Event 24: 9th Place - Stephen Donk

$400 + $50 No Limit Hold'em

Stephen Donk (Brooklyn, NY)
$1,275

Stephen Donk started the final table pretty short stacked. He took down a couple blinds and antes then made a move with Q-6 from the button only to be called by Cameron Cornell who rolled over A-J.

Donk was barely breathing on a flop of A-A-4.

Stephen Donk finished in 9th Place earning $1,275.

Down to 8 players in the practically empty Borgata Event Center.

Event 24: 10th Place - Rizal

$400 + $50 No Limit Hold'em

Pramudya Rizal (Brooklyn, NY)
$1,133

Congrats to Pramudya Rizal who just made his first Borgata Final Table. Pramudya is a professional Interpreter who doesn't play a lot of tournaments.

He said this group was a lot of fun and he enjoyed the Event.

Rizal was riding a short stack of 70,000 and shipped with K-Q.

He raced his chips against 9-9 and fell to a board where every card was below a 9.

Pramudya Rizal finished in 10th place earning $1,133.

Event 24: Final Table of Ten

$400 + $50 No Limit Hold'em

Just as the Championship Event ended for the night, our final ten players broke and held a redraw at the final table.

Final Table

Seat - Name - Amount
1. Stuart William (Long Island, NY)...................136,000
2. Adam Chavis (Baltimore, MD)........................235,000
3. Stephen Donk (Brooklyn, NY)...........................72,000
4. Pramudya Rizal (Brooklyn, NY)........................75,000
5. Michael Sherman..............................................100,000
6. Cameron Cornell................................................185,000
7. Robert Israeli (Short Hills, NJ)........................410,000
8. Robert Romanowski (Lanoka Harbor, NJ)......315,000
9. Wayne Pineault....................................................310,000
10. Eugene Fouksman (New York, NY)...............240,000

We're playing this event out in The Event Center until there's a winner.

Top prize is $16,994.

First to bust takes home $850.

Day 1B Recap

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

Anthony Ruberto - Chip Leader
$5,000 Bonus

After two starting days, the Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship Event has a field of 734 entries and Anthony Ruberto (Boston, MA) leads the way with 235,475 chips.  His Day 1B performance earned him a $5,000 bonus as the largest chip stack from the second wave of entries.

Ruberto, who won a WPT title in November, is carrying his 2011 success into the new year and the confident/cocky pro says, "the word of tomorrow is going to be pain."  That's when play resumes with Day 2 and Ruberto ahead of  Day 1A chip leader Alex Queen who bagged 215k Sunday night.

Ruberto went on a hot streak after the dinner break and his biggest hand came when he knocked out two players with pocket kings to win a 100k pot.  He pulled away from Andrew Klein and David Elyazyan, who finished Day 1B second and third respectively, on the last level of the night when all three were in the 180k range.

WSOP bracelt holder Freddie Rouhani (134k) also bagged a big stack as did Brian England (132k) and Jamie Kerstetter (102k) who are both having a good Winter Open.  England finished second in the $500 6-max for ~$25,000, while Kerstetter was 4th in the $1,500 purple chip bounty for ~$20,000.

But it's Ruberto who's setting the pace as he continued his Borgata success after finishing 6th ($1k 6 max) in the 2011 Borgata Poker Open for ~$20,000, one of his two cashes in the series.

When play resumes noon Tuesday 391 players return with an average stack of 56k (94 BB). The remaining players are chasing the $2,422,200 total buy-in and the $542,771 first prize.

Borgata Winter Poker Open 

Championship Event Numbers

Day 1A Remaining Players: 119 (of 243) 

Day 1B Remaining Players: 272 (of 491)

Day 2 Starting Players: 391 (of 734)

Big Stack: 235k (392 BB)

Average Stack: 56k (94 BB)

Chips in Play: 22 million

Next Level: 300/600/75 ante

Total Buy-In: $2,422,200

First Prize: $542,771

Places Paid: 72

Play Resumes: Tuesday 12 pm

Full chip counts posted after 9 am

Day 1B Chip Leaders

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

Tony Ruberto (Boston, MA) is the end of Day 1B chip leader and takes home the $5,000 bonus.

After bagging and tagging a look at the big stacks and the Twitter report:

Name-Chip Count

Tony Ruberto		235,475
Andrew Klein		197,900
David Elyazyan		160,400
Sam Bernstein		136,850
Anthony Gregg		135,025
Joe Neiman		134,700
Freddie Rouhani		134,250
Brian England		132,075
Manh Nguyen		127,850
Paul Spitzberg		126,850
Abraham Korotki		125,450
James Boyle		122,800
Scot Anderson		121,500
Scott Blackman		120,000
Jacob Ferro		118,825
Daniel Rohde		113,000

Name-Twitter Count

Chalie Hook		104,000
Jamie Kerstetter		102,400
John Sorscher		89,000
Vinny Pahuja		81,000
Chris Tryba		68,525
Jacob Bazeley		68,525
Jack Schanbacher		63,300
Cherish Andrews		60,000
Kevin Saul		50,550
Larry Gold		50,000
Matt Stout		49,000
Scott Schwalich		30,450
Larry Sharp		29,000
Gordon Eng		26,875
Stealthmunk		23,100
Josh Brikis		23,000
Jason Young		20,500
Matt Berkey		15,000
Ebony Kenney		15,000
Busted

Brian O'Donoghue
Matt Maccaroni

A BosTON of Chips

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

Anthony Ruberto (Boston, MA) got a new zipcode after dinner to Matt "Muffins" Mazzeo's table and ever since his stack has soared.

We don't know exactly what chip amount Anthony has because he feels it's bad luck to count your chips and bad luck to make change.

Hopefully having your picture plastered on borgatapokerblog is good luck.

So how did he get his new found chips? In one monster pot of 100,000 Anthony woke up to KK the same time another Opponent had QQ and another had A-K.

Unlike at Table ten earlier, this time KK held up making Roberts the tournament leader.

Yesterday Alex Queen bagged 215,125.

With only 6 more hands to go before everyone stops for the night to bag their chips, if Anthony's stack continues to be best in the room, he'll take home $5,000.

Tough Decisions

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

Anderson (right) tells Unidentified Player, "I'll show"

We pick up the action a player in the tank after Scott Anderson (Candor, NC) reraises him all in.  The player bet 10k with 30k behind when Anderson moved 90k stack into the middle.

The player says, "I might be making two mistakes. First the bet, and now the fold or the call."  Anderson says
he'll show if the player folds.  After a few minutes the railbirds gather, while the table is restless and the player eventually calls.

Anderson: KK
Opponent: JJ

The board runs clean and Anderson's kings win the hand to bust the player and take his stack to 130k.
Level 8 (250/500/50 ante) continues.

Dash for the $5k Cash

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

With one level to go players want to know what the big stacks have.

Andrew Klein (Ocean, NJ) continues to have a slight edge over David Elyazyan (Brooklyn, NY) 180k to 170k and the two are side-by-side on Table 35.  Or were neighbors as the table breaks ~300 players remain.

The other big stack is Anthony Ruberto (Boston, MA) who is also at 170.  The leader at the end of Day 1B takes home teh $5,000 bonus.

Action Table

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

Table ten is at it again - not with quads but with a three way all-in pot worth 100,000.

How about Alex Santiago (West Hartford, CT) with KK vs. Alan Sternberg (Long Island, NY) with QQ vs. another Opponent's A-K off? And somebody said they folded 77's.

Flop: 929
Turn: Q
River: 5

And get this, it turned out the Q that hit was actually the case Queen.
Alan's one word reaction - "Nice" as he goes from 11,700 chips up to 35,000.

Alex could taste that full scoop but will have to settle for +20,000.

A-K was crippled to 2,200 and was out the very next hand.

Table ten has some action dealers and a ton of action hands.

Championship Event Payouts

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

As players begin the last level of the night here's a look at the payouts.

Entries: 734
Total Buy-In: $2,422,200

Place - Amount

1st $542,771
2nd $315,837
3rd $193,012
4th $159,088
5th $128,674
6th $105,279
7th $84,223
8th $64,337
9th $44,451
10-12 $29,244
13-15 $21,056
16-18 $14,505
19-27 $12,400
28-36 $10,996
37-45 $9,826
46-54 $8,656
55-63 $7,720
64-72 $6,785

Clown Fish Clowning Around

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

Eric "Clown Fish" Doer

Just as Eric Doer was telling me how a short stack at the table was incredibly lucky to have survived so many times - he busted right in front of us.

The room is buzzing with tons of Borgata familiar faces. Matt Maccaroni is at the same table as Cathy Evers and Larry Gold. Eric of course has his home base here at Borgata.

He's currently sitting on 85,000.

Couldn't help notice Eric sporting a Blind Squirrel cap. Right after my camera flash went off, Eric living up to his name, said the flash blinded him and now all he could see was aces.

Maybe the apparel company should change its name to "Blind Fish".

Event 24: Bubble Broken

$400 + $50 No Limit Hold'em

In hand for hand action, Carla Berrios (Baltimore, MD) pushes her short stack in with A-2 and is called by K-4 in the big blind.

Carla drops a deuce and it holds on a board of 2-9-6-10-8.

Once again Carla is the Last Woman Standing.

Over at another table, a player is all-in holding A-J. Chip leader Eugene Fouksman calls and tables 5-8 off.

Before the cards are dealt, Misha Morgovsky (Brooklyn, NY) says, "It's over people, we're all in the money". Everyone laughed. Misha's knew that if Eugene the luckbox was in a hand he was gonna win.

Sure enough dealer shows a five in the door. A-J doesn't improve on a board of 10-6-5-7-7.

Bubble was so upset he jumped out of his seat and headed out. Apparently another player also folded A-J so he was drawing pretty thin.

Congratulations to all 18 players who have made the cash.

Don't forget the Total Buy-In is 58,400.

Everyone's gunning for first place which pays $16,994.

Quads Times Two

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

Steve Hemsworth - KKKK & JJJJ

Over at table ten, IT Consultant Steve Hensworth (Saratoga Springs, NY) just rolled over quad Jacks against Pedro Munoz (Elizabeth, NJ) who didn't show.

Funny thing was way back at level two, Steve flopped quad Kings against, you guessed it - Pedro Munoz again.

"We actually checked it all the way down" said Steve who was hoping Pedro would take a stab at it.

"Put down I'm the ultimate loser" laughed Munoz.

So having quads twice in the same game means you're automatically the chip leader in the running for the 5K bonus at the end of the night right? Well, Steve has a little more work to do as his stack is right around average.

343 players remain.

Average stack in the room is 42,631.

Event 24: Fouksman Currently First

$400 + $50 No Limit Hold'em

Eugene Fouksman - 277,000

Eugene Fouksman (New York, NY) is having a pretty good 2012 Borgata Winter Open Series.

He got off to a great start in Event 1 finishing at the final table for 6th place.

Yesterday he played in Day 1 of the Championship and survived with 45,000.

Then today in Even 24 he's currently the chip leader with 277,000. As to how he built such a monster stack, Eugene said he's playing a lot of pots but not doing anything too crazy.

"I'm really looking forward to tomorrow" said Fouksman referring to the 2012 Borgata Championship Event.

27 Remaining players are back from dinner break where the blinds are 1500 / 3000 with 400 antes.

Twitter Chip Counts

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

Play resumes with blinds 200/400/50 ante. Two more levels tonight before bagging and tagging at approximately 10:45 pm.

Stacks Tweeted by Players

Jamie Kerstetter 130,000
Cherish Andrews 105,000
Vinny Pahuja 62,000
Jason Sackler 62,000
Matthew Ezrol 58,000
Matt Stout 52,000
Jack Schanbacher 49,000
Daren Sorscher 48,000
Josh Brikis 45,700
Larry Gold 45,200
Lee Childs 45,000
Orson Young 44,050
Jason Young 44,000
Jacob Bazeley 42,000
Gordon Eng 38,500
Matt Berkey 37,000
Brian O'Donoghue 36,000
Scott Schwalich 31,150
Eli Loewenthal 29,900
John Racener 25,000
Larry Sharp 23,000
Kevin Saul 16,450

Big Stacks

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

Dinner break chip counts as the field chases the $5,000 bonus for the end of Day 1B chip leader.

Big Stacks

Andrew Klein 172k
Jamie Kerstetter 130k
Anthony Roberto 123k
Brian England 121k

Event 24: Numbers Game

$400 + $50 No Limit Hold'em

Number of Entries:  146
Players Remaining: 27
Chips In Play: 2.19 million

Average Stack: 81k (27 BB)
Big Stack: 277k (92 BB)

Blinds: 1,500/3k/400 ante

Total Buy-In: $58,400
First Prize: $16,994
Places Paid: 18

Play Resumes: 8:30 pm

Event 24: Payouts

$400 + $50 No Limit Hold'em

Entries: 146
Total Buy-In: $58,400

Place - Amount

1st $16,994
2nd $9,347
3rd $5,382
4th $4,532
5th $3,399
6th $2,832
7th $2,266
8th $1,699
9th $1,275
10-12 $1,133
13-15 $991
16-18 $850

Event 24: Chavis Goes Clubbin'

$400 + $50 No Limit Hold'em

Chavis the Chip Leader

Adam Chavis (Baltimore, MD) thinks long and hard before calling a 29k all in bet with pocket 6s.  He's against pocket 9s and when the board runs out with 4 clubs, Chavis wins the hand holding the 6♣.

"It's early," says Chavis who is the clear chip leader with 150k, "I just want to be here at the end."

The clock is winding down as players are set to go on dinner break.

Dinner Time

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

Chess Master Jen Shahade busted out when her pocket Queens got run down by pocket 8s that caught an 8 on the river. 

Chalie Hook has now been moved into her seat at table 32 with Ryan Young, Mike Devinsky, Alex 'Jedi' Nepomnyaschiy, and Karate Mike Santoro.

41 tables remain and they're all empty now as players have cleared out for a 75 minute dinner break.

Play will resume at about 8:20pm.

Event 24: Two for One Special

$400 + $50 No Limit Hold'em

Threes Win 3-Way for Graeson

Tables are breaking fast in the front of the Event Center and hands likes this helps keep the tournament buzzing along.

Graeson Burnette-Peake (Philadelphia, PA) thinks he's being squeezed with two players all in and makes the call with pocket 3s. Burnette-Peake is against 4 overs and a flush draw going to the river, and when the last card falls he scoops the pot.

Burnette-Peake knocks out two players and takes his stack to 75k.

45 players remain with an average stack of 50k.

Counting Down to Dinner

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

Players are getting antsy as the last few minutes tick away before the dinner break.

The dinner vouchers have been distributed, which always starts a buzz in the room as it means 1) dinner break is coming up soon and 2) they survived long enough to earn the $10 voucher. 

Quite an accomplishment considering over 460 players began today and fewer than 378 remain.

Goners

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

Al Riccobono flopped a set, but his opponent turned the flush.  Al reported to the rail.

He's in good company.  Also departed from the main event today are:

Ryan Eriquezzo
John Hinds
Joey Cappello

Blinds Up, Tables Down

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

Blinds are up to 150/300 with 25 antes (level 6). 

The high-numbered tables in the back of the room are slowly breaking down and those players are scattered into the empty seats.

Matt 'Muffins' Mazzeo and Manh Nguyen started on the same late-starting table in the back and when their table broke, they landed at the same new table, along with Arkadiy Tsinis and Matt Erzol.

Down to a total of 44 active tables, meaning 396 players remaining today (119 players survived play on day 1A).

Klein Kollecting Chips

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

Andrew Klein

Andrew Klein in up to almost 180k and undoubtedly the chip leader.

Pasquale Boffice doubled up when his pocket Queens turned into a set and boated on the river.

Some big names have turned up late in the field:

Alan Sternberg *
John D'Agostino
Paul Darden
Freddie Rouhani
Amnon Filippi*

 * Double Play

Karate Mike Accepts Challenge

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

'Karate' Mike Santoro

 

Karate Mike Santoro has accepted the last-longer challenge from Rick Rossetti.  At the time of the agreement, Mike had about 35k while Rick had about 33k.

Steven Rodriguez was all-in pre-flop for 11,025 against the player on his right.  Steven had AK and was racing against pocket Jacks.  An Ace on the flop sent the race and the double-up to Steven.

***  Although neither player made the money, Karate Mike Santoro lasted longer than Rick Rossetti!  Now if he can only collect on the bet...

Go Leafs Gone

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

Ron Hearts the River

It's a rough day for Mike "GoLeafsGoEh" Leah as he's feeling the pain of flopping the nuts, only to lose to a river flush.  On a board of 5 6 7, the Canadian pro and players Roberto Alberro (Miami, FL) and Ron Vitello (Cherry Hill, NJ) see a 9♥ on the turn.

Leah opens the action, Alberro raises, Vitello 4-bets Leah all in.  Leah calls and Alberro goes in the tank before open folding A 8 for the turned straight.

Leah: 8 9 (flopped straight)
Vitello: A♥ 8♥ (turned straight and nut flush free roll)

The river is the 4♥ and Vitello, who had a 4th place finish ($4,500) in the Borgata Fall Poker Open, hits the flush and eliminates Leah.  Gordon Eng says, "it was a tough day for Mike."

The table is most impressed with Alberro's fold with James Boyle saying, "I don't know if I can make that fold. He probably gets all my chips."

Vitello, who's only other career cash is a WSOP circuit ring, is now up to 60k.

Break Time is Tweet-Time

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

Thoughts from the Twitter-verse, during the last break:

Adam Hui @AH_22
62k going to 1/2/25

Matthew Ezrol @Bigace223
45k going into 100/200/25

John Allan Hinds @JABistro
21k at break. Playing really well, would like to get rewarded for it sometime soon #ispokerfair? #doesntseemlikeit

Josh Brikis @JBrikis
45k at 2nd break

Eli Loewenthal @Eli_Loewenthal
29.4k on second break. Chipped up to 35k then dwindled back down. #teambacon

Matt Stout @MattStoutPoker
30k exactly at 100/200 (25) since I just bought in for the 2nd time 2day, 3x total. Suddenly playing a 10k event. #ThirdTimesACharm tho. #fb

Al Riccobono @bigalric
End of level 4. 28k. Was at 21. Very cold decked and my new short term goal is to flop a pair before March.

Brian O'Donoghue @Hutch3276
22k 2nd break

Larry Sharp @BBOY3110
Bluffed off like half my stack, 15k going into 1/200 25ante

larry goldstein @tworedducks
32k from 30k thru 4levs. Goin to 100/200/25.

Orson Young @YoungOrson
71,125 going to 100/200/25 #BWO2012

David To @dimeat
11.3k, did a terrible 4bet bluff. #shortstackgrinding. #BWO2012

Lee Childs @leechilds
39,300 at break. Blinds going to 100/200/25 next level. #bwo2012

Kevin Saul @KevinSauLivePro
Was down as low as 9700, at break w 29.2k going to 100-200a, tons of chips on the table, most of them are w the really good players tho : /

stealthmunk @stealthmunk
49,975. Break #2

Jonathan Sorscher @superost
58k on second break

Ryan Eriquezzo @RyanEriquezzo
11.5k at break. Really miz. Running like shit

Cherish Andrews @CherishAndrews
69k second break of the main #building #BWO2012

Eric Haber @sheetspwns
Booom......up to 10k end level 4 and re entries done.....going to

End of Level Four

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

Break time means players have 15 minutes to re-enter if they busted (or surrender their chips).

Event Center Food Court

The food court is mobbed as players queue up for snacks and settle in knowing there are no more second (or third, or fourth) chances.

Defrosting the Fridge

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

Above Even Stevens

Early chip leader William Perry, same name as former Chicago Bears player "The Refrigerator," Perry, is out on the last hand before break.  After taking his stack to more than 100k, he puts his last 18k all in with a pair of 8s and a gutshot straight draw.

The river is a brick and this "fridge" is unplugged and out the door.  "I knew he wouldn't make it to 6 o'clock," says Ben Geller, "it was just a matter of who was going to get the chips."  The player benefiting from Perry's collapse is Dave Stevens (Wilton, CT) who wins the hand with pocket jacks.

No word if Perry will be starting over with a fresh 30k stack as the re-entry period is closing, while Stevens now has 80k.

Perry (center) Exiting, as Jay Nair (right) & Ryan Julius Watch

Tougher Table

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

Table 18 has gotten tougher with the addition of Mike Leah who's on his second bullet.  He joins Josh Brikis, Gordon Eng and James Boyle and likes to keep the game moving.

"Come on sir, you owe the big blind. Hurry up you only have 22 minutes to bust before re-entry closes."

Tick, tick, tick....once level 5 begins re-entry is done and the next elimination will be each player's last.

Event 24: Familiar Faces

$400 + $50 No Limit Hold'em

Up to level 8 with blinds of 400/800 with 75 antes.

More familiar faces in this event:
Rick Austin
James 'Suits' Salters
Fritz Stoner
Frank Rasile
Vincent Basilicata
Howard Wolper
Mike Kalfa

More Familiar Faces

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

Folks I spotted but haven't mentioned yet:

Steve Dannenmann
Javier Fernandez
Jon Sorscher
Jeremy McLaughlin
Brian Ali
Thomas Hoglund
Bill Blanda
Miguel Borrero *
Dean Schultz
Matt Ezrol
Arkadiy Tsinis
Adam Agaev
Joe Pitti
Sheree Bykofsky
Vinny Pahuja
Joe Boatwright
Joe Loguidice
Orson Young
Tony 'Muscles' Campagna
Gene Castro
Chris Bell
Allan Vrooman
Mike Castaldo
Andrew Klein
Grace Sun
John Zoldak
Steven Karp
Mike Marder
Greg Fishberg
Eric Doerr
Chalie Hook
Mike Dentale

* Double Play

More Tough Tables

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

 More late starting tables:

Table 49
Manh Nguyen
Matt 'Muffins' Mazzeo

Table 48
Jeff Papola
Adam Hui

Table 47
Mike Linster
Lucky Lee Kirsch
Ari Albilia

Table 45 has broken, so 48 tables currently in action.

Filling the empty seats at table 33 created by William Perry are Jay Nair and Ben Geller.

Borgata Leaderboard Update (1/30)

Borgata Winter Poker Open Leaderboard
By participating in any Borgata Winter Poker Open event (January 18 - February 3, 2012), players earn points based upon the Borgata Poker Tournament Leaderboard Formula.

Below are the top scores for the 2012 Borgata Winter Poker Open Leaderboard*

(Final Results from events 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50)

567.605 PTS:  THOMAS HOGLUND (NEW BEDFORD, MA)

545.868 PTS:  EMANUEL FAILLA (SMITHTOWN, NY)

411.393 PTS:  JOSEPH OPIE (FAIR HAVEN, NJ)

394.643 PTS:  MICHAEL LINSTER (ISLAND PARK, NY)

348.040 PTS:  SRIDHAR CHEBROLU (ELLICOTT CITY, MD)

347.750 PTS:  BEN GELLER (FAR ROCKAWAY, NY)

340.650 PTS:  DARYL BLACK (VOORHEES, NJ)

340.550 PTS:  GONZALO VILLARREAL (E HANOVER, NJ)

340.175 PTS:  DARYL BOATWRIGHT (SICKLERVILLE, NJ)

330.063 PTS:  KEVIN SAUL (OAK PARK, IL)

328.525 PTS:  JONATHAN SORSCHER (LYNBROOK, NY)

318.625 PTS:  HARRY KOROTKI (OWINGS MILLS, MD)

301.443 PTS:  MATTHEW MAZZEO (EAST WILLISTON, NY)

299.425 PTS:  SCOTT SCHWALICH (MIAMISBURG, OH)

293.963 PTS:  MANH NGUYEN (MUNHALL, PA)

291.520 PTS:  ALEXANDER PETERSON (RIVERSIDE, CT)

289.555 PTS:  WADE WOELFEL (MANKATO, MN)

286.588 PTS:  JOSEPH MOSCA (BRONX, NY)

281.650 PTS:  LEONID VIZIROV (CHALFONT, PA)

267.160 PTS:  ALEX NEPOMNYASCHIY (STATEN ISLAND, NY)

Rossetti Challenges Karate Mike

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

Blinds are up to 75/150 (level 3).

Rick Rossetti (2006 WSOP Circuit Champion) and Pasqule Boffice (2nd in the Seniors event a few days ago for $9,971) are sharing the felt on table six.

 Rick Rossetti

Rick is challenging Karate Mike Santoro to a last-longer bet for a nickel.

Karate Mike is seated at table 32, which is pretty loaded with talent. 

Seated there are:
Mike Devinsky,
Alex 'Jedi' Nepomnyaschiy
Jen Shahade (two-time American Women’s Chess Champion)

Kerstetter Chipping Up

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

Despite being seated at one of the toughest tables in the room, Jamie Kerstetter is accumulating chips. She's up to 116k and possibly the chip lead.

Here's how it happened, in her own words, via Twitter:

57k from 30k start. Called 3bet in position with 95dd flopped flush against JJdx on K high board, raised flop, raise/called turn and held

My table is so stacked, it's sick. :( #ABCmode

Up to 88k. People at my table are losing their f'ing minds. #wee

116k, tightest guy at table just 4bet jammed 26k with AKo against my AA. Nice life me.

Event 24: Familiar Faces

$400 + $50 No Limit Hold'em

Ever wonder what the surviving Main Event day 1A players do with their day off while day 1B is underway?

Well, some of the take the time to relax, work out, or take care of other business.

But the real poker degens are back in here playing poker.

Today's one day event is underway with a few day 1A players getting in a little extra practice.

Will 'the Thrill' Failla, who bagged 109,250 last night in the main event, is spending his day off playing this event.

Ray Shackelford is also taking a shot at this event.  He bagged 23,200 at the end of day 1A.

They're now in level 5 with blinds of 150/300 and 25 antes.

Early Chip Leader ?

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

William Perry is apparently playing every hand over on table 33 and crushing it.

 William Perry

I'm told he has busted at least two players already as he built his stack up to about 100k.**

Along the way he flopped two pair with J9 on a J 9 7 flop to beat a player with KJ; made a Queen-high flush to beat a Jack-high flush; and caught a gutter on the river to beat top set.

Among those surviving the carnage on table 33 are Mirsad Kovaci and Nancy Martin.

** The end of day 1B chip leader will collect a $5,000 bonus.  The chip leader at the end of day 1A was Alex Queen with 215,125.

Table Two Getting Tougher

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

Level 3 is underway with blinds of 75/150.

Table two really didn't need any more poker talent.  Erik Cajelais has landed there in the 3 seat, in between Kevin Saul and Elliott Zaydman.  Since Erik started the day on table 38, I guess he busted out and re-entered.

At the other end of the table are Anthony Gregg, Jamie Kerstetter, and Kyle Julius.

The bad news is that since this is such a low table number, it will never break.  The only way to change seats is bust out & re-enter.

Break Time Tweets

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

Two levels down and it is time for a break.

The players are grabbing a bite or a smoke, but some are taking the time to Tweet their progress.  Here are some of those tweet-notes:

John Racener @racener
After 2 levels got about 43k. #borgatamain

Eli Loewenthal @Eli_Loewenthal
26.5k from 30k start. Pretty rough starting table. #teambacon

Matt Stout @MattStoutPoker
17k at 75/150 from 30k starting stack In Borgata main. Bricked open ender in huge 3way pot, 3bet Busquet w KQ, paid AK off on K hi board #fb

Cherish Andrews @CherishAndrews
47k on first break of the main. #BWO2012

Dan Howe @DannyHowe
36.8k from 30 1st break borgata day 1A. Incredible table!

Lee Childs @leechilds
26,500 first break.

Kevin Saul @KevinSauLivePro
1st break of borgata 3.5k, 30.5k from 30k start, might be most absurd table in room, already lost 3 terribad players

David To @dimeat
29950 at first break, going into 75/150. #BWO2012.

stealthmunk @stealthmunk
75,200 end level 2 borgata from 30,000 heading to 75-150 #mashing

Brian O'Donoghue @Hutch3276
27k 1st break. 1 huge fish, 1 good player, and 5 varying levels of exploitable

Orson Young @YoungOrson
38,650 on first break of the Main Event #BWO2012

Jonathan Sorscher @superost
40k on first break. Feelin good. Good table draw.

Gordon Eng @Flashgordon227
30500 1st break

Eric Haber @sheetspwns
End level 2 borgata winter open....27000 from 30000 going up to 75/150

Still More Interesting Tables

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

Here's a sampling of some Late Starting Tables:

Table 46
Joey Cappello
John Racener *
Ryan Merrigan

Table 45 
Patricia Barsanti-Chou
Ebony Kenney

Table 43
Carlos Avalos
Tyng Low
Abe Korotki
Kyle Burnside

Table 42
George Leandrou
Ragavan 'Rags' Thiagarajah
Chris Klodnicki

Table 40
Tam Ly
Ryan Eriquezzo *
Jason Young *
Jerry Maher


* Double Play

More Interesting Tables

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

Now there are 46 tables in action (9-handed) with players still arriving.  Late registrations and re-entries are available until the break after level 4.

More interesting combinations are developing:


Table 3
Al Riccobono
Phil Neiman
Tony Antonious

Table 5
Tony Cousineau
May Siu
Tony Behbahni

Table 12
Miami John Cernuto
Michael DiChiaro
Mickey Woll


Table 14
Eric 'Sheets' Haber
Leonid Lerner
Steven Rodriguez

Table 26
Billy Pillosoph
Natalie Kuey
Eric Panayiotou

Late Starters

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

Some of the late starting tables are getting more than their share of poker talent.

 Marsha Wolak & Chad Brown

Table 37 is now home to Chad Brown ($3.4 million lifetime tournament earnings) and Marsha Wolak, who won the 2011 WSOP Ladies event ($192,344).

Blinds Up, Tables Up

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

Blinds are up to 50/100 for level 2.

Tables 42 and 43 are firing up as they fill with late arrivals (or re-entries).

Anthony Gregg, Jamie Kerstetter & Kyle Julius

Table 2 has gotten a bit tougher with the latest arrivals.  Joining Jamie Kerstetter and Elliot Zaydman are Kevin Saul, Kyle Julius, and Anthony Gregg.

Kyle Julius just picked up $1.5 million with his second place finish at the 2012 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure main event earlier this month.

Anthony Gregg finished 6th in that same event, good for $364,000.

Event 24: Off & Running

$400 + $50 No Limit Hold'em

Today's secondary event is underway alongside the main event.

Players began with 15,000 chips and blinds of 25/50.

Levels are 30 minutes long.

This is a one day event, so they will play all night until a winner is determined.

Winter Open Debuts

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

"Seat Open!" has been heard already at least twice, still in level one.  That's 30,000 chips, (600 big blinds) Gone in Sixty Minutes.

Several players are making their Borgata Winer Poker Open Debuts with the main event, this being the first event they have played in the series.

Some of these are regulars and some are pros that only turn up for the big one:

Chad Brown
Paul Spitzberg
Chris Bell
Joanne Montavaro
Erik Cajelais *
Ryan D'Angelo
Mike Leah
Ian Palomo
Eric 'Sheets' Haber
Steve Brecher *
Olivier Busquet *
Andrew Barta
Tony Cousineau


* Double Play

Interesting Tables Developing

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

Late arriving players are filling in the empty seats in the 40 tables currently in action.  Here are some of the interesting tables, so far.

Table 4
Olivier Busquet *
Matt Stout *
Sach Ramrakhani

Table 7
Alex Bolotin
Cornel Cimpan *
Blake Purvis *

Table 15
Cathy Dever
David Semless
Ian Palomo
Larry Gold

Table 18
Josh Brikis
Gordon Eng
James Boyle


* Double Play

Deja Vu All Over Again

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

There are some faces in the crowd today that were also here yesterday (meaning they are taking advantage of this event's Double Play feature).

Some players that are back again after playing yesterday:
Al Riccobono
Mike 'Little Man' Sica
Lee Childs
Cornel Cimpan
Steve Brecher
Scott Schwalich
Tony Sinishtaj
Ryan Eriquezzo

Championship Event Underway

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

 Day 1B 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.

Monday, January 30

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 Re-Enter tournament if they bust out prior to Level 4 of Day 1B.
• 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 24 - $400 + $50 No Limit Hold'em

• Players start with 15,000 in tournament chips
• Levels will last 30 minutes each
• 1-Day event

6PM:  Event 51 - $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 the table in order to remain active in tournament.
• Levels will last 20 minutes each
• Players that "bust" within the first 4 Levels may Re-Enter (unlimited re-entries)
• 1-Day event

End of Day 1A Chip Leaders

Borgata Winter Poker Open
Event 23 - $3,300 + $200 Championship No Limit Hold'em
January 29 - February 3, 2012

END OF DAY 1A CHIP LEADERS

1. ALEXANDER QUEEN (BETHLEHEM, PA):  215,125

2. H MICHAEL BOROVETZ (STATEN ISLAND, NY):  169,225

3. MICHAEL MCNEIL (WHEELING, WV):  153,925

4. JOSEPH VERRECCHIA (HADDONFIELD, NJ):  148,800

5. MITCHELL MARTIN (BRONX, NY):  138,300

6. ANTHONY NEWMAN (BROOKLYN, NY):  133,800

7. MATTHEW GLANTZ (LAFAYETTE HILL, PA):  131,200

8. MATTHEW LEON (VIRGINIA BCH, VA):  130,550

9. DAVID INSELBERG (LONG BEACH, NY):  123,625

10. MATTHEW BRADY (HAVERTOWN, PA):  117,175

11. DANIEL CURRIE (CLIFTONEE, VA):  116,200

12. PHILIP COLLINS (LAS VEGAS, NV):  112,025

13. JOHN PARKER (COLLEGE PARK, MD):  110,525

14. EMANUEL FAILLA (SMITHTOWN, NY):  109,250

15. CHARLES TOWNSEND (DAGBORO, DE):  104,350

16. DARREN ELIAS (PHILADELPHIA, PA):  102,700

17. RUSLAN DYKSHTEYN (STATEN ISLAND, NY):  98,025

18. LEE JASON (COLUMBUS, OH):  97,125

19. ERIC AFRIAT (SAINT LAURENT, QUEBEC, CAN):  95,900

20. GREGORY MARCUS (MIAMI, FL):  94,650

21. BAHBAK OBOODI (MORRIS PLAINS, NJ):  93,675

22. PERRY JOHNSTON (OAK ISLAND, NC):  90,675

23. THANG VAN NGUYEN (MCLEAN, VA):  89,900

24. RAY QARTOMY (SUGAR LAND, TX):  89,000

25. MICAH RASKIN (OLD WESTBURY, NY):  87,600

Event 22 Recap

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

Six players per table, $284,000 at stake, and one winner - Michael Ferrell. After two days of solid poker, high stakes internet pro Michael Ferrell knocks out good-guy amateur Carlos Avalos for the $70,234 top prize.

"I thought I played well and made the best out of whatever was thrown my way" said Ferrell.

The hand that propelled the Ohio native ironically came at the very end of Day-1 against his heads-up opponent, Carlos. Michael held K-J and flopped a diamond flush. He went all in and was called by Carlos holding the Queen of diamonds. With that scoop Ferrell flew up to 360,000 and was able to take control in Day-2.

Michael and his railbirds rooting him on, including his younger brother James, should be proud of this victory as it's one of the toughest fields and formats Borgata offers. In total, 284 of the best poker players on the East Coast stood in Michael's way including familiar faces such as Gene Castro, Kevin Saul, Matt Stout, Bob Hwang, and John Racener.

Will "The Thrill" Failla continues to make his mark on Borgata and the poker world earning his 4th cash of the series with a 10th place finish for $3,444.

As for the final table, Michael hit his share of miracle suck-outs but in between he managed the short stack brilliantly. Once he became the tournament chip leader he took care of business against the amateur in a heads-up that took just over an hour. Michael also gave props to Carlos' poker skills and fun personality.

Congrats again to our winner Michael Ferrell who is off to the bars and restaurants at Borgata to celebrate this win and blow some of the $70,234 1st place prize money with his brother and friends.

Final Table Results

Place-Name-Amount

1st - Jerry Maher (Warren, NJ) - $70,234
2nd - Julian Schulman (Suffern, NY) - $41,735
3rd - Carlos Avalos (woodbridge, VA) - $31,680
4th - Travis Greenawalt (Landisville, PA) - 25,482
5th - Michael Ferrell (Cleveland Heights, OH) - 19,972
6th - Justin Schwartz (Milford, CT) - $14,474
7th - Thomas Hoglund (New Bedford, MA) $11,019

Event 22 Champion: - Ferrell

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

Michael Ferrell (Cleveland Heights, OH)

$70,234

Congratulations to Michael Ferrell who just won one of the toughest Borgata tournaments out there, the 6-Max.

Ferell sacrificed a lot to get this victory. 1) it took over two days of mental and physical poker acumen and 2) he injured his knuckle - not from checking too many times but from fist pumping his younger brother James who was rooting faithfully from the rail. Also part of the crew were Joe and another James.

A good problem to have as there were many fist pumps and big hands that fell Ferrell's way at the right time.

Michael is primarily a high-stakes internet cash player but he still enters a handful of live tournaments each year including the WSOP. We're glad he drove out from Ohio to play in the 2012 Borgata Winter Poker Open and I'm certain Michael is glad too, especially after tonight's victory.

The Final Table should have been renamed The Ferrell Table as Michael hit whatever card he needed almost at will. Two times in particular he had his short stack all-in-at-risk with quality hands, but still behind.

First his 99 crushed Jerry Maher's 10-10's after turning a 9 then he hit runner runner threes to crack Carlos Avalos' 44's.

Michael is going to celebrate this win tonight with his Bro-gata's then decide if he'll make an appearance in the 2012 Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship Event.

Congrats again to Michael Ferrell for his first place 6-Max victory where he'll take home a $70,234 money bomb.

Borgata Poker Excessive Celebration Injury

Event 22: 2nd Place - Avalos

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

Carlos Avalos (Woodbridge, VA)

$41,735

It seemed like both Carlos Avalos and Michael Ferrell were destined to win this tournament. Alas, only one person could take home the trophy.

After one hour of heads-up play, Carlos takes the second place prize.

Both players hugged at the end of the match as they have been playing across from each other both yesterday and again today.

"It was great playing with Carlos...he was having a great time and it was fun to play with him, especially heads up" said Michael.

Carlos is a telecommunications business owner who plays poker for fun.
$41,735 represents Carlos' biggest Borgata cash (not withstanding Borgata slot jackpots).

"I can only play in the Borgata Winter Poker Opens because that's my slow season at the office" explained Carlos.

Carlos survived his first heads-up all in after his K-6 ran down Michael's A-Q.

But his luck would finally run out when his A-9 lost to Michael's J-3 on a board of J-4-3-J-10.

Great job to amateur poker player Carlos Avalos who fell short of the #1 spot but still outplayed and outlasted 282 other Borgata 6-max maniacs to the tune of a $41,735 score.

Day 1A Recap - Queens' Ransome

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

Alex Queen - Chip Leader

$5,000 Bonus

The Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship Event got off to a great start as big named pros and a slew of amateurs entered the $2 Million Guaranteed tournament.  When the dust settled it was Alex Queen (Bethlehem, PA) who earned a $5,000 bonus for being the Day 1A chip leader.

"It's amazing since I was so close last time," said Queen after just missing the November incentive during the 2011 Fall Poker Open Championship. "I don't come in expecting to be the chip leader. I just play my game and try to build a big stack, if I have the lead that's a bonus."

Queen, the 2010 Borgata Spring Poker Open Champion ($356,000) finished ahead of November Niner Phil Collins (5th, 2011 WSOP Main Event) who bagged 112k and WPT title holder Will "The Thrill" Failla (109k) who has four cashes in this series including a victory in Event 1 for ~$165,000.

Other recognizable names that bagged more than 100k included Matt Glantz, Dave Inselberg, Matt Brady and Charlie Townsend. Day 1A finished with 119 players holding an average stack of 62k.

Queen said he didn't pick up any monster pots, but was fortunate during the 100/200 level when a player moved all in for 15k preflop with a suited A8 against his pocket queens.  He also liked that the $5,000 prize, plus the double play option, added some end of day excitement.

"It creates a lot of action," said Queen who will be playing cash games in the Poker Room as he waits for the Tuesday Day 2 restart."It livens up the game."

Queen finished ahead of Michael Borovetz (169k), who has five career wins including a WSOP circuit ring.

Players with Day 1A chips may surrender their stack and start fresh Monday as the Day 1B field is expected to double Sunday's 243 entries.

Event 22: 3rd Place - Maher

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

Jerry Maher (Warren, NJ)
$31,680

Great two-day run for Jerry Maher who just bowed out of Event 22 with an AJ vs AK battle.

Michael Ferell has been on fire since coming back from the break.

First he cracked Carlos' AA with J-7 for a huge double up - Michael flopped two pair then rivered a full house.

Now Ferell felts Jerry Maher when his A-K holds up on a board of 2-8-7-6-7.

Jerry is a gentleman at the table is usually smiling.

Tonight he takes home $31,680 and the Bronze for his 6-Max showing.