Event 22: No Baloney For Tony

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

Tony Antonious - 750,000

Tony Antonious (Redington Shores, FL) knocked out Joe Wagner earlier and now doubles up to 750,000 in a pot against former chip leader Andrew Gilenl (Bronx, NY).

Chips were flying on a flop of 5-A-5.  Andrew jammed and Tony called.  Both fellows had an ace but Tony's Jack kicker was best and played.

Board: 5-A-5-4-3

Tony is now the chip leader as we're still on the final table bubble.

Event 22: Wagner Whacked

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

Joe Wagner - (Zebulon, NC)

$1,165

A gracious exit for Joe "Little Joe" Wagner who wishes all the remaining players good luck.  A hand that crippled Joe earlier was it folded around to his small blind and he purposely limped with A-4 suited.  As he hoped, the big blind jammed his last 60,000.  Joe snapped.

Opponent tabled 4-5 off and hit a miracle 4-4-5 on the flop.

Joe came back from that beat but couldn't win a race on his final hand against Tony Antonious (Redington Shores, FL).

Joe 77 vs. Tony KJ

Board: K-K-Q-2-3

Joe enjoyed his time in the tournament and is glad to capture some WPT points for his 12th Place finish.  Says hi to his daughter Cheyenne who follows the blog.

Event 22: Paul Gets Mauled

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

Joseph Paul (Herndon, VA)  fell one short of the Championship qualifier he played in, but makes some money in Event 22 ($986).  "I had a blast" said Joseph during his exit interview.

He plays poker once every 3 or 4 months as his work in the courier service industry doesn't allow him too much free time.

Joseph had AK up against AJ and QQ.  Clean board ran out and AK was felted.

A couple other of our current bust-outs.

13 - Joseph Paul (Herndon, VA) - $986
14 - Michael Massey (Myrtle Beach, SC) - $986
15 - Nissim Chabi (Brooklyn, NY) - $986
16 - Scotty Einiger (Montebello, NY) - $896

Championship: Recent Bustages

$3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship NLH

Players recently hitting the rail include 2010 WPT Borgata Poker Open Champion Dwyte Pilgrim (Brooklyn, NY), Kevin Saul (Chicago, IL) and Rob Brown (West Ossipee, NH).

Championship:Sly Like a Fox

$3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship NLH

 Zekster & Fox

Flying below the radar on Day 2 has been David Fox (Coram, NY), who has slowly built his stack to 350k and is one of the bigger ones in the room.

While Fox is building chip castles, he's quick to complement Igor Zektser (Los Angeles, CA) who is hanging on with a short stack.

"Before he got here," says Fox, "three players busted from that seat. He's doing a good job."

216 players remain with an average stack of 145k (60 bb) as Level 15 (1,200/2,400/300 ante) continues.

Event 22: Gilenl Goes Giant

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

Andrew Gilenl - 820,000

Huge pot for Andrew Gilenl (Bronx, NY) who takes 400,000 off of Mike Massey (Myrtle Beach, SC) moments before the break.

Andrew had A-K and Mike had A-Q.  A-K held up and just like that Andrew Gilenl is your tournament chip leader.

He's gonna have to watch out for Abraham Mevorah (Staten Island, NY) who had pocket aces in back to back hands.  Only 144,000 to one shot.

Mevorah is working with 645,000.

Event 22: Outta Here

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

Congratulations to the following players who have all made the money but are out of the tournament.

17 - Michael McCarty (Highland Park, NJ) - $896
18 - Reza Samadi (Tehran, Iran) - $896
19 - Johannes Meuller (Pittsford, NY) - $807
20 - Ziad Alameddine, (New York, NY) - $807
21 - Mark Mariano (East Hanover, NJ) - $807
22 - Andrew Klein (Ocean, NJ) - $807
23 - Yehuda Balin (Brooklyn, NY) - $807
24 - Brandon Vescio (Phoenix, AZ) - $807
25 - Dawn Lucarelli (Eldersburg, MD) - $807
26 - Howard Wolper (Atlantic City, NJ) - $807
27 - Scott Shoyer (Flourtown, PA) - $807

Players are on a ten minute break while the floor removes the 500 and 1000 chips.

Championship: Siegel Cripples Leventhal

$3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship NLH

Eric Siegel (Melville, NY) and Barry Leventhal (Brooklyn, NY) see a flop of Q♥ 10♥ 4♥ and are all in with Siegel at risk.

Siegel: K♥ J♥ (flush)
Leventhal: Q 10 (two pair)

Leventhal bricks the turn and river and sends Siegel a 110k double-up. The hand cripples Leventhal and he's out a few hands later.

Event 22: The McCarty's Over

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

Michael McCarty - 17th Place - $896

End of the road for Michael McCarty (Highland Park, NJ) who was crippled when his QQ saw Opponent's A-4 hit an Ace on the flop, then a couple hands later he had A-4 but couldn't improve against pocket nines.

In front of him in 18th Place was Reza Samadi (Tehran, Iran) who got mixed up in a monster pot.
Reza A-Q vs. Opponent's JJ.  Both guys loved the flop of 3-Q-J.

Board ran: 3-Q-J-Q-8

Final two tables are located as soon as you enter The Event Center but before you get to the Championship tables.  We'll be playing this out until we have a winner.

Event 22: Two Tables Strong

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

Table 1:
1. Joseph Paul (Herndon, VA)
2. Scotty "Mayhem" Einiger (Montebello, NY)
3. Daniel Gordon (Brick, NJ)
4. Abraham Mevorah (Staten Island, NY)
5. George Cain (Kings Park, NY)
6. Michael McCarty (Highland Park, NJ)
7. Tony Ruberto (Boston, MA)
8. Nissim Chabi (Brooklyn, NY)
9. John Iraj (Garden City, NY)
 

Table 2:
1. Andrew Gilen (Bronx, NY)
2. Reza Samadi (Tehran)
3. Gary Wong (New York, NY)
4. Greg Kolo (Rocky River, OH)
5. Scott "Zeke" McCurdy (Charlotte, NC)
6. Joe "Little Joe" Wagner (Zebulon, NC)
7. Kevin McColgan (Douglassville, PA)
8. Tony Antonious (Redington Shores, FL)
9. Mike Massey (Myrtle Beach, SC)

After the bubble burst players dropped out very quickly.  Here are your final two tables.

In an interesting sidenote, Greg Kolo drove 8 hours to play in this tournament.

Average stack is 203,823

Championship: Taylor-Brady Tank-Folds

$3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship NLH

 Many Poses of Taylor-Brady as Herz (in purple) Waits

We pick up the action with the board showing Qc 5d 7s Jh and E-tay Taylor-Brady (Havertown, PA) deep in the tank.

Taylor, who finished 9th in the Omaha H/L tournament, bet 43k and was reraised all in by Scott Herz (Austin, TX).

"Am I going to play all day to lose with this hand," says Taylor.

She folds telling the table she had pocket kings and a couple of players say it was good fold and they're convinced Herz had a set of queens or jacks.

Herz is up to 300k, while Taylor-Brady drops to 150k.

Level 15 (1,200/2,400/300 ante) is underway.

Event 22: Double Gong For Wong

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

Double knock-out for Gary Wong (New York, NY) who looks down at AA.  Normally you'd be excited to see pocket rockets, but Gary was nervous because he already had A-K four times and lost every one of them.

Dawn Lucarelli (Eldersburg, MD) shipped with QQ and Howard Wolper joined the party with JJ.

Board ran K-5-5-4-6 causing Gary to celebrate in disbelief that he actually won a pot, and a big one at that.  In one swoop he felted our Last Woman Standing and Borgata Poker Legend, Howard Wolper.

Lucarelli - 25th Place - $807
Wolper - 26th Place - $807

Gary Wong is up to 210,000 after the monster hand.

Event 22: Bubble Has Burst

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

Reza Samadi - Sends Field Into Money

It only took two hands of hand-for-hand action to burst the bubble and cause everyone to celebrate.

Thanks to Reza Samadi (Iran) whose A-K found two pair against Aditya Prasetyo's (Boston, MA) pocket Queens.  Aditya is the bubble boy and found his way to the exits.

Board: K-7-4-A-2

Top 27 are guaranteed at least $807 but have their eye on the top spot of $25,093.  Not bad for one day at the office.

Championship: Tough Tables

$3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship NLH

Table 28 is down and a tough collection of players are dispersing.

Event 2 winner Tom Dobrilovic (West Nyack, NY) has to decide if landing at Table 1 is better or worse for him.  Dobrilovic, who earned $68,000 for the win, leaves behind Todd Terry, Russ Dykshteyn, Mark Wahba and Patrick Chan.

His new home:

Table 1

Tom Dobrilovic
Dan Buzgon
Cherish Andrews
Thomas Hoglund

Other Tough Tables:

Table 4

Marsha Wolak
Stephen Rodriguez
Jonathan Little
Chris Reslock

Table 8

Brian Lemke
Dave Inselberg
Travis Williams
Mark Sykes

Table 13

Steve Dannenmann
Kyle Bowker
Billy O'Neil
Anthony Gregg

Table 18

Harry Korotki
Barry Leventhal
Eric Siegel
Travell Thomas

Event 22: Double Bubble

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

Mike Massey (Myrtle Beach, SC) knocks a player out on the double bubble with only 7-3.  Opponent was all in with A-Q and another player jumped in with A-4 suited.

A river 7 gave the pot to chip leader Massey and sent the field just one away from the money.

Board: 6-8-2-8-7

Players check it down realizing the implications of the almost in the money  moment.

Hand for hand play has begun.
 

Event 22: Mevorah Ha Ha

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

Abraham Mevorah - 245,000

Abraham "The Comedy Club King" Mevorah is back from dinner break ready to make a run at the chip lead.

He built his stack to 2nd in the room after running pocket 9's into Aces then spiking a 9 on the turn.

"The Seniors tournament is my specialty" joked Abraham who owns several comedy club in NY.  
Mevorah won the Seniors here last year and came in 2nd two years ago.

A couple players from the bubble as things have tightened up on the remaining three tables.

Championship: Take it to the Matt

$3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship NLH

Haugen & Matros

Matt Haugen (Chicago, IL) is back from dinner break and the chip leader with 450k.  He says the his biggest hand was a double-up with 4 6 on a 4 6 5 flop against pocket 10s.

It was a 220k chip pot and one of the few hands he's taken to showdown.

Haugen is on Table 26 and to the right of another Matt, Matt Matros who is a three-time WSOP bracelet holder.

Level 14 1k/2k/200 ante is underway.

Championship: Numbers Game

$3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship NLH

Number of Entries: 1,042
Players Remaining:  265
Chips in Play:  31.26 million

Big Stack:  450k (225 bb)
Average Stack:  118k (59 bb)

Next Blinds: 1k/2k/200 ante
Play Resumes: 8:15 pm

Total Buy-In:  $3,438,600
First Prize:  $730,053
Places Paid: 100 ($6,637 min cash)

Event 22: Dinner Bell Rings

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

$10 Dinner vouchers were handed out and the remaining 29 Players are taking a 60 minute dinner break.

Be back to start Level 16 at 8:25 PM where blinds will be 2500 / 5000 with 500 antes.

Next person out will be our tournament bubble earning $0 dollars.

Average stack is 115,000.

Cotton Snuffer was crippled in a 4-way all in pre-flop contest where his KK was rundown by AA.  A few hands later he ran into JJ's and is out the door.

Nancy Todd (Las Vegas, NV) is also out when her K-J suited failed to improve vs. 66.  That makes Dawn Lucarelli (Eldersburg, MD) out Last Woman Standing.

Championship: Dinner Break Tweet Counts

$3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship NLH

Players Tweeting their chip counts on dinner break:

Jake Toole 280k
Jordan Young 250k
Marsha Wolak 220k
Justin Zaki 190k
Josh Templeton 187k
Matt Matros 173k
Ed Pham 166k
Pat Ricci 134k
Jonathan Little 130k
Jonathan Roy 102k
Steve Scales 101k
Roman Valerstein 97k
Rob Brown 93k
Travell Thomas 75k

Play resumes at 8:15 pm with blinds going to 1k/2k/200 ante

Event 22: Massive Massey Stack

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

Mike Massey - 230,000

What a turn of events.  In two hands Mike Massey (Myrtle Beach, SC) crushes Michael Kiotis and knocks him out of the tournament.  Massey is now the chip leader with 230,000.

In hand number 1: Massey held A♣ J♦ vs. Kiotis 6♥ 8♥.   On a board of J♥ 9♥ 2♠ Kiotis jammed causing Massey to tank then finally call.  Mike faded the hearts and took a huge chunk of Michael's stack.

In hand number 2 (two hands later): Massey held A-K and saw a flop of 10-A-10.  Again Kiotis jammed and again Massey called with the best.  Kiotis tabled A-Q and did not improve.

So just like that with a one, two punch, one Michael is out and another is on top.

Mike Massey thanks his business partner Brad Davis at Davis & Massey Insurance whose working in the office so he can afford to be out playing poker.

Closing in on the bubble as 32 remain and 27 get a min cash of $807.

Championship: Dinner Time

$3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship NLH

On the last hand before dinner break, Mark Herm (Philadelphia, PA) and Tim Reilly (Natick, MA) go to the river.

The board shows 8♦ K♦ 2♥ 8♠ A♠, Herm bets 15k and Reilly calls.

Herm shows A♦ 9♦ for a pair of aces and Reilly mucks.

Both players are now at 140k as the remaining 265 players are on a 75 minute dinner break.

Event 22: Last Women Standing Battle

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

Nancy Todd - 70,000

Two ladies remain in Event 22, Nancy Todd (Las Vegas, NV) and Dawn Lucarelli (Eldersburg, MD).

Nancy just scooped back to back pots to pad her stack to 70,000.  She's still reeling from busting in the Championship but looking to finish strong here.  When Nancy's not playing poker she spends her time in the field of international politics.

Dawn Lucarelli - 130,000

Dawn Lucarelli is up to 130,000 putting her in the Last Woman Standing lead.  Big pot for Dawn came on an 8-K-8 flop where she had A-8 and Opponent held A-K.  Since then, JJ and KK have brought her chips without having to go to showdown.

Dawn is the Assistant Superintendent for Schools in her district.  She's currently taking some time off to work on and write her PHD dissertation.  So if the Superintendent happens to stumble over our coverage, let's just say that Dawn is researching and writing vigorously on her Ipad in between hands.

Championship: Recent Departures

$3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship NLH

The following players announced their eliminations via Twitter:

Marguerite Spagnuolo
Antonio Payne
Jason Deutsch
Brian O'Donoghue

We're just a few minutes from the 7 pm dinner break.

Championship: AA vs KK vs QQ

$3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship NLH

On Table 31 Richard Tatalovich (Scottsdale, AZ) gets a nice triple-up with pocket aces in a hand that features AA, KK & QQ.

"Good thing I had them both covered," says Steven Rodriguez (Staten Island, NY) who had the queens and drops to 12k, but is now at 25k.

Tatalovich is up to 100k and the player with pocket kings is out.

Other players on the table include Eric "Basebaldy" Baldwin and Kenny "Super Tuan" Nguyen and this will be the next table to break.

Event 22: Comeback Kiotis

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

Michael Kiotis - 160,000

What a difference an hour can make.  Just sixty minutes ago Michael Kiotis (Thornton, PA) was down to 3,000 chips begging for a river card to keep him afloat.  And now he's got a big stack of 160,000.

"I had KQ vs. AK and hit a Q on the river" said Kiotis when asked what hand got the ball rolling.

Dinner break at 7:30 PM.

Blinds are currently at 1500 / 3000 with 400 antes.

Enjoy BorgataPokerBlog full coverage until Event 22 ends tonight and we deliver the winner with $25,093 and a 2013 Borgata Winter Poker Open Event trophy.

Championship: 300k Club

$3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship NLH

 Hung Truong

In addition to Matt Burnitz (Bear, DE) and Chris Reslock (Atlantic City, NJ) cracking the 300k club,
Hung Truong (Freehold, NJ) and Jordan Young (Twin Lake, MI) are also above the mark and top 5 in chips.

Level 13 (800/1,600/200 ante) is underway and this will be the last level before the 7 pm dinner break.

 Jordan Young

Championship: Chip Chirps

$3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship NLH 

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

Here are the latest chip counts via Twitter:

Travis Williams - 229k
Jordan Young - 240k
Josh Templeton - 225k
Matt Matros - 223k
Tim Reilly - 198k
Marsha Wolak - 190k
Matt Salsberg - 184k
Buffalo Joey - 160kish
David Stefanski - 152k
Lee Childs - 146k
Jonathan Roy - 136k
Ryan D'Angelo - 110k
Adam Cook - 92k
Jonathan Little - 90k
Steve Scales - 86k
Kevin Saul - 50k
Antonio Payne - 44k
Chris Leong - 24k

Event 22: Payouts

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

Place........Amount
1...............$25,093
2...............$14,789
3...............$ 8,515
4...............$ 6,901
5...............$ 5,378
6...............$ 4,481
7...............$ 3,585
8...............$ 2,689
9...............$ 1,793
10-12........$ 1,165
13-15........$ 986
16-18........$ 896
19-27........$ 807

Total Buy-In: $92,400

Number of Entries: 231

Event 22: 11 am Flying Fast

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

47 players remain and are just 20 spots from the money.

The big stack is Tony Antonious (Reddington Shores, FL) with 300k (125 bb).

A couple of other healthy stacks include Kevin McColgan (Douglassville, PA) and Scott Eininger (Montebello, NY).

Chrstine Brewer, Andrew Klein and Howard Wolper are other familiar faces still playing for the $25,093 first prize

The average stack is 74k (31 bb) with blinds at 1,200/2,400/300 ante.

Championship: Burnitz Leads, Barely

$3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship NLH

End of level 12 and time for another break.

Matt Burnitz appears to be the chip leader with ~320k.

Chris Reslock (Atlantic City, NJ) is hot on his heels with ~315k.

They are seated at tables 3 and 4 respectively, so their tables will not break today.

Championship: More Tweet-Outs

$3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship NLH 

35 tables remain leaving 315 players still in action.  Average stack is 99k.

More departures reported via Twitter:

Tony Sinishtaj ‏@ToNiSiNz
60k & have 44 in the sb. Co opens to 3k i call. Flop 49J. Check check. Turn K.bet 5k He calls. River 9. I bet 15000. He puts me all in. Out

Michael Shasho ‏@mshasho22
@BorgataPoker One outed in $1,090 Two outed in the Main

John Racener ‏@racener
Busted borgata main event. #OWELL

Mike Linster ‏@tallmikepoker
Busted AQ to 45c on a106 2 q board with 3 clubs. Good luck to all my friends. 1 week off then down to Florida for WPT and west palm circuit.

Ari Engel ‏@realAriEngel
Bust in wpt borgata.

Manh Nguyen ‏@MunMunny
I am no longer in Borgata WPT Main Event.

Noah j Schwartz ‏@noahjschwartz
Out of @WorldPokerTour @Borgata had open ended straight flush draw and shipped it in on turn. #busto.com lonely trip back home

Jared Jaffee ‏@jaredjaffee21
Out.... Great day

James St. Hilaire ‏@JamesStHilaire
And busto shoved 29k over a button open with K9dd < ATo. Gl everyone still in

Championship: Marji Busted

 $3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship NLH

A short-stacked Melad Marji (Brigantine, NJ) was all-in holding QJ.

 Ben Bianco

A not quite as short-stacked Ben Bianco (Franklin Square, NJ) was all-in holding AQ of diamonds.

Big stack Matt Burnitz held AQ also.

When the board ran out, Bianco made the nut flush to triple up and Melad Marji was busted. 

Championship: Blinding Off a Day 2 No Show

$3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship NLH

Walsh with a Double Ante

Maksim Budovskiy (Mastic, NY) has yet to arrive on Table 8 and his stack is being blinded off.

Budovskiy began the day with 29,325, but three-and-a-half levels later is down to 8,600.

Dan Walsh (Holmdel, NJ) has been helping out the dealers by posting Budovskiy's blinds and antes.  Walsh enjoys the extra elbow room, but would have preferred the chance to get more than just a few chips at a time.

324 players remain with an average stack of 96k (80 bb) as Level 12 (600/1,200/100 ante) continues.

Championship: Barnes Bites Big Stack

$3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship NLH 

On the turn with a board of A T 2 A, Chris Barnes (Raynham, MA) was all-in for 106,200 on the button.

Big stack Hung Truong (Freehold, NJ) was in the big blind and tanked for a couple of minutes.

Truong finally decided to let it go.  He's dropped down to ~320k.

Championship: Burnitz On Fire

$3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship NLH

Matt Burnitz

On a flop of A J 9, the short-stack in seat 9 was all-in and called by Matt Burnitz (Bear, DE).

Seat 9 had AK for top/top, but Matt had AJ for top two.

The last two fell 7 9 and changed nothing.

Matt Burnitz chipped up to ~390k and possibly the chip lead.

Matt was the runner-up in the 2012 BPO Championship event, taking home $488,850.

Championship: Good Karma for Castro

$3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship NLH

Gene Castro (Henderson, NV) gets a double-up and is now at 90k.

Castro, one of the co-founders of Poker Players International (PPI), sends a shoutout to his wife Kristine and daughters Karma and Katie.

Eric "Clownfish" Doerr (Newark, DE) isn't as fortunate as he's done for the day when his JJ is cracked by 88.

Level 12 (600/1,200/100 ante) is underway.

Championship: More Tweet-Outs

$3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship NLH   

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

More players have said their good-byes via Twitter.  Their parting shots:

Robert Hwang ‏@ActionBobNJ
Busto. Good luck to all friends still in.

David Kim ‏@davekim01
Busted, AcKc vs AdKd all in pre, flop Qd5d2d. Good luck everyone

Mukul Pahuja ‏@MukulPahuja
Out of borg main, AQo<JJ when kid flatted mohsins open then backshoved 47bbs after I squeezed btn and mohsin hooded. Meh, gl friends

Tony Nikaj ‏@tonynikaj
Started day 2 with 24k , get it up to 30k at 4/800 and lose a flip JJ<AQ #showers

Joseph Lopes ‏@jlopes_44
Bust, GL everyone.

john andress ‏@johnea6
I open AK 2500 3b 6k ip @neenius all In 15k I Iso AK for 68k eff and run into aces of 3 bettor. Busto #noose

Championship: Big Stacks Emerging

$3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship NLH

 Sam Taylor

300k

A couple of familiar faces are at the top of the chip counts in Sam Taylor (New York, NY) and Chris Reslock (Atlantic City, NJ).

Taylor, who finished third in Event 1 ($137,000) is up to 300k, while Reslock, the three-time Borgata trophy holder is at 250k.

Level 11 (500/1k/100 ante) is winding down.

Chris Reslock

250k

Championship: Pilgrim Busts Queen

$3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship NLH

Alex Queen (Bethlehem, PA) sends his short stack to Dwyte Pilgrim (Brooklyn, NY). Queen was short after losing a flip then goes all in with A 8, but Pilgrim's J 7 hits a jack to get the knockout.

Pilgrim was the 2010 WPT Borgata Poker Open Champion for $733,000, while Queen won the Spring Championship Event that year for $356,000.

Championship: Eriquezzo Ejected

$3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship NLH  

Ryan Eriquezzo (Danbury, CT) shoved over an opener and ended up all-in against Arthur Brown (Brooklyn, NY).

Ryan - J3 of clubs
Arthur - 77

Ryan flopped a flush draw, but failed to connect in any way on the last two.  Ryan reported to the rail.

Watch his video interview by Jeanine Deeb of the WPT here.

Follow Ryan Eriquezzo on his blog.

Championship: Another Sick Table

$3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship NLH  

Table 37 has seen some turnover with Neville Darrell (Sarasota, FL) busting out, Amanda Musumeci (Philadelphia, PA) arriving, then busting out, and Jonathan Little arriving to fill her seat.

Table 37

 
Here's the current lineup:

Mark Wahba
Elan Branas
Orson Young
Brian Nettles
Travis Williams
Jonathan Little
Anthony Cousineau
Yury Parad

Event 22: 11 am Cut in Half

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

The 231 players who began the 11 am tournament is down to 12 tables and 120 players.

The average stack is 29k (36 bb) with blinds at 400/800/75 ante.

This is a trophy event and counts towards the Borgata Winter Poker Open Leaderboard, as do Events 23-25 later this week.

Remaining Schedule.

Championship: Chip Chirps

$3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship NLH

Break-Time chip counts via Twitter (keep those Tweets coming!  #BWPO):

Travis Williams - 209,700
Jordan Young - 195k
Tim Reilly - 166k
Alty - 157k
Travell Thomas - 150k
Matt Matros - 146k
Buffalo Joey - 140k
Lee Childs - 140k
Josh Templeton - 136k
Steve Scales - 130k
Todd Terry - 132,300
Jonthan Little - 120k
Matt Salsberg - 120k
David Inselberg - 118k
Jonathan Roy - 113k
Dan Buzgon - 113k
Kevin Saul - 112k
Roman Valerstein - 102k
James St. Hilaire - 98k
Marsha Wolak - 86k
Justin Zaki - 76k
David Stefanski - 66k
Adam Cook - 60,375
Patrick Ricci - 55,500
Chris Leong - 50k
Mike Dentale - 46k
Antonio Payne - 45.2k
Rob Brown - 44k
Matt Stout - 38k
Ryan Eriquezzo - 30k
Ari Engel - 20k

Championship: Tony v. Tony

$3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship NLH 

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

Table 36

Before the break:

Tony Dunst and Tony Sinishtaj see flop of K 8 6 and get all their chips in the middle.

Dunst - 22 (ahead with pair)
Sinishtaj - AQ (nut-no-pair & overs)

The last two fell J 7 and Dunst's ducks held up for the double up.  He chipped up to almost 50k.

The two Tonys are sharing the felt with Kyle Burnside, Steve Dannenmann, and Cuong Phung.

Championship: Queens Quacked

$3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship NLH 

A short-stack was all-in with KJ offsuit against Melad Marji (Brigantine, NJ) who had pocket Queens.

The board ran out K 9 5 2 J and Melad had to ship the double across the table.

Melad is the 2012 Borgata Summer Poker Open Champion.  He picked up $198,078 for that win last year.

End of level two and time for a color-up break.

Championship: Tweet-Outs

$3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship NLH

These folks have signed out via Twitter:

Jeremy Ausmus ‏@jeremyausmus
Ewww after my brag I busted. I decided to 3 bet bluff flop then shove turn when I picked up draw. He had the slow played AA.. im real good

alex rocha ‏@THE_ALEX_ROCHA
A6 < KJ all in pre. AQJxK. Gg! Gl to friends still in!

Amanda Musumeci ‏@TheReaLMander
Annd thats a wrap. Busto bwo main :( pretty sad. Managed to get it in, yes youre reading right... vs two ppl with aa. Gg n gl pals remaining

Adam Levy ‏@Roothlus
Won 1st and 3rd pot of the day and lost the next 8. Not good for a 30bb stack. Out. Manhattan for a few days then back to Florida.

John G ‏@JohnGsss
Busto a10 vs kk aiof #anotherdonation

 Mike Leah ‏@GoLeafsGoEh
Not my best day of poker...had 3bet light multiple times; didn't feel like 3bet folding TT; ran into AA.... #gg #borgatamaineventday2 #home

Shannon Shorr ‏@ShannonShorr
Out of @WorldPokerTour Borgata!

Eric Baldwin Interview

Bill Ordine, editor of PhillyGambles.com, takes a moment to interview professional poker player Eric Baldwin during the WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship event.

Championship: Savage Sent Packing

$3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship NLH

Orson Young (Oceanport, NJ) opened from the hijack, got a call from the small blind, then Trevor Savage (bb) raised to 4,400.

Orson 4-bet to 9k, the small blind got out of the way, and Trevor shoved for ~30k.

Orson called with pocket 9s.

Trevor was racing with AK, but came up short when the board bricked out.

Orson chipped up to ~70k and Trevor hit the rail.

Championship: Sica Sacked

$3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship NLH

After Russell Crane (Howell, NJ) opened, Mike 'Little Man' Sica (N Brunswick, NJ) called from the button.

On the flop of Q 7 4 with two spades, Russell fired 1,700, Mike raised to 4,200, Russell made it 8k, and Mike called.

Turn was an offsuit 2.  Russell checked, Mike shoved, and Russell snap-called.

Mike - A7 of spades (pair of 7s, flush draw)
Russell - QQ (set of Queens)

River was an Ace and no help to Little Man.  He was sent packing.

Championship: Table That Never Breaks

$3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship NLH

Level 10:  400/800 with 75 ante.

Another sick table thanks to the random table draw is table one.  Since they break tables from high to low, table one never breaks, so the only way off this table today is to bust out.

Table 1

Starting the day at table one are

Dan Buzgon
Luis Vazquez (late arrival, not pictured)
David Stefanski
Andrew Glauberg
Chris Bell
Bem Hamnett - 2012 BPO Champion
Brian Nichols
Adam 'Roothlus' Levy
Thomas Hoglund

Championship: More Action

$3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship NLH

Don Fisher (Manchester, NH) ran his pocket Queens into pocket Kings and busted out.

Wayne Lewis (Galloway, NJ) got his pocket Kings cracked by pocket Queens to bust.

Aaron Massey (Elmwood Park, IL) also got his Kings cracked and was eliminated.

Joe Cappuccio (Hammonton, NJ) shoved his short stack with Q8, running into AK.  He's also reported to the rail.

Jacob Bazeley (Cincinnati, OH) was racing with AQ against Ronald Lee's (Brookyn, NY) pocket 6s.  The pair held and Jacob was toast.

Championship: Unlucky Table 13?

$3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship NLH

The overnight random table draw has resulted in table 13 being heavily loaded with poker talent.

Table 13

Currently seated there are

Joe Serock
Peter Malkoun
Kyle Bowker
Allie Prescott
Mike Scarborough
William O'Neil
Cornel Cimpan
Collin Whyte (late arrival, not pictured)
William Phillips

Championship: Early Action

$3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship NLH

Matt Affleck (Seattle, WA) ran his pocket Kings into the pocket Aces of Natalie Bereznyak (Rumson, NJ).  He busted out in early action today.

Marsha Wolak (Sarasota, FL) took out a short-stack when her AQ smashed the flop of A Q 2.

Ryan D'Angelo doubled up when his AT cracked pocket Aces.

After a player opened for 1,500, Dwyte Pilgrim (Brooklyn, NY) 30-bet to 3,300, then Steve Tabb (Newton, MA) 4-bet.  Dwyte shoved and Steve called.

Dwyte - AA
Steve - AJ

Dwyte's Aces held up and Steve was busted.

Championship: Fox Doubles

$3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship NLH

 Nikolaos Alafogiannis, Jia Liu, & David Fox

David Fox (Coram, NY) got all-in for 17,975 against Nikolaos Alafogiannis (North York, CAN).

David's AQ off was racing against Nikolaos' pocket 9s.

The flop came Q J T, giving David the lead with a pair of Queens.

It was over when the Kings fell on the turn, giving both a straight, but giving David Broadway and the double-up.

Championship: Day Two Underway

$3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship NLH

Level 9:  Blinds 300/600 with 75 ante.

Levels are 75 minutes long today (Day three & four levels go to 90 minutes).

Cards are in the air!

Championship: Beginning Momentarily

$3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship NLH

Of the 1,042 entries in this event, only 567 made it to day two.

Those players are pouring into the Event Center to find their seats for day two.  Sixty-three tables (nine-handed) will be getting underway shortly.

Here's a reminder what's at stake:

Place - Amount

1st     $730,053
2nd   $438,698
3rd    $265,475
4th    $222,336
5th    $182,514
6th    $147,671
7th    $117,805
8th      $89,598
9th      $61,391
10-12  $39,821
13-15  $28,207
16-18  $18,251
19-27  $14,933
28-36  $12,942
37-45  $11,615
46-54  $10,287
55-63   $9,292
64-72   $8,296
73-81   $7,632
82-90   $6,969
91-100 $6,637

Event 22: Wolper the Artist & Writer

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

The legendary Howard Wolper is not only a poker player playing in this event, but also an artist and writer.

Before Howard won three Borgata Open titles, he "created conceptual and performance artwork in the 70s and 80s. A spinning self portrait game, a random element dispenser, a popular NY art rock group Suicide (with Alan Vega) and the Howie’s (clones playing household appliances) to mention a few. Disillusioned with the NY art scene in the mid 90s, he became a poker pro and later a poker champion."

He's now written a book which is available online.

You can read more about Howard and sample his book on his web site at howardevanwolper.com.

Event 22: Familiar Faces

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


There are some familiar faces in today's other main event and some of them played the Championship event, but didn't make it to day two.

Here are the early birds, looking to catch some worms:

Andrew Klein
Kevin McColgan
Jordan Ludwick
Paul Shedaker
Ray Brennan
Shawn Cunix
David Heck
Chris Farley

This event is taking place in the side section of the Event Center since day two of the Championship event will consume most of the main section.

Event 22: Post-Lim Underway

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

If the events leading up to the Championship are pre-lims, then today's one-day event must be a post-lim.

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

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, so they'll play all night until a winner is determined.

Level 1:  Blinds 25/50.

Shuffle Up & Deal!

Borgata Winter Poker Open Leaderboard Update (1/29)

Borgata Winter Poker Open Leaderboard
By participating in any Borgata Winter Poker Open event (January 15 - February 1, 2013), players earn points based upon the Borgata Winter Poker Tournament Leaderboard Formula.

Below are the top scores for the 2013 Borgata Winter Poker Open Leaderboard*

(Final Results from Main Events: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20 
                     Secondary events: 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47,48, 49, 50, 51, 52)

835.538:  MICHAEL LINSTER
594.665:  MICHAEL DENTALE
540.875:  TOMISLAV DOBRILOVIC
530.525:  JOSEPH STIERS
489.653:  TOMASZ GLINIECKI
483.663:  SAMUEL TAYLOR
479.325:  GARY LUCCI
466.288:  IVERSON SNUFFER
455.163:  BEZHAN HAMDARD
444.370:  ROBERT MIDGETTE
432.150:  ELAN BRANAS
422.813:  NASHAAT ANTONIOUS
421.138:  ROBERT PANITCH
415.445:  ROBERT QUIGLEY III
414.775:  JEFFREY EINSIDLER
412.475:  AARON MASSEY
400.758:  H MICHAEL BOROVETZ
398.568:  MUKUL PAHUJA
393.925:  BARUCH THALER
393.388:  COLLIN WHYTE
382.200:  TANIOS ABI-YAGHI
379.278:  NICHOLAS PALMA
372.650:  PEARCE-CHRISTIAN ARNOLD
368.625:  IBRAIM IBRAIMOVIC
368.063:  JEFFREY PAPOLA
368.063:  ALEXANDER ROCHA
364.223:  ALAN KRAUT
363.863:  GORDON ENG
361.788:  SHERVIN GOLBARI
361.550:  LAURENCE WOLF
348.713:  CUONG PHUNG
346.588:  BARRY LEVENTHAL
345.250:  RYAN ERIQUEZZO

Championship Day 2 Table Assignments

Borgata Winter Poker Open
Event 21: WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship NLH
January 27 - February 1, 2013

Entries:  1,042
Total Buy-In: $3,438,600

Players Remaining: 567
Average Chip Stack:  55,000

START OF DAY 2 TABLE ASSIGNMENTS & CHIP COUNTS:
T01 | S01 -   DANIEL BUZGON (MARLTON, NJ):  90,525
T01 | S02 -   LUIS VAZQUEZ (TAUNTON, MA):  182,075
T01 | S03 -   DAVID STEFANSKI (EASY LYME, CT):  44,600
T01 | S04 -   ANDREW GLAUBERG (TENAFLY, NJ):  100,100
T01 | S05 -   CHRISTOPHER BELL (RALEIGH, NC):  83,600
T01 | S06 -   BENJAMIN HAMNETT (PITTSBURGH, PA):  55,175
T01 | S07 -   BRIAN NICHOLS (EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP, NJ):  20,200
T01 | S08 -   ADAM LEVY (WEST HOLLYWOOD, CA):  29,325
T01 | S09 -   THOMAS HOGLUND (NEW BEDFORD, MA):  60,350

T02 | S01 -   JAMES ANDERSON (WOOSTER, OH):  96,750
T02 | S02 -   ANTHONY ZINNO (CRANSTON, RI):  90,300
T02 | S03 -   MATTHEW GLANTZ (LAFAYETTE HILL, PA):  108,500
T02 | S04 -   LEONARD J SANDE (WETHERSFIELD, CT):  24,750
T02 | S05 -   DAVID WILLIAMS (SYKESVILLE, MD):  52,575
T02 | S06 -   MICHAEL FORCA (BABYLON, NY):  12,500
T02 | S07 -   DARRYL RONCONI (NAPERVILLE, IL):  55,075
T02 | S08 -   YAT CHENG (BROOKLYN, NY):  61,750
T02 | S09 -   JOHN SCAIFE (NEW YORK, NY):  57,800

T03 | S01 -   JACK SCHANBACHER (PITTSBURGH, PA):  81,700
T03 | S02 -   BETH SHAK (BRYN MAWR, PA):  49,825
T03 | S03 -   FRANCIS CIPRIANO (WATERTOWN, CT):  50,500
T03 | S04 -   BENEDETTO BIANCO (FRANKLIN SQUARE, NY):  109,700
T03 | S05 -   ANTHONY MAIO (JAMISON, PA):  40,350
T03 | S06 -   MARGUERITE SPAGNUOLO (STATEN ISLAND, NY):  58,850
T03 | S07 -   MATTHEW BURNITZ (BEAR, DE):  96,375
T03 | S08 -   CUONG NGUYEN (SANTA ANA, CA):  65,700
T03 | S09 -   DAVID ELDRIDGE (CRANBERRY TWP, PA):  109,775

T04 | S01 -   ALAN DWORETSKY (WOODMERE, NY):  67,600
T04 | S02 -   NICHOLAS PALMA (BRONX, NY):  78,625
T04 | S03 -   YAACOV HAVIV (STUDIO CITY, CA):  86,200
T04 | S04 -   SEAN WINTER (JACKSONVILLE, FL):  32,050
T04 | S05 -   JOSEPH GOSSWEILER (ROSELAND, NJ):  40,550
T04 | S06 -   JAMES CARROLL (HENDERSON, NV):  92,975
T04 | S07 -   CHRIS RESLOCK (ATLANTIC CITY, NJ):  71,125
T04 | S08 -   JEFFREY MAHONEY (LONDON, CAN):  103,725
T04 | S09 -   JEFFREY VERTES (ABBOTSFORD, CAN):  22,850

T05 | S01 -   NIMER LTAIF (OTTAWA, CAN):  163,725
T05 | S02 -   SHON MAKATON (ALFARETTA, GA):  108,500
T05 | S03 -   LEONID VIZIROV (CHALFONT, PA):  52,250
T05 | S04 -   RAY QARTOMY (SUGAR LAND, TX):  160,500
T05 | S05 -   MATTHEW GIANNETTI (CLIFTON PARK, NY):  89,475
T05 | S06 -   MARIO RODRIGUEZ (JERSEY CITY, NJ):  69,250
T05 | S07 -   ARI EIBLUM (ELDERSBURG, MD):  94,000
T05 | S08 -   DANIEL KOH (JERSEY CITY, NJ):  14,075
T05 | S09 -   KONSTANTINE BASIOS (ASTORIA, NY):  43,100

Tuesday, January 29

TODAY'S EVENTS (Event Center) 

11AM: Event 22 - $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 21 - WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship - Day 2 

• Day 2 Levels will last 75 minutes each
• 5-Day event

6 PM: Event 53 - $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 chip clearly displayed on table in order to remain active in tournament
• Levels will last 20 minutes each
• 1-Day event

Championship Day 1B Recap / Day 2 Preview

$3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship NLH

Mark Ketteringham (Las Vegas, NV) is the chip leader with 194k heading into Day 2 of the Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship event.  He leads 567 players who return for their shot at the $730,053 first prize.

The 1,042 total entries helped smash the $2 Million Guaranteed prize pool as the buy-ins reached $3,438,600.

Ketteringham, the Day 1B chip leader, is ahead of  Chris Barnes (Vancouver, Canada), who bagged 190k and Day 1A chip leader Luis Vazquez (Taunton, MA) who is at 182k and third overall.

Play resumes noon Tuesday with the average stack of 55k (92 bb) and blinds beginning with Level 9 (300/600/75 ante).

Check back after 9 am for a complete list of chip counts and the Day 2 table draw

Championship Totals:

Day 1A entries: 397 (209 survived)
Day 1B entries: 645 (358 survived)

Total entries: 1,042 
Players Remaining:  567 (54% of field)
Chips in Play:  31.26 million

Big Stack:  194k (323 bb)
Average Stack:  55k (92 bb)
 
Next Blinds: 300/600/75 ante

Play Resumes: 12 pm Tuesday

Total Buy-In:  $3,438,600
First Prize:  $730,053
Places Paid: 100 ($6,637 min cash)

Championship: Payouts

$3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship NLH

Entries: 1,042
Total Buy-In: $3,438,600

Place - Amount

1st $730,053
2nd $438,698
3rd $265,475
4th $222,336
5th $182,514
6th $147,671
7th $117,805
8th $89,598
9th $61,391
10-12 $39,821
13-15 $28,207
16-18 $18,251
19-27 $14,933
28-36 $12,942
37-45 $11,615
46-54 $10,287
55-63 $9,292
64-72 $8,296
73-81 $7,632
82-90 $6,969
91-100 $6,637

Championship: Kettering Catches $5,000 Bonus

$3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship NLH

Mark Ketteringham

Chip Leader

Mark Ketteringham (Las Vegas, NV) goes from an above average stack to chip leader during the final five hands of play.

First he flops a flush to pick up 50k, then continues his hot streak on the last hand of the night. Ketteringham flops a set of 7s to crack pocket kings to pick up another 50k to end play with 194k and grab the $5,000 bonus.

"I've always heard about the great turnouts," says Ketteringham who is playing in his first Borgata tournament.  "They always have great numbers and I had to check it out."

Ketteringham edges Chris Barnes (Vancouver, Canada) who bags 190k and earns the $3,500 bonus as the second largest stack.

"I had chips all day," says Barnes, who wasn't focused on the bonuses. "I really didn't have any big hands or big stories."

While both players are happy with the extra money, each are more concerned about the bigger goal.

"I didn't come three thousand miles for $5,000," says Ketteringham, "I came for first place," as he eyes the $730,053 first place prize.

Barnes Bags Second Place Bonus

Championship: Big Stacks Claim Bonuses

$3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship NLH

Mark Ketteringham (Las Vegas, NV) 193,775 and Chris Barnes (Vancouver, Canada) 189,500 are the end of night chip leaders and claim their respective bonuses.

Ketteringham earns $5,000 as the chip leader while Barnes takes home $3,500 for finishing second overall.

Championship: 5 More Hands

$3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship NLH

With 10 minutes left on the tournament clock, Tournament Director Tab Duchateau announces that each table will play five more hands.

Once play is finished players will bag and tag for the night.

Championship: Tough Tables

$3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship NLH

Now that re-entry is closed our tough tables won't have much turnover.

Players on Table 45 are glad that they're breaking as Allen Kessler, Matt "Muffins" Mazzeo, Steve Dannenmann and Tony Greg are finding new seats.

Currently 396 players remain from Day 1B with an average stack of 49k (98 bb).

Here's a look at two other tough table draws.

Table 9

Cornel Cimpan
Kathy Liebert
Darren Elias
Alex Bolotin

Table 15

Matt Glantz
Mikey Summers
Jonas Wexler
Billy O'Neil

Championship: Marco.....Polo

$3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship NLH

 Marco Happy to Make a Mess

Poker players can be superstitious which is why Dean Marco (Glendora, NJ) has no regard for his chip count.

"Nothing else works," says Marco who has chips spread across the table in no discernible order.

After counting 19 blue (5k) chips, the best guess is that Marco is up at 160k-ish.

Level 8 (250/500/50 ante), the last level of the night continues.

Championship: No More Second Chances

$3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship NLH

Now that registration is closed, "seat open," means each elimination takes us one player closer to crowing the 2013 Borgata Winter Poker Open Champion.

A couple of notables who have hit the rail and won't get their piece of the $3 million prize pool include David Williams and John Hinds.

Level 8 (250/500/50) is underway.

Championship: Late Registration for Leah

$3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship NLH

 Mike "GoLeafsGoEh" Leah

One of the last players to join the field is Mike Leah (Toronto, Canada) who arrived at Borgata while players were on dinner break.

Leah drove nine hours from Canada after playing online over the weekend and is glad to make it before registration closed.

"Good thing I won't have to play much tonight," says Leah who is drained from traveling and will only get to play levels 7 and 8 before play is stopped.

Leah begins his WPT journey with a fresh 30k stack (75 bb) with blinds at 200/400/50.

Here's what he tweeted 30 minutes into his session:

Mike Leah ‏@GoLeafsGoEh
Made it to Borgata just b4 late reg ended; from 30k to 60k in 35mins without a showdown :) #WPT #somuchforplayingtight

Championship: Parker Poised for Run at Bonus

$3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship NLH

Bill Parker

Chip Leader

Bill Parker (Princeton, NJ) is one of the big stacks with 150k and is in the running for the $5,000 bonus that goes to the end of night chip leader.

The second big stack takes home $3,500.

As a benchmark, Luis Vazquez (Taunton, MA) was the Day 1A chip leader with 187k, second was Martin Mantranca (Miami, FL) with 166k and each earned their respective bonuses.

Championship: Numbers Game

$3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship NLH

The Day 1B head count is 645, putting the total field at 1,042.

463 players remain in today's field with an average chip stack is 41k (103 bb).

Level 7 (200/400/50) is underway.

Championship: Clock is Ticking on Registration

$3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship NLH

There's 15 minutes left on dinner break, but more importantly only 15 minutes left to enter the tournament.

Once Level 7 (200/400/50 ante) begins, registration will be officially closed.  No more late reg, no more re-entry, no more second chances.

The field is currently at more than 1,000 players (Day 1A & 1B combined) and the final count and prize pool will be verified later in the evening.

Play resumes at 8:30 pm.

Championship: Tweet Counts

$3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship NLH

Players tweeting their chip counts on break include:

Jamie Kerstetter 118k
Daniel Buzgon 95k
Travell Thomas 70k
Jonathan Little 70k
Steve Scales 66k
Travis Williams 60k
Cathy Dever 58k
Gordon Eng 51k
Matt Isles 42k
Matt Affkecj 40k
Tyler Patterson 38k
Steve Tabb 37k
Jerry Payne 35k
Daniel Chan 30k
Antonio Payne 29k
Chris Farley 27k
Gags30Poker 27k
Wayne Lewis 22k
Ryan Joyce 18k
John G 12k
Greg Glassman 10k
John Hinds 9k

Championship: Dinnner Time

$3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship NLH      

End of level six and time for dinner.  Since the field is still very large, TD Supreme Tab Duchateau has rounded up the dinner break.

Play will resume at 8:30 pm sharp!

Championship: Chip Leader

$3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship NLH      

Nimer Ltaif

Shortly before the end of level six and the dinner break, Nimer Ltaif (Ottawa, Ontario) emerged as the chip leader with about 160k.

There are bonuses for the end of day 1A and 1B top two in chips.  The player with the most chips at the end of day 1 earns a $5,000 bonus.  The runner-up earns a $3,500 bonus.

Championship: Superfly Gets Super Run Out

$3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship NLH

Kimono Kenny

Kenny "Super Tuan" Nguyen (Lynwood, IL) is one of the more entertaining players in the field and
today's no different.  "These are Jackie Chan's pajamas," he says while wearing a kimono type outfit while laughing it up with his table.

One player who doesn't think Nguyen is very funny is George Hetelekides (Canandigua, NY).

Nguyen and Hetelekides are in a hand that has Nguyen betting the entire way with A 10.  Hetelekides calls him down to the river with pocket kings, but gets a horrible run out.

The board is 7 7 4 7 7. Hetelekides kings are counterfeited and Nguyen's ace kicker plays.

"I wouldn't be telling people that story, if I played it that bad," says Hetelekides who lost a chunk on the hand.

Nguyen just smiles and says, "why, it's true."

Nguyen is up to 75k, while Hetelkides, who dropped to 12k has his stack back to 25k.

Nguyen & Hetelekides

Championship: Flexing Their Muscles

$3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship NLH

Thomas & Ostrander

With more than 600 players on Day 1B, the field has topped the 1,000 player mark.

Travell Thomas and Greg Ostrander have some fun for the cameras and are calling themselves
"Creed & Balboa."

With all due respect to these players, a more accurate portrayal of the Rocky saga happened during the 2010 WPT Borgata Poker Open between Al Ricobonno and Dwyte Pilgrim.  This classic heads up battle was10 days before Pilgrim won the Championship Event for $733,000.

Championship: Ins and Outs

$3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship NLH      

Level 6:  Blinds 150/300 with 25 ante.

More Faces appearing and disappearing: 

In

Kenny 'Super Tuan' Nguyen
John D'Agostino
Eric Siegel
Gene Castro
Travell Thomas
Walt English
Dan Makowsky
Anthony Licastro
JC Tran
Timothy Finne

Out (not sure if re-entering)

Paul Volpe
David Zeitlin
Al Riccobono
Andrew Klein
Bernard Lee
Shawn Cunix
Thomas Hoglund
Andrew Badecker
David Heck

Championship: Wexler Sinks Little Man

$3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship NLH

It's bullet number 4 for "Little Man" Mike Sica (New Brunswick, NJ).

"One of them couldn't have a straight or a flush draw," he laments while entering the tournament for the fourth time.

On a flop of 9 7 5, Sica flops two pair with 7 5 and turns a full house, but once all the chips are in the middle Sica knows he's dead.  Jonas Wexler (Southampton PA) has pocket 7s and his bigger boat sinks Sica.

Wexler is now up to 70k.

Mike Linster (Island Park, NY), first place on the Borgata Winter Poker Open Leaderboard, has re-entered for a third time.

Championship: Killer Corner

$3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship NLH      

 Table 18

Tony Antonious busted out and re-entered, landing at table 18.  Don't think he could have picked a worse seat if he tried.

Seated there are

Matt Glantz
Mike Summers
Jonas Wexler
Mike 'Little Man' Sica

Championship: Shufflin' Seats

$3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship NLH      

Erik Cajelais has joined the field.  He's at table 8 with

John Alfera
Jason Deutsch
Jenny So

Kathy Liebert busted out, re-entered, and landed at table 9 in the seat formerly occupied by Marcella Keene, who has busted out.  Kathy is sharing the felt with

Darren Elias
Cornel Cimpan
Jacob Bazeley

Ofir Mor has arrived and landed at table 13 with

Mike Scarborough
Tyler Patterson
Sach Ramrakhani
Matt Affleck

Noah Schwartz busted out and re-entered,  landing at table 16 in the seat formerly occupied by Robert Varkonyi.  He's seated with

Roland Israelashvili
Bob Panitch

Championship: Back From Break

$3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship NLH      

Level 5:  Blinds 100/200 with 25 ante.

Players are back in their seats and chips are flying.

Two more levels to re-enter and two more levels until dinner break.

After dinner, they'll play two more levels, then call it a night.

Championship: Break Two Tweet Counts

$3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship NLH     

End of level four and time for the second break of the day.

Players have scattered, but thanks to Twitter, we're still getting their chip counts.  #BWPO

Shawn Cunix - 74k
Mike Summers - 60k
Kevin McColgan - 51k
Cathy Dever - 50k
Miami John Cernuto - 45k
Jon Little - 36k
Tyler Patterson - 35k
Chris Leong - 34k
John G - 31k
Chris Farey - 30k
Steve Scales - 30k
Ryan Joyce - 30k
John Hinds - 27,250
Michael Marder - 27,175
Dan Spirer - 25,575
Dan Eichhorn - 24,700
Brian Woods - 23k
Joe Hanrahan - 17k
Brock Parker - 14k
Matt Iles - 10k

Championship: Tweet-Outs

$3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship NLH      

These folks have busted and Tweeted their demise:

Andrew Badecker ‏@Andrewbadecker
Disappointed that I have to re enter. Bringing my headphones and shades this time #image

Rhys Jones ‏@floppinhel
Frankenburger check raises flop and triples to put me all in on a9587r. His 67 beats my AA to end a lovely day at the tables

David Zeitlin ‏@SugDpoker
The only time I bother getting grumpy over poker anymore is when I play poorly. Busto BWO main--and grumpy. I love to punt in Borg mains.

Championship: Late Reg Table

$3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship NLH     

Table 58 is up and running in the back of the room with late arrivals.  Seated there are

Ebony Kenney
Matt 'muffins' Mazzeo
Steve Dannenmann
Len Vizirov

Some other faces recently spotted:

Ari Albilia
Mark Sykes
Noah Schwartz
Eric Doerr
Billy Pillosoph
Nick Salimbene
Joey 'Bobo' Cappello
Michael Marder
Matt Glantz

Championship: Ryan Eriquezzo

$3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship NLH     

Ryan Eriquezzo (Danbury, CT) stopped by Media Row to say hello.  He bagged 70,950 chips on day 1A yesterday and will be back in action on day 2 tomorrow.

Eric was interviewed by Jeanine Deeb from the WPT Live Updates Crew.

Check out the interview here.

And check out Ryan's blog here.

Championship: Busquet Doubles

$3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship NLH     

Olivier Busquet - 2009 BPO Champion

On the river with a board of A J 9 T 3, Olivier Busquet was all-in and called.

Olivier tabled KQ for Broadway and the nuts.  He doubled up to almost 50k.

Championship: Interesting Lineups

$3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship NLH    

Level 4:  Blinds 100/200.

Alex Rocha has taken his seat at table 1 next his his roommate and best bud John Hinds.  Here are some other interesting table formations.

Table 4
Juan Catala
Mike Kalfa
Brock Parker
Bruce Yamron

Table 7
Benjamin Chan
Edward Pham
Joseph Brand
Wooyang Lin

Table 9
Darren Elias
Cornel Cimpan
Marcella Keene

Table 11
Cathy Dever
Will 'the Thrill' Failla
Daniel Chan
Manh Nguyen

Championship: Front of the Room

$3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship NLH    

David Williams (Las Vegas, NV) lost most of his chips with two pair versus a set.  After losing the rest of his chips, he busted out.

Table 5

He's now re-entered and landed at table five.  According to his tweet, he nearly doubled on the first hand and is up to ~55k/.

John Racener (Port Richey, FL) was in the back of the room, but his table broke and he arrived at table five shortly before David.

Also arriving and taking his seat at table 5 is Borgata Open Titleist Collin Whyte (Brookly, NY).

Championship: Espo Ousts One

$3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship NLH    

2012 November Niner Michael Esposito (Seaford, NY) and an unknown player were all-in.

Michael Esposito

Michael had pocket Queens and was crushed by his opponent's pocket Aces.

Then a Queen fell on the turn, shipping the pot to Michael and sending another player to the rail.  Michael chipped up to ~57k.

Joseph Stiers - winner of event 1

Michael Esposito is sharing the felt on table 21 with Elia Ahmadian, event 1 winner Joseph Stiers ($318k), and Michael Forca.

Championship: Back of the Room

$3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship NLH    

Some big names are filling out the tables towards the back of the room.  Seated back there I found:

John Racener
Olivier Busquet
Victor Ramdin
Harry Korotki
Paul Volpe
Anthony Gregg
Mike Linster
Miguel Borrero
Grace Sun
Max Amadji
Andrew Klein

Championship: Back From Break

$3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship NLH   

Level 3:  Blinds 75/150.

Players returned from break and are back in action.

About 60 tables are up and running, with plenty of room for late registrants.

Registration closes after level 6, so players may still enter and re-enter until then.

Championship: Break Time Chip Chirps

$3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship NLH   

End of level two and players are taking 15.

Lots of them sent us their chip counts via Twitter, so here they are (Keep those Tweets coming! #BWPO):

Shawn Cunix - 89k
Don Fisher - 50k
Jamie Kerstetter - 49k
Pete Gilmore - 42k
Chris Farley - 40k
Marguerite Spagnuolo - 40k
Antonio Payne - 39.7k
Tyler Patterson - 38k
Steve Scales - 35.5k
Kevin McColgan - 35.2k
Dan Spirer - 34,875
Steve Tabb - 34k
Travis Williams - 32k
Dan Eichhorn - 27,950
Gordon Eng - 26k
Brian Woods - 26k
Buffalo Joey - 24k
John Hinds - 23,725
Matt Stout - 22k
Chris Leong - 22k
Jonathan Little - 21k
Joe Hanrahan - 16k
Mike Dentale - 8,275

Championship: Words of Wisdom via Twitter

$3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship NLH  

These folks are passing along their words of wisdom, via Twitter:

Sheddy ‏@Sheddy88
@Mikunbelievable Don’t play such good cards! Broadway cards are premiums! A little 6,3 off never hurt… #ItCouldHappen

Eugene Fouksman ‏@efouks
Borgata main event - day 1B. Skipped 1A. New Years resolution, no multiple bullets in larger buy-in events!

Brian Woods ‏@bwoodspoker
hand analysis in a $3500 main event is just as retarded as in a $300donk fest. For that matter the same as in Gottleib's basement #funnytho

Ryan Joyce ‏@BillBrasky14
"Gotta get lucky eventually" -fish on level 2

Travis T Williams ‏@OnAFoldDraw
@MiamiJohnC Karma charges a heavy Vig when she comes to collect

Noah j Schwartz ‏@noahjschwartz
So maybe 3rd time isn't the charm KK vs AA down to 3.6k. #wheremydefibulator #rebuytable57