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