Event 13 (Day 1A)
$400+$50 Almighty Stack NLH Re-Entry
$1,000,000 Guaranteed
Structure
Level 9: Blinds 800/1,600/1,600 BB Ante
Entries: 501
Players are back from their break with four more levels to go before registration closes for this flight (about 5:45pm). Flight B starts at 5pm in the Signature Room, so they’ll be running concurrently until Flight A bags up at ~8:30pm.
Robert Hankins
Picking up the action on the flop of 
, James ‘Suits’ Salters bet 11,000 after Robert Hankins (bb) checked. Robert called to see the 
on the turn and checked again.
Suits put out an over-bet of 47,500, then Robert check-raised him all-in. Suits only had ~26,000 behind and gave it some thought, but decided to let it go.
Robert took the pot, chipping up to ~550,000 and taking the chip lead.
James ‘Suits’ Salters
$400+$50 Almighty Stack NLH Re-Entry
$1,000,000 Guaranteed
Structure
End of Level 8: Blinds 600/1,200/1,200 BB Ante
Entries: 483
End of level 8 and time for a break.
Paul Rambo
During the previous level, Paul Rambo was involved in a three-way all-in on the flop. Paul had pocket Jacks and had flopped top set. He got all-in with two others, one had a made straight and the other was on a flush draw.
He shut them both down on the river when the case Jack arrived, giving him quadzilla — a monster of a hand! He’s stacking about 530,000 and possibly our early chip leader.
$400+$50 Almighty Stack NLH Re-Entry
$1,000,000 Guaranteed
Structure
Level 8: Blinds 600/1,200/1,200 BB Ante
Entries: 473
Philip Davis
In the back corner of the temporary Tournament Area, we arrived to find two empty seats and Philip Davis stacking chips.
We got the story: on a flop of 7 6 5, three players got all-in. Philip had pocket 7s and was ahead with top set. Another player had pocket 8s for the overpair with open-ended draw and the third player had 75 for two pair.
Running sixes completed the board, giving his opponents sixes-full of eights and sixes-full of sevens respectively, but Philip had sevens-full to take the pot, felting both opponents. He’s up to about 225,000 as they head into the second break of the day.
$400+$50 Almighty Stack NLH Re-Entry
$1,000,000 Guaranteed
Structure
Level 7: Blinds 500/1,000/1,000 BB Ante
Entries: 448
Michael Marder
Michael Marder is a fixture on the felt here at Borgata. Not a series goes by that we don’t see him here grinding away. All that hard work has amounted to more than $973,000 in accumulated tournament earnings in roughly nine years.
He’s got two Borgata titles and more final table appearances than you can shake a stick at. Until this summer, his best live cash was for a 5th place finish in the 2018 WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship, good for $181,329. Then he went to the WSOP this summer and topped that with a 3rd place finish in the $2.500 NLH event for more than $223,000.
To say he’s having a good year would be an understatement. He’s reaping the rewards of his hard work over the years.
$400+$50 Almighty Stack NLH Re-Entry
$1,000,000 Guaranteed
Structure
Level 6: Blinds 400/800/800 BB Ante
Entries: 409
Mike Linster & Allan Lubin
Spotted in the middle of the field was Mike Linster, a WPT Champions Club Member with more than $1.8 million in lifetime tournament earnings. Thanks to the leveling effect of tournament poker, average Joe’s can play alongside professionals — everyone gets the same amount of chips with which to play.
Thanks to the luck of the random seat draw, one of those amateur players, Allan Lubin, is seated to Mike’s left. He seems resigned to having such an accomplished poker pro on his right (better than on his left!).
Allan is a Borgata regular with total live earnings of more than $177,000, about one-tenth of Mike’s. Nevertheless, on the tournament felt, they’re equals, playing with the same cards and by the same rules. On any given day, the cards can run with you or against you — it’s all about working your stack as best you can, given whatever hands you’re dealt.
$400+$50 Almighty Stack NLH Re-Entry
$1,000,000 Guaranteed
Structure
Level 5: Blinds 300/600/600 BB Ante
Entries: 366
One thing about starting with an Almighty stack of 100,000 chips, when the big blind is only 600, you’re playing more that 166 big blinds. With stacks that deep, there’s no reason to get involved, which makes for some dreary poker. Not a lot of all-in and showdowns.
Marek Pazowski
Back in the corner of the temporary tournament area, Marek Pazowski learned this the hard way. He opened under-the-gun to 1,600, getting called by seat 1, (middle) seat 2, (hijack) seat 4, (button), seat 5, (sb) and Daniel Chan (bb).
On the flop of 
they checked around to the hijack, who bet 3,000. The button raised to 7,100 and everyone folded, including Marek, but seat 2, who called.
The two players remaining in the pot (who didn’t want to be named in the blog) checked the 
on the turn. When the 
completed the board and the possible flush, seat 2 bet 15,000 and the button folded. No showdown and seat 2 gets the pot.
It’s easy to call an early position open of 1,600 when you’ve got 100,000 chips or so in play. After this hand, Marek was down to about 85,000 — still more than 140 big blinds. He’s a plumbing contractor from Kinnelon, New Jersey, and doesn’t get to play a lot of tournaments. If you’ve got to pick one to play this series, the Almighty Million is the one.
$400+$50 Almighty Stack NLH Re-Entry
$1,000,000 Guaranteed
Structure
Level 5: Blinds 300/600/600 BB Ante
Entries: 342
Almighty play has resumed in the temporary Tournament Area following the break.
Time to check the Tweets. Make sure to use #BPO2018 so we can find yours!
Taking my shot at Borgata today in the $450 $1M guaranteed Almighty Stack! #BPO2018
— Bob McMahon (@jrob840) September 12, 2018
Borgata Almighty Stack. First break 115k ( start stack 100k) @BlueSharkOptics @BorgataPoker
— Cathy Schenone (@pokerwoman) September 12, 2018
$400+$50 Almighty Stack NLH Re-Entry
$1,000,000 Guaranteed
Structure
Level 2: Blinds 100/200/200 BB Ante
Dan Buzgon – 1st Place – 2017 BPO Almighty Million
Last year’s Almighty Million winner was Dan Buzgon. He took home $151,803 for 1st place in an adjusted payout agreement with runner-up Jon Borenstein, who walked away with $138,000 for 2nd place. This was Dan’s second major win and six-figure score at Borgata. His first was in the 2015 ‘Borgata Million’ Big Stack. 1st place in that event was good for $194,509.
$400+$50 Almighty Stack NLH Re-Entry
$1,000,000 Guaranteed
Structure
Level 1: Blinds 100/100
Since it’s introduction during the 2015 Summer Poker Open, the Almighty Stack of 100,000 starting chips has become a big player favorite. An Almighty Stack event has been part of almost every Open series schedule since. The buy-ins and guarantees may change, but the starting stack stays the same.
This time the guarantee is $1 million and there are four starting flights over the next two days:
Flight A: Now
Flight B: Wednesday, 5pm
Flight C: Thursday, 10am
Flight D: Thursday, 5pm
This is a best stack forward and unlimited re-entry event, so players can fire as many bullets as they like until registration closes at the start of Level 13 of each flight (about 5:45pm for Flight A).
All Day 1 levels are 30 minutes long and each flight will play 17 levels before the survivors bag up their chips. Everyone who manages to get chips in a bag will return at 12 noon Friday for Day 2. The final day will be Saturday at noon.
The order to “Shuffle Up and Deal” has been given and the Almighty Stack is underway!