Champ: Dever Never Dreamed of Lead

$2,500 + $200 Championship Deep Stack NLH (Re-Entry)

 Cathy Dever & Nancy Martin

Cathy Dever (Ephrata, PA) jumped out to an early chip lead and then bagged the end of night chip lead and $3,000 bonus, but the big story was everything in between.

"Patience and not going on tilt," were the keys said Dever, who ended Day 1B with 159,900.

"I was thinking I had all these chips and I have to get them back," she said after going from 100k down to 60k at the dinner break.  "I was so mad that I had to calm down."

Dever got off to a great start when she busted a player with the nut flush, but over the next three hours saw a steady bleed and lost nearly half her stack.

After taking a nap on the dinner break and grabbing a quick sandwich, the Borgata regular was refreshed, but her luck didn't change until her table broke.  Dever regained her footing and started moving into contention for the chip lead, but the bonus never affected her play.

"I just wanted chips," said Dever, who has multiple Borgata cashes totaling $41,000, including a cash in April's Spring Poker Open Championship Event.

"The bonus is nice, but obviously the big goal is first place. I want the trophy and the $200,000."

Dever knows there are three more days of poker before she can seriously think about the $198,078 first prize.

"I'm so excited," she said after being congratulated by several players including Nancy Martin (Washington Crossing, PA), one of the other woman players left in the field. "But I'm going to crash and go right to sleep."

And when Dever joins the players from Day 1A, she will be fourth overall in chips as play resumes noon Tuesday with 127 players starting Day 2.