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