NLH 

Level 13:  Blinds 800/1,600 with 200 ante.  Play has resumed.

Twitter chip counts from the break:

Jake Toole - 300,000
David Zeitlin - 246,000
John Hinds - 246,000
Kurt Jewell - 220,000
Jerry Payne - 179,200
David Stefanski - 174,000
Steve Ryan - 130,000
Mukul Pahuja - 119,100
Justin Zaki - 113,000
Jason Paster - 80,000
Jesse Cohen - 77,000
Harrison  Gimbel - 71,300
Lee Childs - 52,700
Nelson Robinson - 52,000
Antonio Payne - 42,000
Trevor Savage - 41,700
Kyle Loman - 39,600
Michael Marder - 29,600
Todd Terry - 28,300

Brandon Guss reported that he's up to ~100k (in person, not via Twitter).

WPT BPO: Break Time

$3,300 + 200 WPT Borgata Poker Open Championship NLH 

39 tables (9-handed) remain and those players have taken off for a break.

With approximately 350 players left, the average is ~101k.

They will return and play one more level, then take a dinner break, which will fall just before 7pm.

WPT BPO: New Chip Leader ?

$3,300 + 200 WPT Borgata Poker Open Championship NLH

After winning a pot with Aces versus Kings on a board with an Ace and a King, Scott Schwalich had pocket Aces again, with two shorter stacks all-in.

Scott Schwalich

Michael Delvecchio (Port Jefferson Station, NY) had pocket Kings and Christine Brewer (Port Monmouth, NJ) also had pocket Kings.

Scott did not have to sweat the possibility of one of them flopping a set, but the flop came 8 6 2 -- all diamonds, and Scott did not have the Ace of diamonds.  Michael Delvecchio had the K for the flush draw.

The last two fell offsuit 3 8 and Scott scooped the pots, busting both opponents in the process.

Scott is now up to ~380k and possibly the new chip leader.  He won the 2012 Winter Open $1k NLH event for over $57k.

Also sharing the felt with Scott are Abe Faroni, Joanne Monteavaro, David Heck, Mukul Pahuja, and Ian Palomo, (who happens to be engaged to Joanne).

WPT BPO: Stare Down

$3,300 + 200 WPT Borgata Poker Open Championship NLH

David Kim (far right facing camera)

It's been a tough road for both Day 1A and 1B chip leaders.  As we were passing by, there was a 22,000 river bet in front of Robert Boyko (Day 1A chip leader).  The board was 4d 7h 2c Kh Ks and the action was on David Kim (Flushing, NY).  Kim took about three minutes thinking about his next move, which was to announce himself all-in.  He put a stack in front of him, and gave Boyko a solid stare down.  Boyko asked Kim, "So you got aces," with not even a blink from the stone face of Kim.  Boyko eventually folded and Kim won the pot putting himself over 175,000.

WPT BPO: Repeat Offender?

$3,300 + 200 WPT Borgata Poker Open Championship NLH

Stephen Reynolds and Tyler Patterson

Stephen Reynolds (Little Egg Harbour, NJ) was the runner-up the last time he played in a WPT Televised Main Event (Parx Casino).  He had been fairly under the radar throughout the early stages of this tournament, but has recently gone on a real heater.  Reynolds has over 340,000 to place himself in the top three stacks in the room.

WPT BPO: Totally Tough Table

$3,300 + 200 WPT Borgata Poker Open Championship NLH

Table 37 started out with Cherish Andrews (St. Thomas, PA) and Cuong Phung (Atlantic City, NJ).

Table 37

As players have departed and tables break, these players have been moved to their table:

Brian Lemke
Phong 'VIP' Nguyen
David Levi

making this a much tougher table.

Cuong Phung is free-rolling in this event as he won his seat as the points leader in the Borgata Summer Poker Open Leaderboard competition.

WPT BPO: Twitter Time

$3,300 + 200 WPT Borgata Poker Open Championship NLH


WPT BPO: Childs Chips Up

$3,300 + 200 WPT Borgata Poker Open Championship NLH

Level 12:  Blinds 600/1,200 with 100 ante.

 Lee Childs


May Siu opened up front, Fred Goldberg flatted, then Inside The Minds instructor Lee Childs 3-bet from the big blind.

May folded and Fred called.

On the flop of J 3 2, Lee led out and Fred raised.  Lee called.

Turn was an 8 and both checked.

River was a Queen (no flush possible) and Lee bet 17k.

Fred, who was enjoying a table-side massage, tanked for a couple of minutes, then surrendered.

John D'Agostino was sharing the felt with these two, but he has busted out.  Olivier Busquet, who won the 2009 WPT BPO Championship and $925,514, was moved into his empty seat.

WPT BPO: Updated Bustouts

$3,300 + 200 WPT Borgata Poker Open Championship NLH

Here are the most recent bust outs:

Dan Buzgon
Joe Cada
John Racener
Brian O'Donaghue
Matthew Salsberg
Julie Cornelius
Bob Hwang
Mirsad Kovaci
Nick Blackburn
Ivan Mamuzic
Wendy Rubin
Jim Pechac
Gordon Eng

WPT BPO: New Shooter

$3,300 + 200 WPT Borgata Poker Open Championship NLH

Darren Elias (Montclair, NJ)

We have a new chip leader and his name is Darren Elias (Montclair, NJ), and he is currently sitting with 340,000 (340 BB).

Event 24: Voccia Takes Out Two

$400 + $50 No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry) 

Level 9:  500/1k with 100 ante.

Some late entries, who have busted out of the Championship event:

Ylon Schwartz
Abbey Daniels
Jake Ferro

 Daniel Voccia

Abe Korotki (Bethany Beach, DE) shoved utg, then Brandon Riha (Auburn, NY) re-shoved.

Daniel Voccia (Hamptons, NY) said "Since my girlfriend is Asian, I gotta call this" and makes the overcall showing pocket 4s (which are unlucky in Asian culture).

Abe had A9.  Brandon had pocket 9s.

The flop came A A 4 and Daniel scooped both pots with the full house, busting both opponents in the process.

WPT BPO: Under The Hood

$3,300 + 200 WPT Borgata Poker Open Championship NLH

Dwyte Pilgrim

Dwyte Pilgrim won this championship event in 2010, and has just continued his steady form from then on.  Dwyte had three bet an opponent pre-flop to 6,100, and watched as a four bet to 12,700 was thrown out.  Pilgrim didn't take much time putting out a 28,300 five bet, and after some thought his opponent decided to lay the hand down.  Pilgrim now sits at about 85,000.

WPT BPO: Goldberg Eyes Oboodi

$3,300 + 200 WPT Borgata Poker Open Championship NLH

Fred Goldberg, (Plantation, FL) who finished 4th in this event last year, is seated at table 28.

Defending Champion Bahbak 'Bobby Oboodi is seated at table 29, just a couple of feet away.

Fred Goldberg keeps an eye on Bobby Oboodi

These two tangled at the final table last year, trading the chip lead back and forth until Bobby busted Fred in 4th place when they got all-in on a 9-high flop.  Both had a 9, but Bobby had the better kicker.

Fred's keeping an eye on his nemesis from last year from his perch, one table over.

WPT BPO: Goners

$3,300 + 200 WPT Borgata Poker Open Championship NLH

Level 11:  Blinds 500/1,000 with 100 ante.

495 players are back in action.  Average stack is ~72k.

Goners:

Jeff Madsen
Will Failla
Gavin Smith
Patricia Barsanti-Chou
Tom McCormick
Abbey Daniels
Scott Blackman

WPT BPO: Break Time Tweets

$3,300 + 200 WPT Borgata Poker Open Championship NLH



WPT BPO: Players On Break, New Chip Leaders

$3,300 + 200 WPT Borgata Poker Open Championship NLH

 Matt Glantz - 220,000

Kyle Bowker - 235,000

Players are taking a fifteen minute break, and they will be returning to Level 11 with blinds at 500/1,000/100.

WPT BPO: Another Tough Table

$3,300 + 200 WPT Borgata Poker Open Championship NLH

Table 15 is not for the faint of heart.

Todd Terry, John Hinds, & Carlos Mortensen

Seated there are Bobby Wisiak (not pictured) Todd Terry, John Hinds, and Carlos Mortensen.

WPT BPO: Ellis Folds Queens; Prince's Jacks Good

$3,300 + 200 WPT Borgata Poker Open Championship NLH

Helen Ellis (New York, NY) made a good lay-down against Joey 'Bobo' Cappello.  On the turn with a King-high board, Helen let go of her pocket Queens.  Joey made the courtesy show -- of pocket Aces.

Jean 'Prince' Gaspard

Dallas Williams (Wilmington, NC) was all-in with pocket 4s against Jean 'Prince' Gaspard (Evanston, IL) who had pocket Jacks.

The board changed nothing and Dallas was half-way to the rail before the river card fell.
 

WPT BPO: Lemke Losing Traction

$3,300 + 200 WPT Borgata Poker Open Championship NLH

David Diaz (left) as Brian Lemke tanks

Brian Lemke (Norristown, PA) was the chip leader after Day 1B, but has been trending downward since the tournament commenced this morning.  On a board of 2d Qs 10c 7s 5h, David Diaz put his last 59,000 in the middle on the river.  Lemke thought it over for a few minutes, and eventually decided to call.  Diaz turned over Q 10 for top two pair, and Lemke mucked the hand, leaving himself under 100,000.

WPT BPO: Sexton Busts Out

$3,300 + 200 WPT Borgata Poker Open Championship NLH

The wonderful people over at the WPT will no longer have to discuss who will fill in the announcer's chair for the final table.  Mike Sexton (Thousand Oaks, CA) just walked over to the WPT media table to fill them in on the unfortunate news of his exit.

Event 24: Tournament Junkies

$400 + $50 No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry) 

Level 6:  Blinds 200/400 with 50 ante.

Registration is open until the break after this level (about 2:35 pm) and many players busting out of the Championship are taking advantage of the opportunity to late register, including Mike Shasho and Alex Rocha.

Also joining the field are

Saad Ghanem
Abe Korotki
John DeGeorge
Hobart Adkins
Doug Rosen
Paul Vacchio

WPT BPO: Tales From the Twitter-Verse

$3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Poker Open Championship NLH 

With a field this size, there's no way we can keep up with it all.  Thankfully, lots of players use Twitter to let us know what's going on.  Here are the latest from the Twitter-verse:


Steve Ryan ‏@SteveRyanPoker
All I can say is WOW ...massive double in ridiculous hand ... Very grateful. Sitting pretty at 144k.. Lil shocked

Alex Queen ‏@ArgentinaBoy
Early double up AA > KK up to 115k 10 minutes left in the first level

Aaron Massey ‏@nevermissmassey
I'm out. I bluffed off 90k into quads. I'm a loser. #stevensegal

DJ MacKinnon ‏@djmacjr
I call with 22 on 643AJ...guy says "nice call man" and pounds the table...I flip my hand then he flips 55 lol...still at 70k #WPTBorgata

Chris Bourassa ‏@BoringAssa
Not the best level. 72.4k going to 4/800/75a. Lost JJ<Ax on AA5 flop then JJ<33 on QT3 flop. #BPO_23

Kyle Loman ‏@Kloman22
64K going to 400/800. Avg stack 62K. Still waiting for my rush.

Jared Hamby ‏@TWKftw
Playing day 2 WPT Borgata. Lost every pot during 1st level, then 1st hand of 400-800 lose AxAd vs TT on T96ddd for hella. Down to 32k

Pierre Deissler ‏@PierreDeissler
Wpt borg Main. 22k 600 bb w/ AK. Utg +2 raises 2k, I make it 5k. AK4 flop. T on turn. He has TT c u next year. #tpedge

WPT BPO: David Jones Blocker?

$3,300 + 200 WPT Borgata Poker Open Championship NLH

David Jones Doubles Up

Walking up to Table 30 we see a three bet of 4,500 bet in front of David Jones (York, PA).  The action would then be on Daniel Pignataro (Fairfield, NJ), who followed up with a four bet to 8,700.  As the action came around to Satish Gorrela (Sterling, VA), he folded he hand (showing the player next to him).  Pignataro claimed to have seen the ace of spades, and sure enough that card was then exposed for the players in the hand to see as well.  Jones then five bet all-in and Pignataro snap called:

Jones: Ac Ah            Pignataro: Ks Kc

Flop: 8d 2c 3h

Turn: 4c

River: 10c

Jones would doubles his stack to over 100,000, while Pignataro who had chipped up since the beginning of the day takes a major hurt to his stack.

WPT BPO: Mad Dog Put Down

$3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Poker Open Championship NLH 

Michael 'Mad Dog' Shasho (Ramsey, NJ) got his short-stack all-in with pocket Jacks.

Unfortunately he ran into pocket Kings.

Mad Dog Shasho

Then a King hit the flop, leaving the Mad Dog drawing slim.

He busted out, then headed over to event 24, where he's now trying again.

WPT BPO: Tough Crowd

$3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Poker Open Championship NLH

Back on table 63 is a tough lineup of local tournament grinders.


Jason Paster, Chris Vandeursen, & Matt Mazzeo

Jason Paster (Hamilton, NJ), Chris Vandeursen (Philadelphia, PA), and Matt 'Muffins' Mazzeo (E Williston, NY) are all seated at the end of table 63.

WPT BPO: Level 10 Begins

$3,300 + 200 WPT Borgata Poker Open Championship NLH

Level 10 has just begun, with blinds going up to 400/800/75.  Players will have a fifteen minute break at the end of this level.

WPT BPO: Peek-A-Boo-di

$3,300 + 200 WPT Borgata Poker Open Championship NLH

Bobby Oboodi

Many people were wondering whether Bobby Oboodi (Morris Plains, NJ) would show up to defend his WPT Borgata Poker Open Championship Title.  Bobby won last years event and took home $922,441, edging out Sang Hwang who busted out of this event yesterday and is now playing in Event 24 ($400 + 50 NLH Re-Entry).  Dan Buzgon and Fred Goldberg were also members of last years final table, and are still looking for a repeat performance in this years event.

WPT BPO: Rocha's Aces Cracked

$3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Poker Open Championship NLH

Another first-hand-of-the-day departure.  Alex Rocha arrived late, but busted out on the first hand he played.

Alex Rocha

Alex, who finshed third in event 12, $350 NL Six Max -- the one that Grace Sun won -- held pocket Aces, which failed to hold up.

Alex is now playing event 24, the $400 + $50 NL event.

WPT BPO: Hard Day's Night

$3,300 + 200 WPT Borgata Poker Open Championship NLH

WPT's Mike Sexton and Kyle Burnside 

It's always exciting to wake up knowing that you're going into Day 2 of the WPT Borgata Poker Open Championship.  One of the first thing that many of these players will have done this morning is search for their table draw.  The day started with 70 tables, and each table has interesting pairings (so we can't not them all), but here are some of the tougher tables in the room:

Table 1:

Jeff Spence, Harrison Gimble, Brandon Guss, Alexander Queen

Table 29:

Bobby Oboodi, Vincent Napolitano, Scott Baumstein, Roland Israelashvili

Table 34:

Mike Sexton, Kyle Burnside, Justin Zaki, James St. Hilaire

Table 41:

Mukul Pahuja, Jesse Sylvia, Alan Kraut

Table 50:

Olivier Busquet, Shawn Busse, Jacobo Fernandez, Ronald Lee


WPT BPO: WPT Season X POY

$3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Poker Open Championship NLH

The WPT Season X Player of the Year race was hotly contested between Will 'the Thrill' Failla and Joe Serock.

Joe Serock & Will 'The Thrill' Failla

Will jumped out to an early lead, then Joe passed him in the point standing.

Well reclaimed the point lead, only to lose it back to Joe at the very end of the season.

Joe Serock is the WPT Season X Player of the Year.  His table broke and he was moved to table 58, just two tables over from Will Failla.

WPT BPO: Sun Down

$3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Poker Open Championship NLH

Grace Sun, winner of event 12, $350 NL Six Max, and the only woman to win an open preliminary event during this series, has busted out.

Grace Sun, with her trophy from event 12

According to her table, she shoved for ~20k on the first hand with 32 off...and lost.

WPT BPO: Cards Are In The Air

$3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Poker Open Championship NLH

Level 9:  Blinds 300/600 with 75 ante.

Day two is underway with 626 returning players packing the event center to capacity (along with event 24).

Event 24: More Familiar Faces

$400 + $50 No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry)

More familiar faces are turning up in today's 'other' main event:

Chris Reslock
Will Dugan
Greg Glassman
Howard Wolper
Mike Dentale
Andrew Interdonato
Wazir Baksh

And more players who have busted out of the championship:

Roman Valerstein
Jason 'Gorilla Fish' Evans
John Kolinar
Marsha Wolak

Event 24: Second Chance?

$400 + $50 No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry)

Unfortunately for these players, they took their shot in the Championship event, but did not survive day 1A.

Mike 'Little Man' Sica

Being the poker enthusiasts that they are, they're back today to play in this other main event:

Mike 'Little Man' Sica
Barry Shulman
Jin Hwang
Frank Ingardia
Cathy Dever
Tony Antonious
Andrew Klein
Luigi Grilla

That's the great thing about Borgata...if you bust out of one tournament, there will be another one starting before you know it!

Event 24: Shuffle Up & Deal

$400 + $50 No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry)
 
Today's other main event is a one day $400 + $50 No Limit Hold'em tournament.

Players began with 15,000 chips and levels are 30 minutes long.

Level 1 Blinds:  25/50.

Late registrations and re-entries are allowed through the end of the break after level 6.

Players who bust out during the first six levels may chose to re-enter as many times as they like.

This is a one day event, which means they'll play all night until a winner is determined.

WPT BPO: Table Assignments

WPT Borgata Poker Open Championship
Event 23: $3,300 + $200 Championship No Limit Hold'em

Entries:  1,181
Total Buy-In:  $3,897,300

Players Remaining:  625
Average Chip Stack: 56,700

START OF DAY 2 TABLE ASSIGNMENTS & CHIP COUNTS:
T01 | S01:   JASON ANDREWS (PITTSBURG, PA):  66,425
T01 | S02:   JEFFREY SPENCE (KING OF PRUSSIA, PA):  30,725
T01 | S03:   ERIC TAMM (PRINCETON, NJ):  25,575
T01 | S04:   HARRISON GIMBEL (JUPITER, FL):  27,375
T01 | S05:   JAMES BROADBENT (SMITHS, BER):  98,925
T01 | S06:   SUK SUNG (TORRANCE, CA):  42,450
T01 | S07:   KYLE BOWKER (WALTON, NY):  201,000
T01 | S08:   BRANDON GUSS (HOLLAND, PA):  141,900
T01 | S09:   ALEXANDER QUEEN (BETHLEHEM, PA):  54,850

T02 | S01:   COREY JACKSON (BROCKVILLE, CAN):  39,300
T02 | S02:   BRANDON SETZER (CHARLOTTE, NC):  51,300
T02 | S03:   DAVID WEISBERGER (NEW YORK, NY):  55,900
T02 | S04:   MATTHEW BRADY (HAVERTOWN, PA):  81,875
T02 | S05:   JAMES POPER (POTTSTOWN, PA):  185,100
T02 | S06:   WILLIAM ONEIL (COLLEGE PARK, MD):  30,375
T02 | S07:   PATRICIA BARSANTI-CHOU (METUCHEN, NJ):  26,625
T02 | S08:   ROBERT KOSS (MACOMB, MI):  65,500
T02 | S09:   SCOTT WARDELL (TABERNACLE, NJ):  13,025

T03 | S01:   JOHN RACENER (TAMPA, FL):  33,200
T03 | S02:   TOM MCCORMICK (FARGO, ND):  36,100
T03 | S03:   JEFFREY GROSS (BALTIMORE, MD):  52,500
T03 | S04:   DANIEL MAKOWSKY (NEW YORK, NY):  93,275
T03 | S05:   BRYAN MORTON (DAVIE, FL):  48,450
T03 | S06:   ANTHONY BALLETTA (VALLEY COTTAGE, NY):  146,525
T03 | S07:   TSONG LIN (CAPE MAY, NJ):  133,625
T03 | S08:   RALPH ROBINSON (STONE MOUNTAIN, GA):  42,875
T03 | S09:   DAVIS ADAMS (TALLAHASSEE, FL):  17,875

T04 | S01:   WILLIAM SHARKEY (LEDYARD, CT):  103,000
T04 | S02:   MICHAEL SHELTON (GUILFORD, CT):  28,125
T04 | S03:   JOSEPH MACRI (ALIQUIPPA, PA):  13,550
T04 | S04:   GARY BELLER (DEERFIELD, IL):  49,400
T04 | S05:   MICHAEL BENISTY (NEW YORK, NY):  64,300
T04 | S06:   PETER MALKOUN (BROOKHAVEN, PA):  24,725
T04 | S07:   TOMASZ GLINIECKI (JACKSON, NJ):  20,000
T04 | S08:   MICHAEL SANTORO (EGG HARBOR, NJ):  78,050
T04 | S09:   MARGUERITE SPAGNUOLO (STATEN ISLAND, NY):  32,575

T05 | S01:   FRANCIS CIPRIANO (WATERTOWN, CT):  30,375
T05 | S02:   SCOTT BLACKMAN (EGG HARBOR TWP, NJ):  64,000
T05 | S03:   PAUL PEDRETTI (MINEOLA, NY):  118,850
T05 | S04:   JASON DEUTSCH (STATEN ISLAND, NY):  51,175
T05 | S05:   MICKAEL MORGOUSKY (BROOKLYN, NY):  53,000
T05 | S06:   DOUGLAS MACKINNON (EAST AMHERST, NY):  69,775
T05 | S07:   SOUNG KIM (STATEN ISLAND, NY):  51,475
T05 | S08:   WENDY FREEDMAN (LAS VEGAS, NV):  100,450
T05 | S09:   LAWRENCE LIPMAN (FORT MYERS, FL):  11,225

Tuesday, September 18

TODAY'S EVENTS (EVENT CENTER)


11AM: Event 24 - $400 + $50 No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry)
  • Players start with 15,000 in tournament chips 
  • Levels will last 30 minutes each
  • Players may Re-Enter through Level 6
  • 1-Day event


12PM: Event 23 - $3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Poker Open Championship NLH
  • Day 2 Levels will last 75 minutes each 
  • Day 2 ends after Level 16
  • 5-Day event with two starting days
  • Structure


6 PM: Event 52 - $100 + $20 + $25 Green Chip Bounty NLH (Re-Entry)
  • Players start with 10,000 in tournament chips 
  • This is a Bounty tournament.  Players must have their Bounty chips clearly displayed on table in order to remain active in tournament
  • Levels will last 20 minutes each 
  • Players may Re-Enter through Level 6
  • 1-Day event