Event 22: 4th Place - Schulman

$1,000 + $90 Six-Max No Limit Hold'em

Julian Schulman (Suffern, NY)
$25,482

Early on during the final table Julian thought he was gone but he rode the short stack for many hours later like a champ.

Julian had A-5 and got his stack in against Michael Ferell's A-J.

Ferell had a flush sweat on the river as Julian would have scooped if a club hit.

Good run for Julian Schulman who finished in 4th place earning $25,482.

Day 1A Chip Leaders

$3300 + $200 Championship No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry)   

After playing the final six hands of the night, 119 players have bagged and tagged.  Alex Queen is the big stack with 215,125 and earns himself a $5,000 bonus as the Day 1A chip leader. 

The average stack is 61k (102 BB) and when the returning players join Day 1B players Tuesday for Day 2 blinds will be 300/600/75.

Players (short stacks) can surrender their chips and start again fresh as the double play option is available.

Here's a look at the big stacks and others counts we found in Twitterverse:

Big Stacks

Alex Queen 215,125
Michael Borovetz 169,225
Michael McNeil 153,925
Joe Verrecchia 144,800
Mitchel Martin 138,300
Anthony Newman 133,800
Matt Glantz 131,200
Paul Leon 130,550
Dave Inselberg 123,625
Matt Brady 117,175
Danny Currie 116,200
Phil Collins 112,025
John Parker 110,525
Will Failla 109,250
Charlie Townsend 104,350
Darren Elias 102,700

Twitter Stacks

Brian Hastings 75,000
Aaron Steury 70,000
Justin Azki 67,250
Trevor Savage 60,375
Andy Frankenberger 59,500
Jason Deutsch 53,000
Russell Crane 46,000
Roman Valerstein 45,800
Christian Harder 42,000
Brent Roberts 42,000
Chris Tryba 36,000
Bob Hwang 34,000
Matt Matros 26,700
Glenn McCaffrey 25,300
Jerry Payne 14,875

Busted

Jacoby Bazeley

Buzgon Still Here

$3300 + $200 Championship No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry)   

On the last level of the night (blinds 250/500/50) Dan Buzgon opens to 1100 and a small stack raises to 15k for 90% of his stack.  Buzgon says, "I flip good, I'll re-enter if I have to," and risks 1/3 of his stack to put his opponent all in, which he does.

Buzgon: 66
Opponent: AQ

Flop A Q 10 (Opponent 2 pairs)

When a member of media rows asks, "Dan what do you need," he shouts back, "a six."  And with that a six hits the turn and Buzgon's set holds to knock out the player.

Buzgon, who is up to 60k, has been running well since finishing third in the 2011 Borgata Poker Open Championship when he finished third for $335,000.   He has three cashes in this series including one final table for more than $17,000 total during the Winter Poker Open.

Dash for the Cash

$3300 + $200 Championship No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry)   

Alex Queen and Mitchell Martin are the only two stacks with more than 200k as they keep an eye on the $5,000 bonus for Day 1A chipleader.

Dinner break big stacks Paul Leon and Dykshteyn Ruslan are in still in the mix at 150k
.

Event 22: Threes Are Wild

$1,000 + $90 Six-Max No Limit Hold'em

Michael Ferrell does it again.

With the blinds now at 15,000 / 30,000 he ships his 470,000 big blind stack with A-3 suited.

Chipleader Carlos Avalos thinks for two seconds then calls with 4-4.

Flop is 9-7-9.

Ferrell misses everything and this time it looks like the end - no really.

Fourth Street - 3

Fifth Street - 3.

Yes he did! A 400 to 1 shot. Unbelievable.

Only disappointment for Michael was that his cheering section stepped out and missed the miracle.

Michael did give some chips back a few hands later as Jerry was able to double up thru him with K-J.

Pick Your Spot

$3300 + $200 Championship No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry)

Fouad Qreitem (Fairfax, VA)

Fouad Qreitem has a home field advantage as he's wearing Team Borgata colors.

17 tables remain with 151 players.

Average stack is 48,476.

Don't forget tonight's leader pockets five large.

Last Level

$3300 + $200 Championship No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry)   

Level 8 (250/500/50) is the final level of the night and we'll be keeping a close eye on the big stacks as they try and track down the $5,000 bonus to the end of Day 1A chip leader.

Twitter Bustouts

Ryan Eriquezzo
Kevin Saul
Austen Johnson
Matt Berkey

Event 22: 5th Place - Schwartz

$1,000 + $90 Six-Max No Limit Hold'em

Justin Schwartz (Milford, CT)
$19,972

Fifth place for Justin Schwartz who started the final table as the short stack, worked hard to climb up to over a million, then returned to the short stack before dinner break.

His exit had was K-9 of hearts in the big blind.

He was racing for his tournament against A-6 of Carlos Avalos who limped on the button.

Dry board of J-3-4-J-Q.

Justin finished in 5th place earning $19,972.

Son Inspires Shawn Cunix

$3300 + $200 Championship No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry)

Shawn Cunix (Columbus, OH)

Interesting dynamic at Table 16. In between hands there's lots of laughs and jokes then during hands it's all serious business - you could hear a pin drop.

One of the personalities is Business tycoon Shawn Cunix who uses a soccer player decoration from his 11 year old son Sam's birthday cake as a card protector.

His son told him once, "Dad, you got a job...how do you ever expect to be good at poker?" From that point on Shawn took poker seriously and went on a pro winning streak that included $200,000 from Borgata. Shawn just wanted to prove to his son that he could do it, and he did.

"I normally play the $10,000 or $25,000 Events but I love it here so much at Borgata I always play these...It really is one of my favorite places anywhere to play" said Shawn.

While visiting, Blake Purvis (Montgomery, AL) doubled up thru Shawn for 4,000.
Blake had A-Q vs. Shawn's K-J.

Board ran: 7-2-A-5-10

Once the business part of the hand was over, Shawn went right back to having fun saying, "I can pee on a live spark plug right now".

One Outer for Musumeci

$3300 + $200 Championship No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry)

The next time a tournament reporter comes lurking and you want to use the, "don't talk to me, I don't want the blogger curse," remember Amanda Musumeci.

Literally minutes after being updated in the blog she's all in set over set and hits a a one outer for quads.


Here's the update from Twitterverse:

 ***********Tweets************

TheReaLMander Amanda Musumeci

Just 1 outed @princetendee otr for a mound after getting it in bad otf. 1st time ever feelin guilty4 winning a hand.Sittin@ 80k @ 200/400/50

SteveRyanPoker Steve Ryan
Wo! Just witnessed a massive pot. A pure 1 outer after Amanda and Alex got it in set over set. Nice life Amanda

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

Alex is Alex Smith and Amanda proves there is no blogger curse!

Event 22: Chip Count Refresh

$1,000 + $90 Six-Max No Limit Hold'em

Player......................Chips
1. Jerry Maher.............350,000
2. Julian Schulman.......545,000
3. Carlos Avalos..........2,150,000
4. Michael Ferrell..........920,000
5. Justin Schwartz.........191,000

Play resumes at 9:00 PM once dinner break ends.

Can amateur player Carlos Avalos hang on to his newfound chips?

Will the short stacks continue to double up or start busting?

This one plays out tonight until we have a winner.

Event 22: Philly Girl Representing

$3300 + $200 Championship No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry)

Amanda Musumeci - Last Women Standing

Amanda Musumeci (Philadelphia, PA) sports a winter hat for Borgata Winter Open.

With 176 players left for Day 1 Amanda is the last woman in the room.
She's pretty fearless with the fellows, unafraid to mix it up.

Played a nice pot against Ali Eslami who kept betting with air against Amanda's 3-bet and c-bet.

Amanda tank called the river holding A-K suited and the table thought she was good.

"I like that call but unfortunately he rivered a four holding 2-4 off" said Amanda.

After black Friday Amanda gave up on-line poker and has been playing live, mostly here at Borgata. She won Event 2 in the 2011 Borgata Fall Poker Open for $30,925.

When asked her strategy for the rest of the night she joked, "Play every pot I can with the fish".

Back in Action

$3300 + $200 Championship No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry)  

Players are back from dinner and playing two more levels before calling it a night. A lot of players are now gearing up for a run at the $5,000 bonus for the end of Day 1A chip leader. 

Alex Queen was in the running for the bonus during the Borgata Fall Poker Open Championship, but fell just short in November. He just perked up hearing that $5k is up for grabs and he's in striking distance with 94k.

Number of Entries:  243
Players Remaining: 181
Average Stack: 40k (100 BB)
Big Stack: 148k (370 BB)

Blinds: 200/400/50 ante

Event 22: Two Million Pot

$1,000 + $90 Six-Max No Limit Hold'em

Must be something about the final hand before break that's causing big action.

This time a pre-flop duel between Carlos Avalos and Justin Schwartz.

Carlos bets from the button, Justin 3-bets from sb, Carlos- 4-bets, Justin 5-bets all in and Carlos insta-calls his remaining 911,000 at risk.

Somebody call 911 because Justin's 10-10 is in a state of emergency against Carlos' K-K.

Kings hold on a clean board of 3-J-5-8-5.

Carlos is the new chip leader with 2,150,000. Some guys on the rail were excited for Carlos once realizing this Event is his first big tournament saying, "Take it down bro".

Guys are on a one hour dinner break and will return at 9:00 to see who will win the $70,234 first place prize.

Tweet Leaders

$3300 + $200 Championship No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry) 

Chip Leaders from those who tweeted on dinner break:

Name-Tweet Count

Alex Queen 94,000
Matt Matros 71,000
Matt Brady 68,000
Mukul Pahuja 61,500
Phil Collins 58,000
Justin Zaki 52,000
Brian Hastings 50,000
Trevor Savage 48,200
Aaron Steury 46,325
Daniel Buzgon 41,000
Bob Hwang 30,000
Matt Stout 29,000
Russel Crane 25,000
Jerry Payne 19,375
Austen Johnson 16,000
Ryan Eriquezzo 4,000

Recently Busted

Bernard Lee
Matthew Ezrol

Event 22: Short Stack Does It Again

$1,000 + $90 Six-Max No Limit Hold'em

Michael Ferrell in the small blind does it again - this time to Jerry Maher UTG.

Michael wins from behind when his 99 turns a set and chops down Jerry's pocket tens.

"Are you kidding me?" shouted Jerry when the 9 hit.

Justin chimed in with, "Short stacks can't lose".

Board ran: 6-8-A-9-5.

Michael doubles to close to a million while Jerry has to rebuilt his 350,000 short stack.

Chip Leaders

$3300 + $200 Championship No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry)  

Life's A Beach for Paul

Paul Leon (Virginia Beach, VA) says he's been "hitting everything" and has been a "luck box" the first six levels you can now call him chip leader.

Matt Stout confirms that Leon's been running well and that Leon's AA knocked out Aaron Massey's KK to help run his stack to 148k.

Big Stacks

Paul Leon (Virginia Beach, VA) 148k

Anthony Newman (Brooklyn, NY) 121k

Dykshteyn Ruslan (Brookly, NY) 120k

Event 22: 6th Place - Greenawalt

$1,000 + $90 Six-Max No Limit Hold'em

Travis Greenawalt (Landisville, PA)
$14,474

End of the road for Travis Greenawalt who took a huge hit after his KK's were cracked by A-5.

After the break Travis and Julian Schulman, the other short stack at the table, mixed it up.

Travis K-Q vs. Julian's A-9.

Board ran: 8-J-J-7-A

Another bad river for Greenawalt who doubled up Julian.

The very next hand he was practically forced all in in the big blind with 3-5 off and ran into 10-10 of Justin Schwartz.

Travis Greenawalt finished in 6th place and earns $14,474.

Dinner Break

$3300 + $200 Championship No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry)  

As Level 6 comes to an end players scurry off for the dinner break, but one hand continues to play out.  Three players check the 9 5 7 5 4 board and Dykshetyn Ruslan (Brooklyn, NY) shows down pocket jacks to win the hand. 

Ruslan is one of the bigger stacks in the room as players are on a 75 minute dinner break.

Play resumes at 8:20 pm

Event 22: Chip Count Update

$1,000 + $90 Six-Max No Limit Hold'em

1. Jerry Maher................740,000
2. Julian Schulman..........245,000
3. Carlos Avalos...............1,100,000
4. Travis Greenawalt......300,000
5. Michael Ferrell............500,000
6. Justin Schwartz...........1,250,000

Justin started the final table with 200,000 but has maintained the chip lead for the last few levels.

Guys are back from the break where blinds are now 10,000 / 20,000 with 3,000 antes.

Event 22: Six-Max Stuck On Six

$1,000 + $90 Six-Max No Limit Hold'em

Guys take a ten minute break but as the clock winds down a big hand winds up.

Carlos opens for 35,000 and Travis calls. Michael jams 268,000 on the button.

Carlos senses something is up and folds A-J.

Travis calls and has Michael covered.

Travis KK vs Michael Ferrell's A-5.

Michael said he was patient and waited to get his short stack in with at least an ace - but remember, Carlos already folded one.

Could we finally lose a player and go down to five? Nope.

Ferrell finds a five on the flop and another one on the river for trips.

Ferrell doubles and Travis Greenawalt is short again, down to 300,000.

Carlos congratulated himself on a tough fold which was the right fold.

Last Chance Satellite

Borgata Winter Poker Open

The last chance to satellite into the Championship Event is coming up at 7pm  It's a $350 + $50 where ~1 in 10 players will win entry into Day 1B.

Starting stacks are 12k and levels are 25 minutes each.

#LastChance2RunGoodB4Championship

Event 22: Final Table Banter

$1,000 + $90 Six-Max No Limit Hold'em

Final six aren't seeing too many flops. Looks like a lot of blind stealing.

A lot of silence, people checking their smart phones or using their I-pads, then the table looses up a little...

Jerry Maher defends his small blind then his big blind against Michael Ferrell.

The next hand chip leader Justin Schwartz raises Maher pre causing Jerry to 3-bet.

Schwartz says, "I think you're bluffing...I should jam here" then reluctantly folds.

Jerry says, "You got me to show" and tables A-K.
Schwartz see big slick and says, "I was live" which got a laugh.

"Isn't poker fun?...About time somebody blows up" says Jerry.

Michael Ferrell responds, "It's coming, don't you worry.

Another Big Stack

$3300 + $200 Championship No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry)   

Blinds are up to 150/300 with 25 antes (level 6).  At the end of this level, they will be taking a dinner break (About 7:10pm).

Paul Leon

Paul Leon (Virginia Beach, VA) is up to 116k and one of the bigger stacks in the room.

Paul finished 7th in the record-breaking opening event, good for $30,432.

Paul is currently seated at table 15 with Adam Gerber and Matt Stout.

Event 22: Greeawalt Doubles

$1,000 + $90 Six-Max No Limit Hold'em

Travis Greenawalt is the short stack at the table looking for a chance to get his chips in.

Carlos Avalos in the small blind raises 50,000 with A-Q, Travis jams his 265,000 stack with A-4 and Carlos snap calls.

Travis looking for a 4 and finds it on the river, saving his tournament life.

Board runs: K-3-2-3-4.

A small dent in Avalos' stack but a huge win for Greeawalt.

Early Chip Leader

$3300 + $200 Championship No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry)  

 Mitchell Martin

Looks like Mitchell Martin (Bronx. NY) is our early chip leader.  He's up to ~120k. 

He's seated at table 3, which has taken on a whole new look.

Steve Brecher & Olivier Busquet, the two WPT winners, have both departed.

Now seated at table 3 with Mitchell are Alan Sternberg, WPT Shooting Star winner; Brent Roberts, straight from his 8th place finish in event 22; and Eric Panayiotou.

Unofficially, there were 243 entries today.  With 207 players remaining, the average stack is ~35k.

Heater To Cooler

$3300 + $200 Championship No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry)

Ed Walsh (Langhorn, PA) 
Trying To Turn Things Around

Ed Walsh realizing you can't run good forever. He's had a killer 2012 Borgata Winter Open Poker series with 4 out of 5 cashes.

Today he would have been up to 200,000 but Will "The Thrill" Failla hit runner, runner spades for the winning flush.

In a second body blow, Walsh's K-K fell to A-K once an Ace spiked the river.

"Just one of those days" lamented Walsh has he doubled his short stack in a K-Q vs. K-J hand against a board of 10-5-10-10-4.

"I'm alive...One more double up and I make it to diner" said Ed.

Maybe the tide has swung back because a player at the table folded a ten pre and would have hit quads.

Event 22: 7th Place - Hoglund

$1,000 + $90 Six-Max No Limit Hold'em

Thomas Hoglund (New Bedford, MA) 

$11,019

Blinds 6k/12k/2k

Thomas Hoglund is all in for 76k
Carlos Avalos calls (2 million behind)
Justin Schwartz all in for 397 more
Avalos tank/folds

Hoglund: A J
Schwartz: A Q

Hoglund doesn't catch up and is out in 7th place for $11,019.

More Tough Tables

$3300 + $200 Championship No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry)  

Mike 'Little Man' Sica has fired his second bullet and joined table 1 with Alex Queen, Mukul Pahuja, and Jay Nair.

More tough tables in the room

Table 2
Phil Collins
Roman Valerstein
Matt Ezrol

Table 4
Kevin Saul
Jake Bazeley
Aaron Steury
Miguel Borrero

Table 6
Michael Buttacavoli
Joe Verrecchia
Christian Harder
David Inselberg

Table 8
Cornell Cimpan
Chris Tryba
Allen Kessler
Eric Buchman

Table 14
Mike Devinsky
John Buglion
Tim Vance

Table 18
Joe Wertz
Wazir Baksh
Will 'the Thrill' Failla
Ed Walsh

Time to Check the Tweets

$3300 + $200 Championship No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry) 

Play resumed after the break with Level 5, blinds 100/200, 25 antes.

Here are some player tweets from the break:

Lee Childs @leechilds
Workin hard. Back to 22,875. Blinds going to 100/200/25 after break. #bwo2012

Jerry Payne @sandler1860
27,575 on break going to 100 200 with 25. i think i won 1 hand those last 2 levels, not many chances.

christopher tryba @christryba
38k at 2nd brk...hangin around

Kevin Saul @KevinSauLivePro
2nd break of borgata main, 24k after 4 levels. Play 4 more today going to 150-300 25a

Austen Johnson @aje221
20k going to 100/200 25. Table is ridiculously tough and im card dead.

Jason Deutsch @MrPerfekt
21k on second break and couldn't be happier--was down to 900 chips an hour ago

Justin Zaki @Justin_Zaki
60k from 30k starting in Borgata main. Binds goin to 100-200(25). Playin good, runnin good, feelin good

Al Riccobono @bigalric
Down to 10K. I've had better days. #whydidmyalarmclockhavetowork!

Trevor Savage @TreMomey
45.1k on 2nd break going back to 100/200/25

Aaron Steury @NDGrinder
60,675 2nd break playing 100/200/25a #BWO2012

Robert Hwang @ActionBobNJ
2nd break back to 31k.

jacob bazeley @bazeman11
Down to 10k goin into 100-200 25ante..losing with sets playing bad yadayada #kevinpittsnogle

Break Time

$3300 + $200 Championship No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry) 

End of level 4 and time for another break.

23 tables are active (9-handed).

Several players have already fired their second bullet.  Not sure if there are any third-strikers in the house.

The end of this break (about 4:35pm) will be the end of the entry/re-entry period for day 1A. 

Players can still register today for day 1B.

Event 22: Final Table

$1,000 + $90 Six-Max No Limit Hold'em

Seat-Name-Chip Count

1 Jerry Maher 670k
2 Julian Schulman 485k
3 Carlos Avalos 1.6 million
4 Travis Greenawalt 449k
5 Michael Ferrell 748k
6 Justin Schwartz 244k
7 Thomas Hoglund 131k

Blinds 5k/10k/1k

Stout Already In the Money

$3300 + $200 Championship No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry) 

Amnon Filippe brought mini cupcakes today and was sharing with the crowd.

Matt Stout managed to get the last one, still in the box.

 Adam Gerber buys mini cupcake from Matt Stout

He just sold that mini cupcake to Adam Gerber for $6.

Matt's a little tilted about a bad laydown he made, but cashing for $6 has put a smile on his face.

Adam may end up making a profit, too.  Someone just offered him $8 for that tiny cupcake.  (Adam is already on his second entry today.)

Aces Not Good for Crystal

$3300 + $200 Championship No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry)

Borgata Online Contest winner Crystal Miller got her last chips in with pocket Aces, but got beat by a rivered flush. 

She won't be re-entering, but at least she had some fun.  When I asked if she'll be back to play some other tournaments in the future, she replied "Maybe".

Event 22: 9th Place - Karp

$1,000 + $90 Six-Max No Limit Hold'em

Steve Karp (N. Miami Beach, FL)

$7,576

Steve Karp is all in for 140k vs Carlos Avalos.

Karp: K Q
Avalos: 10 10

Flop: A J 5 (Karp gutshot straight draw)
Turn: 2
River: 3

Karp bricks the turn and river and is out in 9th place earning himself $7,576.

Tough Table Got Tougher

$3300 + $200 Championship No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry)

Table 5 got a bit tougher when 2010 November Niner John Racener joined them.  Now he has busted out and been replaced by Erik Cajelais, who has one WSOP-e bracelet (PLO).

Still hanging tough on table 5:
Anthony Caruso
Matt Brady
Amanda Musumeci
Steve Ryan

Event 22: 10th & 11th Places

$1,000 + $90 Six-Max No Limit Hold'em

Wang (2nd from rt) & Failla (center)

After Michael Wang (Livingston, NJ) is out in 11th place, Will "The Thrill" Failla busts in 10th. Failla ships 125k with K9 and doesn't catch the JJ of Carlos Avalos  Both players earn $4,132.

While this is Failla's 4th cash of the series, it looks like he'll lose the top spot in the Leardboard Contest.  He began the day with an 11 point lead over Thomas Hoglund who is one of the remaining nine players.

After busting, Failla quickly registered for Day 1A of the Championship Event.

Event 22: 1.2 Million Chip Pot

$1,000 + $90 Six-Max No Limit Hold'em

Avalos Ascends to Chip Lead

The biggest pot of the tournament is three way all in preflop.

Blinds: 4k/8k/1k ante

Carlos Avalos raises UTG to 21k
Thomas Hoglund calls
Michael Wang is all in for 163k
Avalos calls
Hoglund is all in and has both players covered
Avalos snap calls for 527k

Avalos: A♦ A♥
Hoglund K♣ K♦
Wabg K♥ Q♥

Flop: 7♦ 10♦ Q♦ (Wang pair of queens, trips draw)
Turn:  4♦
River 9♦

With a flush on board Avalos is lucky enough to be holding the correct ace and wins the 1.2 million chip pot with the ace high flush.  He knocks out Wang and cripples Hoglund to 100k in the process.

Aces Good for Lee

$3300 + $200 Championship No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry)

After two limps and a raise from the small blind, Bernard Lee kicked it up to 2,025.

One limper called, the other folded, then the small blind shoved for 15,500.

Bernard moved in for ~30k.

Limper folds pocket Queens.  Small blind tabled pocket Kings.  Bernard had pocket Aces.

The board came T 9 2 T 7 and Bernard scooped the pot, chipping up to ~48k.

Tough Tables

$3300 + $200 Championship No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry)

A quality field means that there are tough tables everywhere.  Here's just a snap shot of some of the more interesting draws:

Table 1 

Mukul Pahuja
Alex Queen
Jay Nair

Table 5

Anthony Caruso
Matt Brady
Amanda Musumeci
Steve Ryan

Table 7  

Austen Johnson

David Fox

Darren Elias

Table 11

Jerry Payne
Dan Buzgon 
Sirous Jamshidi
Steve Buckner
Matt Matros

Table 12

Brock Parker
Andy Frankenberger
Bob Hwang
Feming Chan

Table 13

Al Riccobono
Dan Coleman
Lee Childs
Eugene Fouksman
Allen Bari

Event 22: 13th Place - Castro

$1,000 + $90 Six-Max No Limit Hold'em 

Gene Castro busted out in 13th place for $2,755.

With his departure, 12 players remain.  They drew for seats and moved to the final two tables.  Here's the new lineup:

Table 1
Jerry Maher
Justin Schwartz
Michael Ferrell
Julien Chamoun
Travis Greenawalt
Joseph Brand

Table 2
Thomas Hoglund
Brent Roberts
Will Failla
Michael Wang
Steven Karp
Carlos Avalos


Jerry Maher says "Hi!" to his wife Terri and his parents Jim and Judy.  

Event 22: 12th Place - Brand

$1,000 + $90 Six-Max No Limit Hold'em 

Joseph Brand was just felted by Michael Ferrell. 

Brand will collect $3,444 for his 12th place finish.

Will Failla and Thomas Hoglund are both still alive in this event and they are battling for the lead in the Borgata Leaderboard contest.  Before this event, here are their point counts (first and second on the list):

512.268 PTS:  EMANUEL FAILLA (SMITHTOWN, NY)

501.005 PTS:  THOMAS HOGLUND (NEW BEDFORD, MA)

Event 22: Chip Counts

$1,000 + $90 Six-Max No Limit Hold'em

Play has resumed after the break with level 19, blinds 4k/8k with 1k antes.

Here are some rough chip counts as of the break:

Thomas Hoglund - 735k
Jerry Maher - 570k
Travis Greenawalt - 550k
Julien Chamoun - 365k
Michael Ferrell - 340k
Michael Wang - 325k
Joseph Brand - 320k
Carlos Avalos - 230k
Justin Schwartz - 200k
Will Failla - 180k
Steven Karp - 170k
Brent Roberts - 160k
Gene Castro - 110k

Break Time Tweets

$3300 + $200 Championship No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry)   

Play resumed after break with level 3, blinds 75/150.

Here are some Tweets from the break:

Trevor Savage @TreMomey
33.8k from 30k starting on first break. Playing 8 levels today.

Austen Johnson @aje221
27.6k/30k at first break. Returning to 75/150. I have a pretty bad table draw but ill make due. #teammurder #BWO2012

Kevin Saul @KevinSauLivePro
1st break of borgata 3500nl re-entry main event, 35.6k from 30k start aafter level 2.

Jerry Payne @sandler1860
32.5k 1st break up from 30k start going to 75 150.

Philip Collins @USCphildo
32k from 30 1st break of borgata $3500 main event

Lee Childs @leechilds
31k end level 2. Played about 4 hands so far. 75/150 next level.

christopher tryba @christryba
35k up frm 30k at 1st brk...

Al Riccobono @bigalric
End of level 2. 33k. Hate to admit it but having good time with @leechilds at table. #bwo2012

Robert Hwang @ActionBobNJ
First break 25k. Guess I should have slept in 2 more hours

Ryan Eriquezzo @RyanEriquezzo
Got coolered by the same megafish twice to chip down to 10k at first break. #pokerisfair. #wheredotheyfind3500

Brent Hanks @Bhanks11
Playing the $3500 Main @BorgataPoker...these fields get so juicy

Scott Schwalich @ScottSchwalich
31875 going to 75/150

2nd Chance Tournament

$3300 + $200 Championship No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry)   

"Seat Open," is tough to hear, but they don't have to be the final words of the Championship Event.  Players taking advantage of the second chance include Adam Gerber, John Racener and David Johnston.

"I got 27k all in with kings against queens, says Johnston, "and it didn't end well for me."

Other tales from the first break; Eric Siegel says he folds to Ryan Eriquezzo's value bet when the 10♠ hits river. "Because that's what I do," says Siegel who had pocket kings against Eriquezzo's A♠ K♠ for the royal.

$10,000 Super Survivor winner Darryl Boatwright used that win to enter the Championship.  "I'm looking for some 'run good,' he says after the first two levels, "I like to have it from start to finish."

Level 3 75/100 underway.

Event 22: 15th - Cohen; 14th - Sackler

 $1,000 + $90 Six-Max No Limit Hold'em

Seth Cohen was felted in 15th place ($2,755).

Jason Sackler was next to go in 14th place ($2,755).

13 players remain.  Average is 328k.

Just a few minutes remain in the 3k/6k level.  Then they'll be taking a break.

Late Registrants

$3300 + $200 Championship No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry)  

Table 23 has been filled with late-entering players, so it is jam-packed with poker talent.

 Jeff Papola & Jason Deutsch

Seated there are Jeff Papola, Eric Panayiotou, Erik Cajelais, and Amnon Filippe.

Jason Deutsch is fresh from his 7th place finish yesterday in the $1,500 Purple Chip Bounty event ($10,185).  He registered late and landed at 23.

When I asked if he wished he had registered earlier, he replied "I like a challenge".

At the end of level 2, players were rewarded with a 15 minute break.

Event 22: 16th - Schulman

$1,000 + $90 Six-Max No Limit Hold'em

Julian Schulman (sb) was all in pre-flop holding pocket Jacks.

Travis Greenawalt (bb) looked him up with AK.

 Travis Greenawalt

The board came A 9 7 A 7 and Travis took the pot with Aces-full, chipping up to ~700k.  He may have taken the chip lead with that pot.

Julian Schulman will take $2,755 for 16th place.

Event 22: Roberts Doubles; Thrill Doubles

$1,000 + $90 Six-Max No Limit Hold'em

Brent Roberts doubled up when his pocket Tens held up.

 Will 'the Thrill' Failla & Carlos Avalos

On the river with a final board of A T 9 8 J, Will 'the Thrill' Failla was all-in.

Carlos Avalos looked him up and Will tabled QT for the Queen-high straight.

His opponent mucked and Will doubled up to ~220k.

Blinds are up to 3k/6k with 500 antes.

Event 22: New Chip Leader

$1,000 + $90 Six-Max No Limit Hold'em

Joseph Reddick has been dispatched in 17th place ($2,755).
Thomas Hoglund has overtaken Jerry Maher as the chip leader.  Thomas is up to ~650k.

Event 22: Three Gone

$1,000 + $90 Six-Max No Limit Hold'em

On a flop of A T 3, all the chips went into the middle.

John Dibella held KT for middle pair, but Thomas Hoglund held Ax for top pair.  The last two changed nothing and Thomas took the pot.

John Dibella finished in 20th place ($2,066).

Frank Calderone busted out in 19th place ($2,066).

James Holland finished in 18th place ($2,755).

Champions Arriving Late

$3300 + $200 Championship No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry)  

Blinds are up to 50/100 for level 2.

A couple of big names have arrived late and tweeted to let us know:

John Racener @racener
Playing the borgata main event today 30k. #hottstreakstartshere

Robert Hwang @ActionBobNJ
Day 1a Borgata main event. Feming, Brock Parker, Andy frankenberger at table but overall looks like a decent draw

matt brady @mattbrady_
Playing day 1a of $3500 borgata main event today...30k starting stack at 25/50

Event 22: Day Two Underway

$1,000 + $90 Six-Max No Limit Hold'em

Cards are in the air for day two.

Play resumed with blinds of 2,500/5,000 and 500 antes.

20 players are back to vie for the top prize of $70,234.

Here's a reminder of what's at stake:

1: $70,234
2: $41,735
3: $31,680
4: $25,482
5: $19,972
6: $14,474
7: $11,019
8: $7,576
9: $4,132
10 - 12: $3,444
13 - 18: $2,755
19 - 20: $2,066

Deep Field, Big Talent

$3300 + $200 Championship No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry)  

 Brock Parker & Andy Frankenberger

Brock Parker is back on the felt less than 12 hours after taking down the $1,500 Purple Chip Bounty event last night ($76,387).  With two WSOP bracelets to back him up, Brock is right at home next to Andy Frankenberger.  Andy has both a WPT title and a WSOP bracelet to his credit.

More deep tables

Table 3: Olivier Busquet & Steve Brecher (one WPT title each)

Table 10: Avdo Djokovic, Russell Crane, Greg Glassman, & Matt Glantz

Table 17:  Vinny Pahuja, Michael Sukonik, Eric Seigel, Ryan Eriquezzo

Online Contest Winner

$3300 + $200 Championship No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry)   

Crystal Miller is free-rolling today after having her name randomly selected from several thousand entries in the Borgata's Online Contest.

 Crystal Miller

She came close to busting out, but got away from her hand and her opponent showed pocket Aces.  She only lost about half her starting stack.

At the same table is Roman Valerstein, who finished 6th yesterday in the $1,500 Purple Chip Bounty tournament ($12,731).  Roman has already doubled his starting stack after flopping set over set.

Also at table two is 2011 WSOP November Niner Phil Collins, lurking in seat 1.

Early Bird Tweets

$3300 + $200 Championship No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry)  

Tables are 9-handed today, so players have a little extra elbow room.

21 tables active already with players still arriving.

Here are some of the early Tweets (remember to use #BWO2012 to help us find your tweets):

Amanda Musumeci @TheReaLMander
BWPO main event today! Glllll

Daniel Buzgon @WiLDmAn_75
Day 1a of borgata main starting. 30k stack at 25/50. Can nit that stack for hours. #peacefullygrinding

jacob bazeley @bazeman11
Bout to play 3500 Borgata WPO flagship, bit first a little #breadnbutter just like the homey @PakmanMMA would want me to start my day

brock parker @brock_parker
Day 1a Borgata main (3500 2m guarantee)

Al Riccobono @bigalric
$3,500 Borgata Winter Open Championship Event. 2 Million Guarantee pool. Starting with 30k in chips at 11am. Winning this would be nice!

Justin Zaki @Justin_Zaki
Day 1a of Borgata Main today. Feelin a lil hungover but ready to rock n roll

Lee Childs @leechilds
Borgata $3500 Main Event day 1A today. 30k starting stacks. 75 min levels. #focused #determined #BWO2012

Trevor Savage @TreMomey
Borgata winter open main event today, first tourney in a while. Finished 3rd last year gonna try to get all the chips this year. #BWO2012

Jerry Payne @sandler1860
$3500 main today.

Aaron Steury @NDGrinder
Main event day 1a today at 11 #time2shine #savedrungood #BWO2012

Championship Event Underway

$3300 + $200 Championship No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry)  
$2 Million Guaranteed

Day 1A of the Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship event has begun.

Players started out with 30,000 chips.

Level 1 blinds are 25/50 and all levels are 75 minutes long.

Players can register until the end of the break after level 4, which will be about 4:20pm.

Players who bust-out can also re-enter during the same period, as many times as they like.

Anyone who busts out any time on day 1A may choose to play again on day 1B.

Championship Preview

$3300 + $200 Championship No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry)  
$2 Million Guaranteed

The doors are open and players are arriving and locating their seats for day 1A of the Championship Event.

Last year's winner was Vadim Shlez of Manalapan, NJ.  He took home over $533,000 when he came out on top of the field of 718 players.

Borgata's most recent champion is Andrew Badecker who won the first-ever Fall Poker Open and more than $388,000, triumphing over the field of 670 players in that $2,500 buy-in event.

Who will be the next Borgata Champion?  We won't know until the end of day five on Friday!

Sunday, January 29

Today's Events (Event Center)

11AM: Event 23 - $3300 + $200 Championship No Limit Hold'em
                             (Re-Entry)  $2 Million Guaranteed

• Players start with 30,000 in tournament chips 
• Levels will last 75 minutes each
• Players may register for Day 1A or Day 1B.  Players may Re-Enter tournament on Day 1A and/or Day 1B if they bust out prior to Level 4 of that starting day.
• If player entered into Day 1A and has been eliminated from tournament, player may register for Day 1B
• 5-Day event (with 2 starting dates)
• $5,000 will be awarded to the chip leader at the end of Day 1A
• $5,000 will be awarded to the chip leader at the end of Day 1B

12PM:  Event 48 - $350 + $50 Championship Qualifier NLH

• Players start with 12,000 in tournament chips
• Levels will last 25 minutes each
• Approximately 1 in 10 players will win entry into the Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship event (Jan 30 - Feb 3, 2012)
• 1-Day event

3PM:  Event 49 - $700 + $50 Championship Qualifier NLH

• Players start with 15,000 in tournament chips
• Levels 1-10: will last 30 minutes | Levels 11+: will last 40 minutes
• Approximately 1 in 5 players will win entry into the Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship event (Jan 30 - Feb 3, 2012)
• 1-Day event

7PM:  Event 50 - $350 + $50 Championship Qualifier NLH

• Players start with 12,000 in tournament chips
• Levels will last 25 minutes each
• Approximately 1 in 10 players will win entry into the Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship event (Jan 30 - Feb 3, 2012)
• 1-Day event

Event 22: Unofficial End of Day Counts

$1,000 + $90 Six-Max No Limit Hold'em

Pos..........Player................Chips1........... Jerry Maher................. 557,500
2........... Carlos Avalos............... 378,000
3........... Michael Ferrell............ 359,000
4............ Travis Greenawalt....... 326,500
5............. Thomas Hoglund....... 306,000
6............ Julien Chamoun......... 250,000
7............ Eugene Castro............ 248,500
8............ Juliean Schulman...... 235,000
9............ Justin Schwartz......... 218,000
10.......... Joe Brand................... 195,500
11.......... Michael Way.............. 159,000
12............ Frank Calderone...... 150,000
13............ Jason Sackler............ 149,500
14........ Will "The Thrill"Failla..... 145,000
15........... John DiBella............... 144,500
16............ Steve Karp................ 144,500
17.............. J. Reddick............... 129,000
18.............. Brent Roberts........ 118,500
19.............. Seth Cohen.................. 69,000
20.............. James Holland........... 52,500

Players bagged and tagged their chips and will resume at noon later today.

Congrats to Jerry Maher who has maintained the chip since Level 2.
All night long he masterfully expanded the distance between himself and the rest of the field.

Stay tuned tomorrow in the Borgata Event Center where our twenty 6-maxers who survived will take their shot at a chunk of the huge $284,000 Total Buy-In.

Event 22: Two More Bite The Dust

$1,000 + $90 Six-Max No Limit Hold'em

Two more players have exited the Borgata Event Center.

Aleksanr Nepomnyaschiy (Atlantic City, NJ) pushed his short stack in with suited connectors (8-9) but ran into pocket kings.

To add insult to injury, Opponent saw a third king on the flop and Aleksanr missed everything.

22nd place for Aleksanr earns him $2,066. He's already looking forward to the Championship Event.

Also exiting is Billy Pilossoph who rode a 38,000 short-stack as far as he could.

$2,066 for Billy's 21st place payday.

20 players trying to survive the last level of the night. Hold on guys!

Event 22: Chop It Up

$1,000 + $90 Six-Max No Limit Hold'em

Jerry Maher & Joe Black

Chip Leader Jerry Maher & Author Joe Black (Bronx, NY) both hold A-3 suited, both hit two pair, and both chop a decent sized pot.

Joe was actually free-rolling after the turn gave him four diamonds.

Both gentlemen laughed after tabling the same hand. At this point of the night nobody wants to have a stack-attack or worse off - get felted.

Jerry still smiling with 545,000 while Joe is sitting on 280,000.

Event 22: Outta Here!

$1,000 + $90 Six-Max No Limit Hold'em

Once the bubble broke 8 players departed in one level.

Down to four tables with 22 total players remaining.

The final level has begun then we'll call in a night folks.

Place...Player.....City.....................Amount
30th..Alon Shahar (Fresh Meadows, NY) - $1,653
29th..Michael Linster (Levittown, NY) - $1,653
28th..Maksim Kuitko (Brooklyn, NY) - $1,653
27th..Alex Santiago (W. Hartford, CT) - $1,653
26th..David Stefanski (E. Lyme, CT) - $1,653
25th Andrew Lee (Ocean, NJ) - $1,653
24th..Matt Maccaroni (Hamilton Sq., NJ) - $2,066
23rd..Leonid Vizirov (Chalfont, PA) - $2,066

Event 20 Recap

$1,500 + $150 + $500 Purple Chip Bounty NLHE

Manh Nguyen (Munhall, PA) was denied his second Borgata main event title, despite holding a big chip lead for most of the final table.  In the end it was Brock Parker (Silver Spring, MD) who claimed the title, $76,387, and the custom Borgata trophy.

Nguyen took the chip lead into heads-up play, but the key hand that caused him to surrender the lead was pocket 8s versus the pocket Tens of Parker.  The bigger pair held up and sent the majority of chips across the felt to Parker's stack.

Josh Brikis (3rd) made a good run at the title, more than doubling up with pocket Kings against two opponents when they were still six-handed.  Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps had turned up to sweat his friend Brikis and caught the big hand.

Jamie Kerstetter (4th) was the last woman in this event and she made it all the way to 4th place before surrendering the last of her chips to chip leader Nguyen.

175 players entered the event, which put $87,500 in bounties up for grabs in addition to the $262,500 total buy-ins.  Only the final 18 would get a piece of the prize pool, but many more than that collected bounties along the way.

Many WPT and/or WSOP title holders were in the field, including Kevin Saul, Matt Matros, Cornell Cimpan, and Jason Young.  None of them made it to the money, though they may have picked up some bounties.

"I was actually down to 10,000 chips yesterday then won a lot of my all-in races" explained Parker. From that point on he collected a total of seven $500 bounty chips for $3,500.  He will add the Borgata trophy to his case to go with the two WSOP bracelets he won in 2009.  With this win, Parker's lifetime tournament earnings are approaching the $2 million mark.


Final Table Results

Place-Name-Amount

1.  Brock Parker (Silver Spring, MD)  $76,387

2.  Manh Nguyen (Munhall, PA)  $42,013

3.  Josh Brikis (Murrysville, PA)  $24,189

4.  Jamie Kerstetter (Monroe Twp, NJ)  $20,370

5.  Jason Loehrs (Springfield, PA)  $15,278

6.  Roman Valerstein (Newtown, PA)  $12,731

7.  Jason Deutsch (Staten Island, NY)  $10,185

8.  George Leandrou (Glen Cove, NY)  $7,639

9.  Matt Ezrol (Coconut Creek, FL)  $5,729 

10.  Robert Link (Jenkintown, PA)  $5,093

Event 20 Champion: Parker

$1,500 + $150 + $500 Purple Chip Bounty NLHE

Brock Parker (Silver Spring, MD)
$76,387

Congratulations to Brock Parker who is the winner of Event 20, the Borgata trophy, and $76,387.

Brock didn't feel too optimistic heads up since he started so far behind. Two hours later, he picked up quality hands at the right time, played them well, and edged out his tough Opponent, Manh Nguyen. "He had me out-chipped but I made a lot of hands" said Parker.

"I was actually down to 10,000 chips yesterday then won a lot of my all-in races" explained our Champion. From that point on he collected a total of 7 $500 bounty chips.

Heads up had some serious swings, the most significant when Brock's 10-10 held against Manh's 8-8. After that it was Brock-n-roll time.

In another key heads up hand Manh bluffed when Brock had two pair.

Brock has a couple WSOP bracelets and now adds his first Borgata title and trophy to his mantle.

Brock dedicated the win to his family.

Event 20: 2nd Place - Nguyen

$1,500 + $150 + $500 Purple Chip Bounty NLHE

Manh Nguyen (Munhall, PA)
$42,013

After a back and forth heads up battle, Manh Nguyen's Event 20 ride is over.

He'll take second place prize to the tune of $42,013.

The final hand had Manh Nguyen shipping a short stack with J 9 and Brock Parker calling with A 10 .

Board ran: A 6 3 3 J .

"This was one of the toughest tournaments I ever played in" said Manh once the two-hour heads up showdown concluded.

His thoughts on the overall tournament had him lamenting, "there were a lot of young, good, talented kids playing out there."

Nguyen continues his winning ways at Borgata. Today he takes 2nd but on during the 2011 Borgata Poker Open he won 1st in a $500 + $60 NLH Event.

Look for Manh to play in the 2012 Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship.