Event 7
$300+$40+$10 Donation Mike Sica Memorial Seniors NLH
Structure
Level 15: Blinds 2000/4,000/4000 BB Ante
Total Entries: 79
Remaining: 14
Average Chips: 112,000
Larry had Steven Rinker in horrible shape and ready to be finished, but the dealer drops one of Rinker’s three live outs on the turn, above. Small wound to O’Halloran’s stack.
Paul Tong, the SPO Seniors’ champ, is in the mix on table 2.
$300+$40+$10 Donation Mike Sica Memorial Seniors NLH
Structure
Level 14: Blinds 1,500/3,000/3000 BB Ante
Total Entries: 79
Remaining: 17
Average Chips: 92,000
A bust, and we redraw for the last 18.
Larry O’Halloran, who also possesses Borgata hardware is at left. He is one of the big stacks right now with over 130,000. Donald Van Steeland is in blue, with nearly the same amount.
Big pot. Donald, now on Vinny Iorio’s right, gets into a spot.
Now in his new seat after the redraw, Donald faces a rare flop three bet from Vinny, a former Seniors’ winner. Donald makes the call, but folds to a 70,000 turn shove on 
.
The win pushes Vinny up to 180,000 and the likely lead.
$300+$40+$10 Donation Mike Sica Memorial Seniors NLH
Structure
Level 12: Blinds 1,000/2,000/2,000 BB Ante
Total Entries: 79
Total Buy-In: $23,700
Total Prize Pool: $22,989
The prize pool of nearly $23,000 will be paid out to the final nine Seniors as shown below. Of course the winner will also take home the Borgata Poker Open trophy.
| Place | Payout |
| 1 | $8,046 |
| 2 | $4,368 |
| 3 | $2,759 |
| 4 | $2,069 |
| 5 | $1,609 |
| 6 | $1,379 |
| 7 | $1,149 |
| 8 | $920 |
| 9 | $690 |
$300+$40+$10 Donation Mike Sica Memorial Seniors NLH
Structure
Level 9: Blinds 500/1,000/1,000 BB Ante
Entries: 79
Players Remaining: 45
Average Stack: 35,000
Seniors have resumed play following the break and registration is closed with an unofficial entry count of 79.
As of the break, Martin Oliveras was the chip leader with approximately 140,000.
Martin Oliveras
$300+$40+$10 Donation Mike Sica Memorial Seniors NLH
Structure
Level 8: Blinds 400/800/800 BB Ante
Entries: 75
Blinds are up for the Seniors and a break will follow this level. When play resumes with level 9, registration will close.
Jim Plate
There’s another Seniors event specialist in action today. Jim Plate has also won the Seniors event here at Borgata three times.
2013 Summer Poker Open
2014 Borgata Poker Open
2016 Summer Poker Open
These three wins are also his only Borgata wins.
His wife is a player as well. Dorothy Courten-Plate started the day in the Seniors event, but has busted out and joined the Deeper Stack across the room.
Dorothy Courten-Plate
$300+$40+$10 Donation Mike Sica Memorial Seniors NLH
Structure
Level 6: Blinds 200/400/400 BB Ante
Entries: 73
Arthur Bressler
Arthur Bressler is a retired Civil Engineer for the Port Authority of NY & NJ and is a 9/11 survivor. He was in the first World Trade Center tower on the 82nd floor and got out 20 minutes before it collapsed. As he exited the building, the second tower came crashing down causing what “felt like a hurricane vacuum”. Arthur was scooped up in the whirlwind, thrown and knocked unconscious until a New York first-responding firefighter found him.
He told me another harrowing tale of survival from Wednesday night. He played the $300 Survivor that night and the final 12 players were going to get $3,000 each. With 13 players remaining, he was the shortest stack remaining with only 6,000 chips at a time when the blinds were 8,000/16,000 with 2,000 ante.
Luckily for Arthur, the second-shortest stack only had 9,000 chips and was in the big blind, so all-in before the cards were dealt. He busted out on the bubble and Arthur survived to cash for $3,000. A player called him the “Ultimate Survivor” without even knowing Arthur’s back-story from 9/11.
He wasn’t so lucky in early action today. In the big blind, he defended to see a flop of J 5 4 rainbow and continued to see an Ace on the turn. When an 8 completed the board, his opponent, the original raiser, shoved and Arthur called, saying “the only way you can beat me is with six-seven” because Arthur had 32 suited for the wheel on the turn.
Of course his opponent tabled 76 for the bigger straight to take the pot and felt Arthur. Undeterred, Arthur’s fired another bullet and is back in the seniors event after the first break.
$300+$40+$10 Donation Mike Sica Memorial Seniors NLH
Structure
Level 5: Blinds 200/300/300 BB Ante
Entries: 71
Barry Leventhal
One of the players in today’s Seniors event has won this tournament three times here at Borgata:
2015 Winter Poker Open
2018 Spring Poker Open
2018 Summer Poker Open
In addition to those three Seniors event wins, Barry has four other wins at this venue, giving him a total of 7 Borgata titles. That puts him in some elite company with Will ‘the Thrill’ Failla and Mike McGuinness, who both have 7 Borgata titles. The only other player with more is Abraham Korotki, who holds the record with nine.
$300+$40+$10 Donation Mike Sica Memorial Seniors NLH
Structure
Level 2: Blinds 75/150
Although Mike Sica’s daughter Michele doesn’t play poker, he’s still got a couple of family members in today’s field.
Tom Selesky
Tom Selesky is Michele’s husband and he’s sporting one of Mike’s own ‘Little Man’ hats.
Also playing today is Joe DeBonis, Mike’s nephew.
Joe DeBonis
$300+$40+$10 Donation Mike Sica Memorial Seniors NLH
Structure
Level 2: Blinds 75/150
Rich Forte – 1st Place – 2017 BPO Seniors
Last year, this event drew 108 players and shortly after the dinner break, the final eight agreed on an adjusted payout. Chip leader Rich Forte got the win and $4,771, along with the Borgata Poker Open Seniors Trophy.