Event 1 (Day 1D)
Level 1 (Blinds 25/50)
Matthew Burnitz (Wilmington, DE)
While most every seat is filled in the room at the moment, there are still some stragglers making their way through the aisles to get to their seats. It’s not often that we will see a player for the first time this many flights into an event, but Matthew Burnitz (Wilmington, DE) was just spotted firing his first bullet into Event 1. It was two years ago (during this series), that Burnitz made the WPT Televised final table during the $3,300 No Limit Hold’em Championship Event. The one time computer wiz become full-time grinder earned himself a life changing score, finishing runner up to Ben Hamnett and collecting $488,850.
The list of notables across the room is over two pages long (and I write small), but it has to start somewhere:
Joe Palma
Philip Rinaldi
Eric Rivkin
Kevin Mason
Eric Rappaport
Andrew Amato
Michael Cologna
Level 1 (Blinds 25/50)
The Event Center looks exactly like we thought it may, as every single table is in action across the room. Players are still walking in and finding their seats, with Tournament Director Tab Duchateau going over the rules announcement for those in the room. He’s asked for the table signs to be taken off the tables, which means that the cards will be in the air in just moments.
As mentioned earlier, there are still many big named notables yet to bag chips for Day 2, and a quick scan of the Event Center will show us which of those have chosen the “early bird” flight to start their day.
The third day of the 2014 Borgata Poker Open expects to be the busiest of the series, as the final two flights of Event 1 are the only two “main event” tournaments scheduled. There have been a total of 1,572 entries over the first three flights of Event 1, with 161 players able to say that they bagged chips headed towards Day 2. While the Day 1A flight saw only a handful of players eclipse the 300,000 mark by the end of the night, there emerged some much larger one when the final card was dealt for Day 1B and Day 1C. Darren Elias (Los Angeles, CA) grabbed the chip lead midway through Day 1B, and he never looked back, ending the flight with 503,000. There were three other players to reach the “400 Club” from that flight, including Chester Rudsill (475,000), Romy Segal (437,000), and Steve Scales (435,000). The heaviest bag to be sealed so far belongs to Andrew Badecker (Vernon, CT), who ended the Day 1C flight as the chip leader with 517,000. Derek Marman (404,000) and Zach Daly (403,000) we his two closest competitors at the night’s end, and the only other players over 400,000 for the Day 1C flight.
The doors open early again this morning, as the Day 1D flight kicks of at 10:00am. The Event Center expects to be at capacity at points throughout the day, with some serious foot traffic outside the poker registration area. Players once again have two opportunities to fire bullets into what’s become on of the most prestigious events of the Borgata Poker calendar year, as Day 1E begins at 4:00pm, and offers the absolute final chance to try and bag chips for tomorrow’s Day 2.
Every bit of action throughout the day will be documented here on the Borgata Poker Blog, and we can expect there to be a lot of it. There are still many big names that are waiting to get their hands on a bag at the end of the night to fill with chips…no matter how many it may be. The “golden tournament ticket” could still be out there today, but we won’t find out who held onto it until Event 1 continues to unfold over the next 72 hours. Here is the Borgata Poker Open schedule for the day:
10:00am: Event 1 (Day 1D) $500 + 60 Big Stack No Limit Hold’em Re-Entry ($2,000,000 Guarantee)
4:00pm: Event 1 (Day 1E) $500 + 60 Big Stack No Limit Hold’em Re-Entry ($2,000,000 Guarantee)
7:00pm:Event 27 (Cash Tournament) $100 + 20 + 100 Black Chip Bounty No Limit Hold’em Re-Entry