Monday, June 11, 2012

Event 9: Break Time

$260 + $40 Omaha H/L 8B  

End of level and time for a break.

Play will resume after the break with limits of 10k/20k.

Average stack is only 106k (5 big bets).

Terry O'Brien has extended his chip lead.  He's up to almost 400k.

Event 9: Shifting Chips

$260 + $40 Omaha H/L 8B 

The final ten players have been moving chips around the felt for a while, with no major changes.  That's the way it is with Limit poker and split-pot games.

Still ten players.

Final Table in The Boardroom

Event 9: Final Table Chip Counts

$260 + $40 Omaha H/L 8B

Gloria LoRusso has busted out, along with one other player.

The final ten players drew for seats and relocated to the final table in The Boardroom, Borgata's new Ultra High Limit room.

Here's the new lineup with rough chip counts:
1 - Jamie Kaigh - 75k
2 - Mike Moore - 160k
3 - Jeff Paradise - 50k
4 - Paul Hyman - 110k
5 - John Scholato - 95k
6 - Terry O'Brien - 160k
7 - Arnold Cohen - 100k
8 - Michael Block - 87k
9 - Bo Toft - 95k
10 - Dan Shapiro - 111k

Limits are 8k/16k.  Average stack is 106k.

Event 9: Omaha Dozen

$260 + $40 Omaha H/L 8B

Frank Alger (Colonial Beach, VA) was eliminated in 13th place.

Frank Alger

Twelve players remain at two tables.

About half way through the level.

Limits are 6k/12k.  Average stack is 89k.

Terry O'Brien has moved into the chip lead with ~165k.

Event 9: Last Woman Sitting

$260 + $40 Omaha H/L 8B

As the approach the end of the level, there are 13 players remaining.

 Gloria LoRusso

Only one woman among them.

Gloria LoRusso (Brigantine, NJ) is the lone woman remaining.  She's gone deep in several Omaha Hi/Lo tournaments and even has a couple of final tables, but she's still looking for her first Borgata Open title.

Today Gloria is sporting her customized poker jacket that her granddaughter had made for her, and looking quite stylish.

Event 9: Payouts

$260 + $40 Omaha H/L 8B

Entries: 89
Total Buy-In: $23,140

Place - Amount

1st $7,856
2nd $4,265
3rd $2,694
4th $2,020
5th $1,571
6th $1,347
7th $1,122
8th $898
9th $673

Event 7: End of Day 1B

$350 + $50 Deep Stack NLH (Re-Entry)

Day 1B is a wrap and 83 players have bagged their chips for the night.

Gregory Shvartz bagged the most with 420k, got for the lead over both days 1A & 1B.

Here are all the chip counts from today that are over 300K:

Gregory Shvartz - 420k
Marcus Nguyen - 349k
Byung Yoo - 341k
Christine Brewer - 339k
William Brandise - 311k

The 84 survivors of day 1B will join the 46 survivors of day 1A for a total of 130 players remaining.  They will return at noon Tuesday for day two.

The only day 1A chip counts over 300k:

Mark Gomez - 344k
Russell Youngken - 308k

Event 9: New Chip Leader

$260 + $40 Omaha H/L 8B

Jamie Kaigh


Frank Alger was the chip leader as of the dinner break with ~94k, but Jamie Kaigh has climbed to the top of the Omaha heap.

He's up to over 130k now.

24 players remain at three tables.

Currently in level 18 with limits of 4k/8k.

Event 7: Brandy Brings Good Luck

$350 + $50 Deep Stack NLH (Re-Entry)

Angel Gonzalez (Brooklyn, NY) has a beautiful laser-etched crystal with the face of his daughter, Brandy, that he uses as a card protector.

 Brandy's photo in crystal, bring luck for dad, Angel Gonzalez

It must be bringing him good luck, because just as I walked up to ask him about it, he won a pot with KQ on a board with A Q x x x.

Angel is at a tough table, too.  He's got Nick David and Neal 'G-Money' Gay on his right, and big stack Marcus Nguyen on his left.

Event 9: Goners

$260 + $40 Omaha H/L 8B

These folks made the final table and the money of event 6, Pot Limit Omaha High/Low two days ago, but failed to go deep today playing the Limit version of the game:

2nd Place - Andy Blum (Brigantine, NJ)  $4,121

4th Place - Adrian Stoch (Jersey City, NJ)  $1,952

9th Place - Richie Rubinstein (Brooklyn, NY)  $651

Event 7: Dinner's Done

$350 + $50 Deep Stack NLH (Re-Entry)

Players are back and the clock is rolling.

Level 15:  Blind 2k/4k with 400 antes.

This will be the last level of the day, then they'll bag & tag for the night.

Familiar Faces still in the hunt:

Marta Patella
Rick Rossetti
Joe Wertz
Adam Agaev
Barry Leventhal
Mike Kalfa
Jason Henrici
Stephen Rodriguez
Ari Albili
Daniel Chan
Nick Salimbene
Nick David

Event 9: They're Baaaaak!

$260 + $40 Omaha H/L 8B

The Omaha-lics are back from dinner and settling back into the game.

Borgata regulars still in the hunt:

Gloria LoRusso
Jeff Hunter
Bo Toft
Claudangelo Beaudouin

Event 7: Numbers Game

$350 + $50 Deep Stack NLH (Re-Entry)

Number of Entries: 742
Players Remaining: 154 (including 46 from Day 1A)
Chips in Play: 18.6 million

Big Stack: 390k (98 BB)

Blinds: 2k/4k/400 ante

Play Resumes: 8:45 pm

Total Buy-In: $259,700
First Prize: $58,443
Places Paid: 72

Event 7: Nearing 400k

$350 + $50 Deep Stack NLH (Re-Entry)

The biggest stack at dinner break belongs to Gregory Shvarts (Brooklyn, NY) who's sitting with 390k.

Second in chips is Marcus Nguyen (Williamstown, NJ) who has 307k after winning a big pot just before the break.

Players return at 8:45 pm to play one more level before bagging and tagging for the night.

Event 9: Dinner Break

$260 + $40 Omaha H/L 8B

The remaining 35 players are on dinner break and we expect a lot of action when play resumes. The average stack is 31k (8 big bets), but when play resumes the limits will be 2k/4k.

Frank Alger (Colonial Beach, VA) is the big stack with 94k (25 big bets) and says his opponents have been getting mad at him for his aggressive play.  "I bluffed all the way with only a pair of fours and everybody folded," he says, "I don't know how you can't call with all that money in the pot."

But even the big stack knows he's vulnerable with the blinds and limits so big and that he could lose half of it on one hand.

Should make for an interesting run to the final table as the last nine players cash.

Event 7: Last Call Before Dinner

$350 + $50 Deep Stack NLH (Re-Entry)

Mary Making Players Happy

This is the last level before the dinner break as Level 14 (1,500/3k/400 ante) continues

The one hour dinner break is at 7:30 pm so players are getting their last minute drinks from the Borgata Babes.

Just one more level after dinner before players bag and tag for the night.

Event 7: Friendly Quads

$350 + $50 Deep Stack NLH (Re-Entry)

Ludwick Likes 6 6 6 6

Chris Leong (New York, NY) & Jordan Ludwick (Cherry Hill, NJ) are good friends and apparently have the same luck.

In a span of ten minutes both guys pick up quad 6s just one table away from each other.

Ludwick called an all-in bet with pocket 6s and knocked out a player who hit the nut flush, adding 70k to his now 240k stack.

Leong didn't bust a player, but he got 50k to take his stack to 115k.

Leong Likes it Too

Event 7: 300k Club

 $350 + $50 Deep Stack NLH (Re-Entry)

Ari Looking for Aces

Ari Albilia (Syosset, NY) is no stranger to deep runs at Borgata so it's no surprise he's the only player with 300k.

Albilia biggest payday was the third place finisher in November's inaugural Borgata Fall Poker Open, taking home $138,000.

Event 7: Payouts

$350 + $50 Deep Stack NLH (Re-Entry)

Entries: 742
Total Buy-In: $259,909

Place - Amount

1st $58,443
2nd $34,008
3rd $20,782
4th $17,130
5th $13,855
6th $11,336
7th $9,069
8th $6,927
9th $4,786
10-12 $3,149
13-15 $2,267
16-18 $1,562
19-27 $1,335
28-36 $1,184
37-45 $1,058
46-54 $932
55-63 $831
64-72 $731

Event 7: 200k Club

$350 + $50 Deep Stack NLH (Re-Entry)

Only a hand full of players have cracked the 200k chip mark including Nicky Curattalo (Massapequa, NY) who was briefly at 300k before shipping 80k in a double up.

Big Stacks

Nicky Curattalo (Massapequa, NY) 225k
Robert Albet (Manalapan, NJ) 215k
John Mitchell (Media, PA) 210k

Event 9: Field of 64

$260 + $40 Omaha H/L 8B

The Omaha players are one elimination away from breaking a table as 64 of 89 players remain.

Jason Schmolze (Basking Ridge, NJ) has taken the chip lead with 48k (30 big bets).

Level 10 (800/1,600 limits) is underway.

Event 7: Simon Says, "Jack"

$350 + $50 Deep Stack NLH (Re-Entry)

The case jack is the only thing keeping Simon Miluo (New York, NY) alive in the tournament as he's all in and at risk.

Milu: J J
Opponent: J 10

Flop: 2 10 10 (trip 10s for Opponent)

Turn: 4

River: J

The last jack in the deck, and the only card that can help Milu, gives him a full house and new life.

His opponent is visibly disgusted and prefers to remain anonymous.

Event 7: Big Stack

$350 + $50 Deep Stack NLH (Re-Entry)

Nicky Not Fazed by Relocation

Nicky "Trips" Curattalo (Massapequa, NY) has been moved several times after his tables broke, but it hasn't stopped his momentum.

In the last hour he's chipped up from 165k to 230k (144 BB) and is one of the big stacks in the room.
  
Level 11 (800/1,600/200 ante) is underway.

Another Side Event Update

Monday 3 pm Six-Max

Taisiya Trying Out the Six-Max

In addition to the All In or Fold tournament, the other event getting some love is today's 3 pm, six-max tournament.

It's the first time the format is offered during this series (the six-max is usually reserved as a Main Event) and today's players are using the tournament as a warm-up for tomorrow's $400 event.

"I wasn't going to play this," says Taisiya Kuznetsova (New York, NY), who bagged 123k in Event 7's Day 1A, "but I figure I'll need to be more aggressive tomorrow and this would be good practice."

Kuznetsova is quickly becoming a Borgata regular after she was featured during the Winter Poker Open. and looking forward to returning for Day 2.

Other players in the field are using this six-max as primer for Tuesday's 11 am Main Event which is a $350 + $50 six-max.

All in or Fold, Calling Not an Option

Tuesday 7 pm Preview

 (clockwise from bottom) 
Leonardo Palermo, Tyler Newhouse, Joe Wertz & Jay Sharon 
Discuss Tournament Structure

Of the 49 events offered at the Borgata Summer Poker Open none has been more talked about than Tuesday's 7 pm All in or Fold tournament.

"Shut up," says Lisa Pickell (Bricktown, NJ), "I heard the rumor, so it's true," she says with a look of awe.

The concept is simple, either push all your chips in the middle or fold.  No calling, checking or min raising allowed.

"I love the idea," says Tyler Newhouse, "people have been talking about if for three days."

Joe Wertz chimes in, "people shouldn't be allowed to look at their cards and make it even more crazy,"

Fortunately it's a yellow chip ($20) bounty that offers re-entry ($150 + $30) so if your first all in doesn't work out, you have a chance to get right back into the mayhem.

Players start with 10k in chips, blinds start at 100/100 and levels are 20 minutes each.

"There's definitely high variance," adds Newhouse, who has played forms of the concept online. "You have to win so many races and run super good. But if you're good at math and know when the price is right based on stack size and the situation it in can be profitable."

"It's sick," says Pickell, "it will be a foldfest early and a shovefest late. It will be interesting."

In addition to the 21 Main Events, this is one of 28 side events that offer players a second chance at tournament poker. But non quite like All in or Fold.

Event 7: Last Two In

$350 + $50 Deep Stack NLH (Re-Entry)

 Wey & Agard

Ta Wey (Hackensack, NJ) and Sherwin Agard (Boston, MA) are the last players to re-enter the tournament.

"Nothing to smile about until I win," says Agard, who's on his third entry of the day after arriving at Borgata today at 5 am.

Registration is now officially closed and the cage is verifying the total entries and calculating the prize pool.

Event 9: Break Time

$260 + $40 Omaha H/L 8B

The Omaha crowd has nine full tables and with registration closed players are bunkering down for the long haul.

Jerry Cana (Atlantic City, NJ) has nearly tripled his starting stack of 12k and is one of the big stacks with 32k.

He says quad aces helped him take a nice pot, but that it's "hard to say," how he's doing because there's "a long way to go."

Players are on a ten minute break and play resumes with Level 7 (200/400).

Event 7: Last Level to Re-Enter

$350 + $50 Deep Stack NLH (Re-Entry)

The $100,000 Guaranteed NL tournament with two starting days is just one level away from closing registration.

We've seen a lot of familiar faces entering and re-entering both today and yesterday, but now everyone is down to their final 30 minutes before there are no more second (or third, or fourth...) chances.

Level 8 (400/800, 75 ante) is underway.

Event 7: Short Stacks Surrender

$350 + $50 Deep Stack NLH (Re-Entry)

While players have until the end of Level 8 (3:20 pm) to re-enter the short stacks aren't waiting until they have to surrender their chips.

One player moves all in for 5k without looking and two other players are in the pot including Borgata trophy winner Laura Camuso (Woburn, MA).

On a flop of Q♣ 8♣ 3, Camuso bets the other remaining player out of the pot.

"Hope I have something good," says the all in player as he turns over K♣ 10♣ for a flush draw against Camuso's set of 3s.

Turn: 2♣ (opponent hits the flush)

"Not done yet," says one player as the river card is peeled.

River: Q♠

Camuso goes from a set, to trailing a flush, to rivering a full house.  Her opponent is back in the re-entry line while Camuso takes her stack to 50k.

Camuso took down a deep stack semi turbo for $17,000 during April's Borgata Spring Poker Open .

Event 7: Wahba Walks into Ducks

$350 + $50 Deep Stack NLH (Re-Entry)

 Karger Caught on Camera After Doubling through Wahba (right)

April Leaderboard promotion winner Mark Wahba (Cleveland, OH) gets involved with an interesting hand with John Karger (New York, NY) who says the previous hand he was simply trying to re-enter the tournament.

After getting a double-up with A♣ 6♣ and taking his stack to 23k, Karger intimates that if Wahba raises he may have to go all in.

Wahba raises, Karger moves all in, Wahba calls saying, "I'm a man of my word."

Karger: 2 2
Wahba: A Q

Sure enough Karger wins the coin flip and his pair of ducks get him another double-up.  "They won't let me leave," laughs Karger while stacking his chips.

When he finds out Wahba was April's point leader and won a seat into the Borgata Summer Poker Open Championship event, Kargers asks, "so you know what you're doing?"

Wahba, who was featured in the blog, quips, "sometimes."

Level 6 (200/500, 50 ante) is winding down.

Event 9: Waiting in the Weeds

$260 + $40 Omaha H/L 8B

Omaha specialist Bo Toft (Yardley, PA) is in the High Limit room, but not in the Omaha tournament...yet. 

"I'll be entering real late," says Toft who's playing in a juicy cash game two tables away.

Toft finished 3rd in this event in April and 4th in the 2011 Borgata Fall Poker Open for a combined total of $5,700.

Toft's impressive resume includes 62 tournament cashes for $500,000 in career earnings.

Event 7: Siegel's Serendipity

$350 + $50 Deep Stack NLH (Re-Entry)

 Siegel & Liberta

After taking the weekend off, Eric Siegel is back at Borgata and looking to get his name back on the Borgata Leaderboard. As of the last udpate, Siegel was 11th overall falling from his top 10 spot after finishing 3rd in Event 1 ($27,992).

"There was serendipity both on and off the felt," says Siegel.  "I need more of it to get back on the leaderboard."

Siegel has a tough draw as Borgata regular Joe Liberta is on his left. Both Siegel and Liberta are former Borgata trophy winners.

Event 7 - Day 1A Chip Counts

Borgata Summer Poker Open
Event 7 - $350 + $50 Deep Stack Double Play NLH


END OF DAY 1A CHIP COUNTS:
1. MARK GOMEZ:  344,500
2. RUSSELL YOUNGKEN:  308,000
3. SETH MANFIELD:  273,500
4. JONATHAN LESSIN:  272,000
5. DANIEL SANTIAGO:  270,500
6. MICHAEL TASKER:  258,000
7. HARRY KOROTKI:  241,500
8. FRANK RICHARDONE:  230,000
9. VICTOR PAULINO:  203,000
10. JOSEPH MARINO:  201,000
11. ALFRED WARRINER:  192,500
12. CUONG PHUNG:  190,000
13. ROMAINE LEWIS:  187,000
14. ADRIAN STOCH:  167,000
15. FRANK WALDEN:  163,000
16. KHALED ALWAN:  156,000
17. MICHAEL HICKMAN:  151,000
18. CHRISTOPHER DOBRZANSKI:  147,000
19. GIUSEPPE PIZZOLATO:  146,500
20. VIRGILIO BENCOSME:  139,500
21. FARROKH FORCE:  137,000
22. PATRICK DIVERS:  128,000
23. KEVIN MCGEE:  124,000
24. TAISIYA KUZNETSOVA:  123,000
25. CHRISTIAN FYKE:  120,000
26. JOHN HINDS:  117,500
27. ROSS SANTOS:  114,500
28. JARED HUTT:  109,000
29. EVAN SOSLER:  107,500
30. JASON EDELMAN:  105,000
31. YEVGENI RAPOPORT:  103,500
32. DENNIS ZOLLO:  101,000
33. DIANE GRIPPO:  100,000
34. ALEXANDER RESTREPO:  95,500
35. JINHING CHIN:  92,000
36. MOHAMED ELKERDAWY:  92,000
37. FRANK INGARDIA:  90,000
38. CHRISTOPHER LARREA:  86,000
39. HOWARD WOLPER:  84,500
40. JEFFREY BICER:  73,000
41. DMITRY SKLYAROV:  70,500
42. KAMIL BLASZCZAK:  64,500
43. SCOTT SHOYER:  59,000
44. ALBERT B MUIR:  48,500
45. GENE MAZZA:  40,500
46. NIKOLA CURANOVIC:  20,000

Event 7: Re-entry via Suckout

$350 + $50 Deep Stack NLH (Re-Entry)

Reset for Ricardo

On the last hand before break, Ricardo Velasco (New York, NY) is all in and at risk with no intention of re-entering the tournament.

On a board of 6 Q 5 Velasco says, "I'm on a draw," and sees he's in bad shape against his opponent.

Opponent: K J(leading the hand with flush draw)
Velasco: 7 9 (gutshot straight draw, worse flush draw)

Turn: 4♣ (Velasco OE straight draw)

River: 3♠

The non-heart three on the river gives Velasco a straight and new life.  "Call it re-entry with a suckout," he says while all smiles.

And after a count, Velasco's double-up actually gets him a bonus as he's at 25,075, 75 more than the starting stack.

Players are on a 10 minute break, play resumes with Level 4 (100/200).

Event 9: Uh-oh, Not PLO

$260 + $40 Omaha H/L 8B

 Stoch Assessment

One guy who played in Saturday's Pot Limit Omaha and is here today, gives a quick assessment on the differences between limit Omaha and PLO.

"PLO is a sprint," says Adrian Stoch (Bayonne, NJ) who finished 4th ($1,952) in PLO, "this is a long term marathon."

Stoch added that a lot of PLO players are more "fishy" and "think they know what they're doing," when they bet the pot.

"You can tell these guys are much more skilled players," Stoch adds about today's field.  "There's a lot more skill."

One other player takes the opposite side and says a pot sized bet, "makes it easier to get people off of a hand," something you can't do in limit Omaha. 

On a side note, this is actually an "off day" for Stoch who bagged 167k (14th) after Day 1A of the Event 7 Deep Stack Double Play.  He'll be back at the NL tables Tuesday for Day 2.

Event 9: Omaha Underway

$260 + $40 Omaha H/L 8B

The third Omaha tournament of the series is off and running, but it's the first that's not pot limit.

Players start with 12k in chips and levels are 30 minutes each.

This is a one day tournament and the trophy will be awarded late tonight, early tomorrow.

Split pots, scoops and good times are underway in the High Limit area of the Poker Room.

Event 7: Name Game

$350 + $50 Deep Stack NLH (Re-Entry)

As expected Day 1B is bursting at the seams and tables are filling up fast.

Familiar Faces in the Crowd

Joe Wertz
Alex Rocha
Eric Siegel
Eric Doerr
Eric Miller
James Boyle
Barry Leventhal
Wendy Rubin
Martha Patella
Robert Melo

Event 7: Day 1B

$350 + $50 Deep Stack NLH (Re-Entry)

Day 1B of the $100,000 Guaranteed Event 7 is underway and it features a mix of those entering the first time and a repeat of those who who didn't fair very well on Day 1A.

Players get 25k in chips and levels are 30 minutes each (11+ / 40 min). There are unlimited re-entries for the first eight levels.

Those who survive Day 1B will join the remaining players from Day 1A for Tuesday's Day 2 conclusion


The button is in the two seat and the action is underway.

Monday, June 11

TODAY'S EVENTS (POKER ROOM)
REGISTER IN POKER ROOM


11AM: Event 7B - $350 + $50 Deep Stack Double Play NLH (Re-Entry)

$100,000 Guaranteed
  • Players start with 25,000 in tournament chips 
  • Levels 1-10: will last 30 minutes each | Levels 11+: will last 40 minutes each
  • This is a Double Play Re-Entry tournament.  Players that bust from Day 1A may Re-Enter and play in Day 1B.
  • Players that bust within the first 8 Levels may Re-Enter (unlimited re-entries)
  • 2-Day event with two starting days.  Day 2 on Tuesday at 12PM

12PM: Event 9 - $260 + $40 Omaha H/L 8B

  • Players start with 12,000 in tournament chips 
  • Levels will last 30 minutes each
  • 1-Day event

3 PM:  Event 30 - $170 + $30 Six-Max Deep Stack Semi-Turbo NLH (Re-Entry)
  • Players start with 25,000 in tournament chips 
  • Levels 1-15: will last 15 minutes each | Levels 16+: will last 25 minutes
  • Players that bust within the first 8 Levels may Re-Enter (unlimited re-entries)
  • 1-Day event


7 PM:  Event 231 - $150 + $30 + $20 Yellow Chip Bounty NLH
  • Players start with 12,000 in tournament chips 
  • This is a Bounty tournament. Players must  have their Bounty Chip clearly displayed on the table in order to remain active in tournament.
  • Levels will last 20 minutes each
  • 1-Day event