Event 1 (Day 1D)
Level 10 (Blinds 500/1,000/100)
Players are now going on a (15) minute break as the tournament floor colors off the green (25 denomination) chips. Players will return to Level 10 and blinds of 500/1,000/100. Here are some updated from Twitter of those players still alive in the field:
Ran it up a lil then bled down, coming back to 9700 and the small blind at 500/1000. #BPO
— Chris Kusha (@TooBusyWINNING) September 4, 2014
Withering hard on the 4th bullet. Got 14k going into 500-1k but moved to the lovely #EmojiQueens table @LuckyJadeJules — Eric Rappaport (@Rappy300) September 4, 2014
Survived the re-entry period on 1 bullet again. I better bag this flight in fear of reentry punishment final flight
— Kevin Saul (@BeL0WaB0Ve) September 4, 2014
Lost 8.5k right before break- 4 limpers,have KQss on B- make it 2800- bb jams last 8.5k-limps fold. AJ252- His 99>KQ . So 25k @ 3rd break
— Charles Welch (@CamIsTheMan718) September 4, 2014
Level 9 (Blinds 400/800/75)
Players will be going on break at the end of this level (18 minutes), and when they return, the registration for this flight will be closed. After a lap around the Event Center, some updated chip counts were collected from both bigger stacks and notables:
Guy Maxtone-Graham – 100,000
Jay Newkirk – 92,000
David Stevens – 90,000
John Gulino – 88,000
Edward Gilfillan – 71,000
Yong Kwon – 70,000
Oren Bernea – 68,000
Angelo Medica – 66,000
Amanda Musumeci – 62,000
Helen Ellis – 55,000
Jose Montes – 35,000
Ari Engel – 30,000
Joe McKeehen – 28,000
Justin Liberto – 20,000
Level 9 (Blinds 400/800/75)
Akib Ali (Princeton, NJ)
While there are plenty of players with above average stacks with one level left to play before the late registration/re-entry period is over, there are a few players separating themselves from the early pack, sitting with over 100,000.
Both Roger Wellman (Chile) and Ari Buchman (Long Island, NY) are over the 120,000.
The last of the “Early Century Club” is Akib Ali (Princeton, NJ) who is currently sitting with just over 115,000.
Ali has seem some moderate success at The Borgata, but his biggest score and the highlight of his short tournament poker career is without a doubt the WSOP Circuit Event he won last April at Harrah’s Chester.
That win gave Ali $10,322 for the victory, but more importantly, won him the WSOP Circuit Ring has had been working so hard to get over the last few years. If he can keep Day 1D going like it has over the first eight levels, he could be adding some more championship hardware to his name here at the Borgata Poker Open.
Level 8 (Blinds 300/600/75)
Ryan Sentz (Baltimore, MD)
The action at Table 65 would be picked up as George Leandrou opened the pot UTG to 1,500. Mike Gaumond would make the call next to act, with Ryan Sentz (Baltimore, MD) the only other player to come along. The three watched as the dealer placed down a flop of {kh} {4c} {ad}. Action would get checked around, and the dealer tabled the {2d} on the turn, with Leandrou jumping into action with a 5,500 bet. Gaumond folded behind, and after a quick look back at his cards, Sentz made the call.
The river would come the {qd}, with Leandrou quickly checking the action to Ryan. After a look back at the board and his chips, Sentz uncapped his cards and tabled {ks} {kc}. George stared down at the board, with Ryan asking, “Are you mucking,” after about half a minute of looking. Leandrou would show Sentz his {ah} {qh} before sending the hand towards the muck, and the dealer pushed the pot Sentz’s way. Ryan is up to 47,000 with the pot, telling George that the river action would of been much different if it didn’t bring a diamond.
Level 8 (Blinds 300/600/75)
Dave Stevens (Wilton, CT)
While it’s still relatively early in Day 1D, double knockouts are always an exciting venture, not only for the people involved in the hand, but also the rest of the table.
The action was picked up as two short stacked players, one of them being Steven Rodriguez, were all-in and at risk, with Dave Stevens (Wilton, CT) having both players covered.
He also had both players dominated as he held {Kd}{Kc}, over Rodriguez’s {8d}{8s} and the unknown player’s {Qd}{Qh}.
The flop came down {10c}{Ac}{4c}, giving Steven’s a strangle hold on the hand, as he was now drawing to the nut flush, thus taking away outs from each of his opponents.
The river and turn would not bring the case non-club cards as the {6h} and {2h} would fall.
When the river came down, a player at the table stood up and screamed, “There’s my deuce!” insisting he had pocket {2x}’s and that he would have been “the chip leader” if he had played the hand.
The soft spoken Steven’s collected his chips and jokingly thanked the player for not playing his low pocket pair.
Steven’s is currently sitting with just over 60,000.
Level 7 (Blinds 250/500/50)
Matthew Silberzweig (Elmont, NY)
Table 66 currently sits with five active players, but it’s not because of lack of bodies to fill the seats. Each time the floor brings over a handful of players, they get knocked out at an alarming rate. Matthew Silberzweig just put an opponent all-in on a flop of {jd} {5d} {2s}, and got a call from {8s} {8h}. Silberzweig turned over {js} {9s} and watched as the dealer ran the turn and river free of another eight, giving Matthew the pot and sending yet another player away from Table 66.
With that pot, Silberzweig chips up to 70,000, which is above average at the moment. Players looking for a number to gauge for the end of flight bagging should use the 190,000-210,000 range. While that number changes as each flight ends, it looks currently as if that will be the where the final average will end up.
Level 7 (Blinds 250/500/50)
Jordan Ludwick (Cherry Hill, NJ)
As expected by all, Day 1D is easily the biggest Day 1 session so far, with over 1,100 players currently entered.
The Event Center has the capacity to hold just over 90 tables, which means players late registering and re-entering have to go somewhere, and that somewhere is the Borgata Poker Room.
As of a few minutes ago, just over 30 tables are filled in the Poker Room, with plenty more ready to accept players over the next few levels.
Players that have found a Day 1D home in the familiar Poker Room are:
Abraham Korotki
Matt Blaustein
Nick Condo
Liberty DeVivo
Richard Collinson
Mike Haberman
Mike Azzaro
Jordan Ludwick
Level 7 (Blinds 250/500/50)
Players are headed on their second (10) minute break of the day, and they will return to Level 7 and blinds of 250/500/50. Here are some chip counts pulled from the world of Twitter during the short respite:
Got in AJcc against a blind all in and lost to the Q5dd, 2 clubs and a 5 on the board. Got like 4400 left going to 250/500
— Chris Kusha (@TooBusyWINNING) September 4, 2014
Got set over set in a 3bet pot on T92r and withered for a few levels but battled back to ~starting stack going to bb500 after break. #heart — Tarun (@tarunpkr) September 4, 2014
Went from 23k onbreak to 50k in 1 level with 2 solid river calls,but then lose 51k pot.389ssx-I check 3bjam A7ss nd A8off calls n holds :/
— Charles Welch (@CamIsTheMan718) September 4, 2014
30k commin back to 500bb
— Brian p Mooney (@p_brianmooney44) September 4, 2014
Break @BorgataPoker got 22k #borgatapokeropen #stackcity
— jeff gurfinkel (@jeffgpoker) September 4, 2014
Level 6 (Blinds 200/400/50)
With only three levels left of registration remaining after the upcoming break, we shouldn’t expect to see too many new faces walking into the Event Center until the Day 1E flight at 4:00pm. Here is a short list of last minute notable spotted across the room prior to break:
Ralph Massey
Tim Reilly
Arnold Dinio
Al Riccobono
She Lok Wong
David Novak
“VIP” Phuong
Viet Le
Level 6 (Blinds 200/400/50)
Player have just started posting blinds of 200/400/50 in Level 6, and will be going on their second break of the day at the end of this level. The 10:00am start for this flight doesn’t suit everyone, as numerous notables have walked into the room after 12:00pm to get in the Day 1D action:
Tarun Gulati
Aaron Massey
Akib Ali
Jonas Wexler
Neville Darrell
Julie Anna Cornelius
Jo Kim
David Inselberg
Kane Kalas
Stevie Rodriguez
Joe McKeehen