Goldman Takes Milly from Mancuso

$3300 + $200 Championship No Limit Hold'em 

Goldman (right) & Papola as Railbirds Watch

In a battle of the blinds:

Marc Goldman (sb) and Josh Mancuso (bb) got to the river with a board of

Q♥7♠4♦A♥5♠

and a little over two million in the pot.

They both checked the river.  Marc said "Queen" and showed Q8 for one pair.  Josh mucked.  He was left with ~6.3 million.

3 Handed Chip Counts

$3300 + $200 Championship No Limit Hold'em 

The chip counts are relatively close:

Marc Goldman -  8.4 million
Josh Mancuso -  7.1 million
Jeff Papola -  6.5 million

Blinds are up to 60k/120k/20k ante

4th Place - Manfredo

$3300 + $200 Championship No Limit Hold'em  

Nick Manfredo (Levittown, NY)

$159,088

Blinds 25k/50k/5k ante

Nick Manfredo moves all in from UTG for 2.775 million, Jeff Papola calls from the button, blinds fold.

Manfredo: J♠ Q♣
Papola: A♦ Q♦

Flop: 8♦ 2♠ 3♣

Turn: 3♥

River 8♠

Papola's ace high wins the hand and takes Nick Manfredo home $159,088 for his 4th place finish.

This is Manfredo's biggest score of his career as all three cashes have come at Borgata, including making the final four tables (36th/$11,000) in the 2009 Borgata Poker Open.  He's been a poker pro for four years and is primarily a cash game player. Manfredo has a math education degree from Molloy College in Rockville Centre, NY. 

Mancuso Doubles Through Papola

$3300 + $200 Championship No Limit Hold'em   

Blinds 50k/100k/5k ante

UTG: Josh Mancuso opens to 225
SB: Jeff Papola makes it 700k
Mancuso moves all in for 2.825 million, Papola calls

Mancuso:  9♣ 9♦
Papola: A♥ K♠

Flop: J♥ J♣ 6♦

Turn: 3♦ 

River 10♥

Mancuso doubles through Papola and has nearly 6 million chips. Nick Manfredo says to Mancuso, "I got to be honest, I was rooting against you."

15 minutes left on the level.

Final Four Playing Serious Poker

$3300 + $200 Championship No Limit Hold'em     

Jeff Papola has moved in a couple of times, but has not yet gotten called.

Four players remain.  The next one to go will earn $159,088.

The winner will earn $542,771.  That's a difference of over $383,000.

Marc Goldman (button) and Jeff Papola got to the river with a board of J♣8♠8♦T♠4♠.  Jeff moved all-in for 3.375 million.

Marc tanked, trying to get a read on Jeff, who sat motionless.

Marc flashed the A♣ and folded.  Jeff collected the pot, chipping up to ~5.2 million.  Marc was left with about 9 million.

Final Four Chip Counts

$3300 + $200 Championship No Limit Hold'em      

Play resumed with blinds of 50k/100k with 10k antes.

 Top:  Marc Goldman & Josh Mancuso

Bottom:  Nick Manfredo & Jeff Papola

Here are the chip counts as of the break (in millions):

Marc Goldman - 9.4  (94 big blinds)
Josh Mancuso - 5.3
Nick Manfredo - 4.8
Jeff Papola - 2.5  (25 big blinds)

5th Place - Iacobellis

$3300 + $200 Championship No Limit Hold'em      

Christian Iacobellis (Rye, NY)

$128,674

With Sam Bernstein's departure in 6th place, the remaining five players are all twenty-somethings.

Marc Goldman is the youngest at 23.  Josh Mancuso is the oldest at 29.

Marc Goldman (button) raised and Christian Iacobellis moved in from the big blind.

Marc called, showing pocket Jacks.  Christian held pocket 3s.

The board ran out K Q 7 9 8 and Marc's Jacks were good.

Christian Iacobellis finished in 5th place, earning $128,674.

Christian has been playing professionally for about 10 years.  He finished 10th in the 2010 Borgata Poker Open Championship event the year that Dwyte Pilgrim won it all.  He also won three major online tournaments in one day.

When not playing poker, Christian plays professional Roller Hockey for the New England Insanity.

Another level gone and the final four are taking a break.

6th Place - Bernstein

$3300 + $200 Championship No Limit Hold'em      

Sam Bernstein (Englewood, NJ)

$105,279

Sam Bernstein moved in for his last ~750k.  Marc Goldman put in a min-raise and successfully isolated.

Sam held JT.  Marc was ahead with A4.

The board came 6 5 2 7 7 and Marc's Ace-high was good to take the pot.

Sam Bernstein finished in 6th place and will take home $105,279.

Sam is a hedge fund manager in New York and plays poker for fun.  He made the final table of a $5k event at Foxwoods, but this is by far his largest reported cash in a tournament.

His greatest accomplishment outside of poker is paying for his three children's educations.

Mancuso Doubles Thru Goldman

$3300 + $200 Championship No Limit Hold'em     

In a battle of the blinds:

Marc Goldman completed and Josh Mancuso checked.

 Josh Mancuso & Marc Goldman

The flop came Q 4 3.  Marc bet and Josh called.

Turn was a 9 and Marc fired again.  This time Josh raised and Marc shoved.  Josh called.

Marc showed T9 for a pair of 9s.  Josh held Q4 for two pair.  The river changed nothing and Josh doubled up to ~ 4 million.

7th Place - Parker

$3300 + $200 Championship No Limit Hold'em     

 Brock Parker (College Park, MD)

$84,223

Brock Parker open-shoved and sent Jeff Papola (bb) into the tank.  Jeff decided to call, showing A9 off.  Brock was ahead with AJ.

Then the flop came J T 8, giving Brock top pair, but giving Jeff the open-ended draw.

The turn was an inconsequential 5, but then a 7 on the river completed the straight for Jeff.  He chipped up to ~3 million.

Brock Parker finished in 7th place, earning $84,223.

Brock has been playing poker professionally for 11 years.  He picked up two WSOP bracelets in 2009, playing both Limit and No Limit Six Max events.  He also took first place in the $1,500 Purple Chip Bounty tournament, event 20, during this series, good for over $76,000.

Besides being a champion pro poker player, Brock is also a pro tour champion Magic the Gathering player.

Break Time Chip Counts

$3300 + $200 Championship No Limit Hold'em     

With seven players remaining, the average stack is over 3.1 million (37 big blinds).

Here are the approximate chip counts, in millions:

Marc Goldman - 6.325 (79 big blinds)
Nick Manfredo - 5.500
Sam Bernstein - 2.670
Christian Iacobellis - 2.345
Josh Mancuso - 1.900
Brock Parker - 1.640
Jeff Papola - 1.600  (20 big blinds)

Following the break, they got back to business with blinds of 40k/80k with 5k antes.

Chips Moving Around the Felt

$3300 + $200 Championship No Limit Hold'em     

Marc Goldman opened for 130k utg, then Christian Iacobellis flatted in the cutoff.  San Bernstein made a big three-bet from the big blind.  Both opponents folded.

Nick Manfredo opened for 130k in the cutoff.  Jeff Papola called on the button.  Marc Goldman called from the big blind.

The flop came Q 6 4 with two diamonds.  It was checked to Jeff, who bet 155k.  Marc folded.  Nick checked out Jeff's remaining chips (about 1.6 million) then announced he was all-in.

Jeff gave it some thought, then folded.

End of level and players are taking a break.

8th Place - Zoldak

$3300 + $200 Championship No Limit Hold'em     

John Zoldak (Staten Island, NY)

$64,337

John Zoldak got his chips in holding pocket Queens, but ran into Christian Iacobellis' pocket Kings.

The board ran out A 9 9 4 J and Christian's Kings were good.  He chipped up to over 5 million.

John Zoldak finished in 8th place, earning $64,337.

At 54 years young, John Zoldak was the elder statesman at this final table.  Born and raised in New York he plays here at Borgata frequently. 

He finished 6th in a $175 + $25 satellite for the main event, earning $3,400, which was nearly enough to buy his entry.  He used that to enter a $700 + $50 satellite, where he won his seat.   He basically turned $200 into over $64,000!

His proudest accomplishment outside of poker is earning a Staten Island Service Award for building baseball fields for Youth Baseball.

Goldman Takes Big Pot from Papola

$3300 + $200 Championship No Limit Hold'em    

Jeff Papola and Marc Goldman tangled in a pot that was four-bet pre-flop.

Jeff fired the turn and got called.

 Marc Goldman & Jeff Papola

Both players checked the river with a board of K♣J♦2♣Q♥9♣.

Jeff held A6 off for Ace-high. 

Marc held AK for top/top to take the pot, chipping up to nearly 7 million. 

Jeff was left with about 4 million.

9th Place - Dannenmann

$3300 + $200 Championship No Limit Hold'em   

 Steve Dannenmann (Severn, MD)

$44,451

Steve Dannenmann got his short-stack in good with pocket Queens.  Brock Parker was trying to chase him down with AJ.

The board came A K 9 6 T and Brock paired his Ace to take the pot, ending Steve's run.  Brock chipped up to ~1.5 million.

Steve Dannenmann finished in 9th place, earning $44,451.

Steve is of course best known for his 2nd place finish in the 2005 WSOP Main Event, where he took home $4.5 million.  He still works full time as a CPA and only plays tournament recreationally.

John Zoldak moved in twice in a row, but got no callers.  He picked up 130k in blinds and antes each time.

Break Time Chip Counts

$3300 + $200 Championship No Limit Hold'em    

End of level and time for a break while the 1K chips are colored up.

Here are the approximate chip counts:

Jeff Papola - 6 million
Marc Goldman - 5 million
Nick Manfredo - 2.67 million
Josh Mancuso - 2.75 million
Christian Iacobellis - 1.63
Sam Bernstein - 1.46 million
John Zoldak - 1.2 million
Brock Parker - 860k
Steve Dannenmann - 550k

Average with nine players remaining is 2.4 million.

Play resumed with blinds of 30k/60k with 5k antes.

10th Place - Adam

$3300 + $200 Championship No Limit Hold'em   

Cedric Adam (Prodo Neort, France)

$29,244

 After Marc Goldman raised from the cutoff, Cedric Adam moved in from the big blind.

Marc called, showing AQ,  Cedric was racing with pocket 5s.

The Queen on the flop was bad news for Cedric.

The Ace on the turn was just overkill.  Cedric needed a 5.

River was a 7 and it was over for him.

Cedric Adam finished in 10th place, earning $29,244.

This 26-year-old has been playing poker professionally for about 2 years.  He finished second in event 6, the $1k No Limit event, (almost $34k) so he's made an excellent showing here this winter.

Huge Double for Papola

$3300 + $200 Championship No Limit Hold'em   

Jeff Papola got all-in pre-flop for 2.9 million against Brock Parker.

Jeff had pocket Kings and was facing Brock's AK.

The board came Ace-free and Jeff's Kings were good for a huge double-up to ~6 million.  Brock was left with ~1 million.

Big Pot Early

$3300 + $200 Championship No Limit Hold'em   

Play resumed at noon with the 25k/50k with 4k antes level (about 36 minutes remain).

Brock Parker, John Zoldak, and Sam Berstein (sb) were in a three-way pot, until Sam folded on the turn.

 John Zoldak & Brock Parker

On the river, the board showed A♠T♠T♣6♥2♥.

Brock checked.  John fired 550k.

Brock tanked.  Checked his cards again.  Thought some more.  Then called.

John showed 7♠6♠ for a pair of 6s (missed flush draw).

Brock showed A♦Q♦ to take the pot with Aces-up.  He chipped up to ~4 million.

John was left with about 1.3 million.

Event 28: More Familiar Faces

$200 + $30 + $100 Black Chip Bounty NLH  Tr

More familiar faces have turned up on the felt today:

Elliott Zaydman
Leanne Rosenblatt
Grace Sun
James Boyle
Dan DaConti
Howard Wolper

Event 28: Boat Sunk By Bigger Boat

$200 + $30 + $100 Black Chip Bounty NLH

Borgata regular Marguerite Spagnuolo took aim at a bounty on a flop of K 8 8. 

He obliged by calling all-in, showing AK for Kings-up.  Marguerite had her sights locked on with A8 for trip 8s.

Then another King hit the turn, giving both a full boat, but Marguerite's 8-s full was sunk by her opponent's Kings-full.

He doubled up and Marguerite was left short.

This is a no re-entry event, so once you surrender your bounty, you're done.

Event 28: Familiar Faces

$200 + $30 + $100 Black Chip Bounty NLH

Bounty Hunters are back today for their last chance at some bounty bucks during the Winter Open.

Among the crowd are some familiar faces:

Sheree Bykofsky
Anthony Caruso
Fritz Stoner
Joe Simmons
David Heck (winner of event 27)
Matthew Jacobi (10th in event 27)
Adam Varrenti
Andrew Klein

Borgata Leaderboard Update (2/3)

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, 24, 25, 26, 27, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53. 54)

583.605 PTS:  THOMAS HOGLUND (NEW BEDFORD, MA)

569.668 PTS:  EMANUEL FAILLA (SMITHTOWN, NY)

521.150 PTS:  DARYL BLACK (VOORHEES, NJ)

437.668 PTS:  MICHAEL LINSTER (ISLAND PARK, NY)

434.893 PTS:  JOSEPH OPIE (FAIR HAVEN, NJ)

418.588 PTS:  MICKAEL MORGOUSKY (BROOKLYN, NY)

414.788 PTS:  JOSEPH STUCKEY (HICKSVILLE, NY)

411.088 PTS:  DARYL BOATWRIGHT (SICKLERVILLE, NJ)

408.138 PTS:  BEN GELLER (FAR ROCKAWAY, NY)

389.875 PTS:  GONZALO VILLARREAL (E HANOVER, NJ)

379.563 PTS:  LEONID VIZIROV (CHALFONT, PA)

362.063 PTS:  KEVIN SAUL (WARRENVILLE, IL)

354.013 PTS:  JOSEPH MOSCA (BRONX, NY)

353.455 PTS:  MATTHEW MAZZEO (EAST WILLISTON, NY)

Event 28: Final Trohpy Event Begins

$200 + $30 + $100 Black Chip Bounty NLH

The final trophy event on the Borgata Winter Poker Open is underway in the Poker Room.

Today's event is a popular Bounty tournament, where any player you bust rewards you with a Black Chips -- $100 -- Bounty.

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

Level 1 blinds are 25/50.

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

Friday, February 3

Today's Events (Poker Room)

11AM: Event 28 - $200 + $30 + $100 Black Chip Bounty NLH 

• Players start with 15,000 in tournament chips 
• Levels will last 30 minutes each 
• This is a Bounty tournament.  Players must have their Bounty Chip clearly displayed on the table in order to remain active in tournament.
• 1-Day event

12 PM:  Event 23 - $3,300 + $200 Championship NLH

• Day 5 - Final Table

6PM: Event 55 - $125 + $25 No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry)

• Players start with 10,000 in tournament chips 
• Levels will last 20 minutes each 
• Players that "bust" within the first four Levels may Re-Enter (unlimited re-entries)
• 1-Day event

Borgata Bad Beat Hits

Karoon = Kaboom In A Threemendous Hand

Congratulations to Karoon Monfared (New York, NY) who just won the small Bad Beat Jackpot when his quad threes lost to Ari Nissim's (Morris Plaines, NJ) quad fours.

It all went down at 1:00 AM in the back of the Borgata Poker room on a $2 - $5 no limit hold'em cash game.

Karoom wins $20,000 of the jackpot while Ari earns $10,000 and the pot for winning the hand.

The remaining seven players, who we're incredibly excited, will chop up the remaining $20,000.

"I was just saying tonight that I've never even been playing when the bad beat hit and I've been playing for ten years" said the bad beater, Karoon Monfared.

On the flip side, Ari Nissim hit a bad beat once before at another casino.

As for the big hand of the night, five players limped in and saw a flop of 4♦ 4♥ 3♥.

Karoon held 3♠ 3♦ and Ari held 4♠ 4♣ .

An A♠ came on the turn followed by that miracle 3♣ on the river.

Karoon put the rest of his money in on the river and Ari called.

Once the men tabled their cards, the entire table jumped up and down, going wild.

Magnificent Seven each hitting for $2,857 included:
1. Alexandros Takounakis (Alexandria, VA)
2. Yosef Fima (New York, NY)
3. Daniel Fischer (Brigantine, NJ)
4. Daniel Chan (New York, NY)
5. Sushil Patel (Voorhees, NJ)
6. Joshua Nossel (New York, NY)
7. Jason Foster (Brick, NJ)

Event 27 Recap

$200 + $30 Deep Stack Semi-Turbo NLH (Re-Entry)

Q: What the "Heck" just happened?
A: David Heck (Colts Neck, NJ) just won $16,397 and the Event 27 Borgata Trophy after beating Tim B (Atlanta, GA) heads up.

"I won this for my wife Jeanne and my kids Julianna and Micahel" said David after the victory.

There were two key hands that paved the way with chips for David. First, when there were two tables left, David was all in for his tournament life holding A-J up against KK.
He spiked an ace on the flop then rivered a flush for an exclamation point and monster pot.

The second big hand came when his QQ held up against A-10 for a crucial final table double up which brought David close to the chip lead. Queens holding up became significant and tension-filled because they fell twice in back to back hands, both times to KK and to the same winner. Talk about exciting Groundhog Day drama.

Kevin Way held the Kings back to back to beat QQ back to back. Kevin finished in 3rd place for $5,649. The losers were Jordon Meadow and Borgata legend Harold Wolper. Both had a ton of chips and both shipped them Oneway, to Kevin Way.

This was a fast, fun, exciting tournament that gave players 25,000 chips to work with.

Among the 313 Borgata players who jumped into the fray and tried to be amongst the lucky 36 who shared the $62,600 Total Buy-in included Gene Castro, James Boyle, Ryan Eriquezzo, Marguerite Spagnuolo, Ben Geller, Omar Akataxi, and Leo Goldberger who finished 5th for $3,524.

But the man who stacked over 5 million chips and took down this Event was David Heck who was a little surprised that before he became final table chip leader the big stacks kept challenging and felting each other out the door in the donkament.

Heck took 2nd place in the 2010 Spring Poker Open for more money, but today's Borgata $16,397 score is his first, first place victory ever and first poker trophy.

Final Table Results

Place-Name-Amount

1. David Heck (Colts Neck, NJ) - $16,397
2. Tim B. (Atlanta, GA) - $9,110
3. Kevin Way (Upper Pottsgrove, PA) - $5,649
4. Matthew Piccolo (Dumont, NJ) - $4,556
5. Leo Goldberger (Brooklyn, NY) - $3,524
6. Howard Wolper (Atlantic City, NJ) - $2,975
7. Jordon Meadow (Poughkeepsie, NY) - $2,399
8. Jack Pomeranc (Wayne, NJ) - $1,791
9. Albert Linton (Baltimore, MD) - $1,214
10. Matthew Jacobi (North Carolina) - $789

Event 27 Champion - Heck

$200 + $30 Deep Stack Semi-Turbo NLH (Re-Entry)

David Heck (Colts Neck, NJ)

$16,397

Congratulations to David Heck who just took down Event 27.

He takes home $16,397 for a good day's worth of work, along with the 2012 Borgata Winter Poker Open engraved trophy.

The final table saw first and second in chips continue to dance with each other for their entire stacks.

David sat back while other players battled allowing him to continue to climb up the money-board.

Last stop was 1st Place after taking down Tim B. heads-up after about twenty minutes.

David says hi to his wife Jeanne, his high school daughter Julianna, and his 7th grade son Michael.

Heck Yeah, David just finished in 1st place earning $16,397.

Event 27: 2nd Place - B.

$200 + $30 Deep Stack Semi-Turbo NLH (Re-Entry)

Tim B. (Atlanta, GA)
$9,110

A big hand for Tim B. was when he felted Matthew Piccolo at the final table.

Tim had JJ and it held up against Piccolo's A-J suited.

Heads up between Tim B. and David Heck lasted about twenty minutes.

Tim tried to put a dent in David's monster lead but just couldn't manage to chip away.

The hand that crippled David and left him very short-stacked ended with David rivering a gutterball.

David had 10-9 on a 7-K-J-3-8 board.

The final hand of the tournament was David's A-6 vs. Tim's Q-8.

Board ran: 5-3-10-5-A.

"After dinner I won two key races with AJ and 88 and shot up to 300,000" explained Mr. B.

Tim B. finished in 2nd Place earning $9,110.

Event 27: 3rd Place - Way

$200 + $30 Deep Stack Semi-Turbo NLH (Re-Entry)

Kevin Way (Upper Pottsgrove, PA)
$5,649

Appropriately on Groundhog's Day Kevin Way became the monster chip-leader at a crowded final table after KK held up in back to back hands against QQ.

By the time it got to three-handed, with ballooning blinds, Kevin was looking at a short stack.

After the 5 million dollar man, David Heck, raised, Kevin made a move with Q-J and jammed.

Heck called, tabling A-6.

Way missed his cards while Heck found a nut diamond four flush.

Kevin is a small business owner who told us, "I ran good today and got lucky."

Kevin's Dad David rooted from the rail. He also played in Event 27 saying, "I donated chips to the cause".

Kevin Way finished in 3rd Place earning $5,649.