Friday, November 16, 2012

Event 16: Volpe Out, Three From Bubble


$700 + $60 No Limit Hold'Em (Re-Entry)


Crippled on the hand before, when he dumped about 50K, Paul Volpe is out for his last about 6K to John DiBella's set of kings.

21 left.

Event 16: "Don't Make History"

$700 + $60 No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry) 



Chip leader Robert Stan (Bridgeport, CT) has 410k and is enjoying his first trip to Borgata.  "This is my first time here. "I just turned 21 a year ago."

Borgata veteran Ari Engel says, "first time here? Don't make history. We don't want to be your victims," he jokes.

Blinds are now 50 minutes long and are now 2k/4k/400 ante;

22 players remain with an average stack of 123k (31 bb) and we're still four spots from the money and a $1,843 min cash.

Event 16: Avoiding the All Ins

$700 + $60 No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry) 

Four spots from the money and initial raisers are folding to all-in bets.

Harry Korotki limps UTG and then three-bets the SB's raise and picks up the pot. 

And then on the last hand of the level, an EP player raises to 6,500 and gets one call before Vinny Pahuja moves in for 62,600 total.  Both players fold and Pahuja is still alive.

Players are on a 10 minute break.

Event 16: Liberta Doubles Up


$700 + $60 No Limit Hold'Em (Re-Entry)


Joe Liberta, of Berlin NJ, was all in with pocket jacks and facing a board of 10,5, Q, 8. He looked about to be coolered by Paul Volpe of Weschester Pa., who called him with queen, ace.

Except the river, which was the 10 of clubs, the fourth club on the board, gave him a flush and Liberta doubled up.

"I wasn't looking too good there," Liberta says.

"It's all good," said Volpe, who still has a big stack.

But Liberta heads into a 10-minute break with a stack of about 170,000.

Event 16: Failla Out

$700 + $60 No Limit Hold'Em (Re-Entry)

We knew it was worth mentioning that John DiBella and Will Failla were at the same table. Failla's stack was steadily shrinking as his table 3 was just shuffling chips around for an hour (Failla was even watching a movie on his iPad), but it was DiBella who got his last 40K.

DiBella put Failla all in with ace, jack, looking weak against Failla's pocket kings. But a jack on the flop and then another on the river sent Failla packing before the bubble has broke.

One titan down, one still in it. Down to 22, 18 get paid

Event 16:11K and a Chair


$700 + $60 No Limit Hold'Em (Re-Entry)

William Tonking of Flemington NJ looked to be just biding his time to bet his last 11K and hit the rail.
But two double ups, including a pair of pocket 10s that held for about 25K, have left him with 50K. Long way from the top, but he's grinding.

Blinds 1,500 - 3,000, 400 ante. 24 players remain.

Event 16: Stan the Man

$700 + $60 No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry) 

Robert Rakes Big Pot

Blinds 1,200/2,400/300 ante

Larry Elliott (Pueblo, CO) opens to 9k and gets one caller before Robert Stan (Bridgeport, CT) three-bets to 18k from the button.

Elliott moves all in for 146k and after tanking Stan calls.

Elliott: A 10
Stan: A K

A king hits the flop and sends Elliott to the rail.  Stan is now the chip leader with more than 400k.

Event 16: Hinds Busts, Table Down

$700 + $60 No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry) 

John Allan Hinds (Greenville, NC) gets caught up in a three-way all in and is knocked out when his AQ, two pair, is run down by K 10 when trips hits the river.

27 players remain with an average stack of 101k (42 bb).

Big Stacks

Brian Morgan (Ganesvoort, NY) 205k
Larry Elliott (Pueblo, CO) 190k
John DiBella (Eastchest, NY) 185k

Event 16: Morgan Making Hands

$700 + $60 No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry) 
 
Morgan Races to Front of Field

Brian Morgan (Ganesvoort, NY) is the big stack with 200k after hitting a full house with pocket 7s
against AK early in the day.

Morgan has been in the bloodstock business, the buying and selling of horses, "for many years," he says.

Morgan makes it to Borgata when he can for tournament poker and when he's not making hands, he's checking out horses to see how many hands tall they are.  

He says he bought Afleet Alex as a yearling before the horse went on to win two legs of the cripple crown. The owners of Afleet Alex, the 2005 Belmont Stakes and Preakness winner, pledged a portion of the colt's earnings to Alex's Lemonade Stand to help fight childhood cancer.

Event 16: Musemici Busts, Blinds Up

$700 + $60 No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry) 

Amanda Musemici (Philadelphia, PA) is on the rail when her AQ runs into AA.

32 players remain as we're now just 14 spots from the money.

Play resumes after a 10 minute break with blinds at 1k/2k/300 ante.

Event 16: Korotki Gets Engel to Fold

$700 + $60 No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry)

Engel (left) Folds to Korotki

Ari Engel (Las Vegas, NV) raises and Harry Korotki (Owings Mills, MD) comes over the top all in for 41k.

Engel goes in the tank and eventually folds saying, "I just got here, I don't know how you play."

Korotki's response, "I've been playing all day, I'm not just putting my chips in with a hand I don't like." 

Blinds are up to 1k/2k/300 ante.

Event 16: Set of Nines Sends Two to The Rail

$700 + $60 No Lmit Hold'Em (Re-Entry)

Robert Stan of Bridgeport found himself at the top of a three way all-in when he rivered a set of nines (he held pocket 9s). That beat ace, jack and pocket jacks and added 100K to his stack. Needless to say, the last jack didn't show.

Down to about 33 now.

Event 16: Failla and DiBella Still Together

$700 + $60 No Limit Hold'Em (Re-Entry)

They're down to 35 players and have consolidated to four tables. But two of the biggest names left in the field still find themselves matched at the same table. 

John DiBella and Will 'The Thrill' Failla are matched at Table 3.

DiBella just won better than $82,000 at the World Poker Finals earlier this month and had a $1.7 million payday in January at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event.

Failla is a Borgata regular who already has a couple of minor cashes at the Borgata Fall Poker Open, among many Borgata Poker Open cashes in his career. And, of course, he won last year's WPT legends of Poker Event.


Event 16: Lakatosh Knocks Out Walsh

$700 + $60 No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry) 

The board is A 9 4 with two hearts and Event 1 winner Dan Walsh (Holdmdel, NJ) check raises all in and John Lakatosh (Red Lion, PA) snap calls.

Lakatosh: A 10
Walsh: K♠ 9♠

Lakatosh takes 45k from Walsh on the hand who's elimination sets the field at 36.  Table 5 is now down and Vinny Pahuja (Hicksville, NY) takes Walsh's seat on Table 1.

Event 16: Still Grinding

$700 + $60 No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry)

40 players remain, four more eliminations before killer Table 5 breaks.

Still playing:

Table 1

John Lakatosh
John Allan Hinds
Brock Parker
Dan Walsh (Event 1 winner, $143,114)

Table 2

Sam Bernstein
Neville Darrell
John Aglialoro

Table 3

Jerry Maher
Mica Raskin
Paul Volpe
Joe Liberta

Table 4

Amanda Musumeci
Matt Matros
Harry Korotki

Table 5

John DiBella
Ari Engel
Jason Deutsch
Vinny Pahjua
Thomas Hoglund
Will Failla

Event 16: Engel Hits With Aces

$700 + $60 No limit Hold'Em Re-entry

R. A.  Engel picks up a quick 19K and sends an opponent to the rail with pocket aces holding up over pocket queens.

Engel, of Las Vegas, already has a cash this Borgata Fall Poker Open with a 9th place finish in Event 14 ($1,910).

Event 16: Back From Break

$700 + $60 No Limit Hold'Em

Cards are in the air after a dinner break and 45 players are back in action.

John DiBella has the chip lead.



Event 15 Recap

$400 + $50 Omaha H/L 8B         

Part-time poker dealer, part-time poker pro Ilya Dyment (Brooklyn, NY) captured his first Borgata Open title today, beating one of the best heads-up.  Dyment collected $13,038 for the win over Chris Reslock (Atlantic City, NJ).

Poker pro Chris Reslock is one of only four players to hold three Borgata Open titles and he narrowly missed being the fist to capture a fourth Open event win today.  His second place finish was good for $7,077.  That is still quite an accomplishment considering that he was next-to-last in chips at the start of day two.

Behrooz Shahrzad (Kensington, MD) held the chip lead coming into day two but "I went card dead" he said.  He busted out in 3rd place, earning $4,470.

Professional poker player Will 'the Thrill' Failla (Commack, NY) is making his mark on this series.  This was his fourth final table with earnings totaling over $52,000.  Today he finished 5th for $2,607.

Another notable pro making day two was Allen 'Chainsaw' Kessler (Las Vegas, NV) who busted out just a couple of spots from the money.

Ilya Dyment has numerous cashes and final tables here, but was very happy to capture his first title.  "It was a long time coming." He'll be back in a couple of days to play in the main event.

Final Results
1 - Ilya Dyment (Brooklyn, NY)  $13,038
2 - Chris Reslock (Atlantic City, NJ)  $7,077
3 - Behrooz Shahrzad (Kensington, MD)  $4,470
4 - Gloria LoRusso (Brigantine, NJ)  $3,352
5 - Will 'the Thrill' Failla (Commack, NY)  $2,607
6 - Rich Weisberg (Old Bridge, NJ)  $2,235
7 - Richie Rubinstein (Brooklyn, NY)  $1,862
8 - George Gavin (Brooklyn, NY)  $1,490
9 - Andrew Chapman (Westerly, RI)  $1,117

FINAL RESULTS

Event 16: Dinner Time

$700 + $60 No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry)        

End of level 11 and time for dinner.  Players will return at 8:30 pm.

John DiBella (Eastchester, NY) is the chip leader with ~200k.

45 players remain.  Average stack is ~60k.

18 get paid at least $1,843.  Winner gets $36,870.

Event 15: 1st Place - Dyment

$400 + $50 Omaha H/L 8B        

Ilya Dyment (Brooklyn, NY)
$13,038

Ilya Dyment won his first Borgata Open trophy along with $13,038, besting three-time Borgata Open titleist Chris Reslock heads-up.

Event 15: 2nd Place - Reslock

$400 + $50 Omaha H/L 8B        

Chris Reslock (Atlantic City, NJ)
$7,077

Chris Reslock battled valiantly, but could not catch the cards he needed to overcome Ilya Dyment's chip lead. 

On the final hand, the last of Chris' chips went in on a flop of T 9 9.

Chris: KQT8 (straight wrap & overcards)
Ilya:  KT77 (two pair, one overcard).

The last two were complete bricks, 3 4, and Ilya took the pot.

Chris Reslock busted out in 2nd place, earning $7,077.

Event 16: Time to Check the Tweets

$700 + $60 No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry)       

Break time for the players, so time to check their latest Tweets:

Tim Reilly ‏@TimReillyPoker
Just busted KQdd<ATo for last 11bbs. Couldn't get anything going, today was not my day. My best event the 1k 6max is next so ill do it then!

Mark Epstein ‏@eppy12588
Busto lost a 40/60...1k 6 max tomo

Gordon Eng ‏@Flashgordon227
Decided to make it down to @BorgataPoker to play the $700. Probably should have stayed home as I busted lol

Amanda Musumeci ‏@TheReaLMander
Moved into a bad spot w matros to my left n ive got 24bbs. Lets seee what happens.... ;) 29k at 1200....

Vinny Pahuja ‏@vinpahuja
54/181 left. 95k over 1200. @BorgataPoker 760NL. Last level before dinner 

Event 15: 3rd Place - Shahrzad

$400 + $50 Omaha H/L 8B       

Behrooz Shahrzad (Kensington, MD)
$4,470

Limits 30k/60k.

Behrooz went card dead at the wrong time.

He and Chris Reslock got 4 bets in pre-flop and the last chips went in on the flop of J 8 4.

Behrooz had KK83 and one 5k chip left.

Chris had AAJ9 and was at risk. 

The last two fell 6 Q and Chris' Aces held up to scoop the pot.

Behrooz tried to come back with his single chip.  He tripled up on the next hand, then chopped the hand after that, but the final hand had him rivering the nut flush at the same time Chris Reslock made a full house.

Behrooz finished in 3rd place, earning $4,470.

At the start of heads-up play, Ilya Dyment had 725k.  Chris Reslock had 425k.

Event 15: 4th Place - LoRusso

$400 + $50 Omaha H/L 8B       

Gloria LoRusso (Brigantine, NJ)
$3,352

Gloria LoRusso busted out in 4th place for $3,352.

Behrooz Shahrzad had the chip lead, but then he folded a hand on the river when his missed the low and Ilya Dyment bet his Broadway straight.

Ilya took the chip lead with 650k.

Behrooz - 410k

Chris Reslock - 100k

Event 16: Action Galore

$700 + $60 No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry)      

Paul Volpe (West Chester, PA) was all-in and ahead with pocket Aces.

Dan Walsh (Holmdel, NJ) had AQ and was way behind.

The board came 9 9 6 6 2 and Paul doubled up to ~50k.

Dan was left with less that 15k.


On a flop of 5 5 2, John Aglialoro (Haddonfield, NJ) check-raised Smiley Chin's (New York, NY) 11k bet all-in.  Smiley tanked, asked for the count (32,400) then decided to call.

John:  TT
Smiley:  88

The last two came 9 6 and John doubled up to nearly 100k.  Smiley was left with ~35k.

Event 15: Final Four Chip Counts

$400 + $50 Omaha H/L 8B      

Level 23:  Limits 20k/40k.

The final four are back from break and getting back to business.

Approximate chip counts:

Ilya Dyment - 310k
Behrooz Shahrzad - 300k
Chris Reslock - 270k
Gloria LoRusso - 235k

Event 15: 5th Place - Failla

$400 + $50 Omaha H/L 8B      

Will 'the Thrill' Failla (Commack, NY)
$2,607

Will Failla was next to go in 5th place, earning $2,607.  He's now back in his seat in event 16.

This is Will's FOURTH final table of this series:

Event #13 - No Limit Hold'em Ante Only     2nd     $3,819     Nov 14, 2012
Event #9 - Pot Limit Omaha Deepstack     7th     $900     Nov 12, 2012
Event #1 - No Limit Hold'em Deepstack     4th     $44,722     Nov 8, 2012

Event 16: Hero Call from Hinds

$700 + $60 No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry)      

On the turn with a board of T 3 3 7, seat 4 bet, John Hinds (Greenville, NC) raised to 5,050, and seat 4 shoved for ~16k.

John tanked for about three minutes (hand extended into the break) then called.

Seat 4 had 87 (pair of 7s).  John had pocket 8s for the higher pair.

River was another Ten and John took the pot, busting his opponent.  He chipped up to ~60k.

Level 8 ended and they took a break.

Play resumed with

Level 9:  Blinds 400/800 with 75 ante.

Event 16: Ins & Outs

$700 + $60 No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry)     

Just discovered these familiar faces in the field:

Feming Chan
Kyle Bowker
Paul Volpe
Micah Raskin

These folks are history:
Dan Spirer
Jeremy 'the Big Dog' Brown
Dave Stefanski
Greg Ostrander
Vitaly Kovyazin
Mike Santoro
Roman Valerstein
James Tedrow
Action Bob Hwang

Down to 10 tables (90 players).  Average stack is 30k.

Event 16 - Payouts

Borgata Fall Poker Open
Event 16: $700 + $60 No Limit Hold'em
November 16-17, 2012

Entries:  181
Total Buy-In:  $126,700


PAYOUTS:
1:          $36,870
2:          $20,279
3:          $11,675
4:            $9,832
5:            $7,374
6:            $6,145
7:            $4,916
8:            $3,687
9:            $2,765
10 - 12:   $2,458
13 - 15:   $2,151
16 - 18:   $1,843

Event 15: 6th Place - Weisberg

$400 + $50 Omaha H/L 8B     

Rich Weisberg (Old Bridge, NJ)
$2,235

Rich wasn't able to come back after losing that big pot to Ilya Dyment.  He busted out in 6th place, earning $2,235.

Event 16: Got Good Reason to Smile

$700 + $60 No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry)    

James 'Smiley' Chin (New York, NY) was all-in and in bad shape with pocket Queens against a player holding pocket Kings.

James 'Smiley' Chin

Then the board ran out A Q Q K J and Smiley flopped Quad Queens to take the pot, sending his opponent out the door.

James chipped up to ~60k.

On the next hand, Smiley flopped the nut flush against Stephen Reynolds, (Little Egg Harbor, NJ) who had flopped the nut straight.  They got all-in on the turn and Smiley busted another one, chipping up to ~80k.

Level 8:  Blinds 300/600 with 75 ante.

Event 16: Pilgrim Punts

$700 + $60 No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry)    

After Vinny Pahuja (Hicksville, NY) opened for 1,500, Dwyte Pilgrim (Brooklyn, NY) moved all-in from the small blind.  John Hinds (bb) called and Vinny got out of the way.

Dwyte had J2 suited.

John had AQ off.

The flop was good for Dwyte:  J 7 5.

Then the last two ran out:  K T.

That gave John the Broadway straight and the pot.

No more re-entries for Dwyte, so he's done for this event.

Twelve 9-handed tables remain, leaving 108 players.  Average stack is 25k.

Event 15: New Chip Leader

$400 + $50 Omaha H/L 8B    

On a flop of Q Q 6, there was three way action:

Ilya Dyment:  Q6xx
Will Failla:  66xx
Rich Weisberg:  Q3xx

Will Failla got out of the way when a 3 on the turn had Ilya and Rich battling heads-up.

Ilya's boat was bigger and sank Rich's.  Ilya chipped up to ~430k, leaving Rich with about 50k.

Event 15: 7th Place - Rubinstein

$400 + $50 Omaha H/L 8B   

Richie Rubinstein (Brooklyn, NY)
$1,862

Richie Rubinstein flopped trip 4s, but was run down by a flush on the river.  He finished 7th for $1,862.

Event 15: 8th Place - Gavin

$400 + $50 Omaha H/L 8B      

George Gavin (Brooklyn, NY)
$1,490

Event 16: Back From Break

$700 + $60 No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry)   

Level 7:  Blinds 250/500 with 50 ante.

Players are back from their break and registration has closed, so no more re-entries.

Unofficially, 181entries.

John Lakatosh was one of the last few to late register.


Event 15: 9th Place - Chapman

$400 + $50 Omaha H/L 8B     

Andrew Chapman (Westerly, RI)
$1,117

Andrew Chapman was the first player to hit the payout desk, finishing 9th for  $1,117.

The final 8 finished the level and took a break.

Play resumed with

Level 20:  Limits 8k/16k.

Event 16: Entering and Re-Entering

$700 + $60 No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry)  

More faces in the crowd:

Greg Ostrander
Harry Korotki
Smiley Chin
Sam Bernstein
John Aglialoro
Jason Deutsch
John Hinds

Out and In again:
Dwyte Pilgrim (bullet #4)
Dallas Williams
Neville Darrell
Coco Teknici
Tony Sinishtaj
Tim Reilly

Down and Out:
Jedial Pires fired 3 bullets and busted out 3 times.  He hasn't returned, so must be done.
Adam Lippert

Event 15: 10th Place - Gerics

$400 + $50 Omaha H/L 8B     

William Gerics


Today's title of Bubble-Boy goes to William Gerics (Brick, NJ).  He busted out in 10th place, good for zip, zilch, nada.

The final 9 are now all in the money and guaranteed to pick up at least $1,117.

Event 15: Reslock Rising

$400 + $50 Omaha H/L 8B     

Chris Reslock got all his chips in pre-flop in a multi-way capped pot.

When the hand was over, Chris scooped the main pot and chipped up to about 175k.

Ilya Dyment said "How can you give all those chips to the best player at the table?" 

He started the next hand saying "I've got chips now, I'm raising". 

Still ten players.  Average stack is 115k.

Event 16: Twitter-verse All Atwitter

$700 + $60 No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry)     

Here's the latest Twitter news that fit to copy-n-paste:

Robert Hwang ‏@ActionBobNJ
Playing Borgata 760. 9k playing 150-300. Ready to double up or re-enter.

Vinny Pahuja ‏@vinpahuja
LOL was up to 65k at 75/150 @BorgataPoker 760NL after flopping 2 sets but spewage and some coolers have me at 25k. 150/300/25. ~150 players

Amanda Musumeci ‏@TheReaLMander
28k at 300 at a rly tough tbl...

Christian Harder ‏@realcharder30
Bullet #2

alex rocha ‏@THE_ALEX_ROCHA
I very much like my starting table but am yet again raking leaves, not chips.

Tim Reilly ‏@TimReillyPoker
Just busted my first bullet and got exact same seat on table draw. Im loving my chance to stack the retard that got my chips. #OI

Joshua ‏@bsauce33
Generic I run so bad in tournaments #efro

Event 15: Final Table Chip Counts

$400 + $50 Omaha H/L 8B    

Allen 'Chainsaw' Kessler & Candi Verrastro

Allen 'Chainsaw' Kessler (Las Vegas, NV) and Candi Verrastro (Pt. Pleasant, NJ) busted out, leaving 11 players.

Jeffrey Moses

Next to go was Jeffrey Moses (E Rutherford, NJ) in 11th place.

With his departure, the final ten drew for seats and moved to the final table.  One more must go to reach the money, so it's bubble time.

Here's the new lineup with some rough chip counts:

Seat - Player - Chips
  1. Chris Reslock - 25k
  2. William Gerics - 95k
  3. Ilya Dyment - 50k
  4. George Gavin - 155k
  5. Will Failla - 180k
  6. Andrew Chapman - 60k
  7. Rich Weisberg - 255k
  8. Behrooz Shahrzad - 170k
  9. Gloria LoRusso - 150k
  10. Richie Rubinstein - 70k
Level  19:  Limits 8k/16k.

Event 16: Back From Break

$700 + $60 No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry)    

Level 5:  Blinds 150/300 with 25 ante.

Table 11 has turned into another beast of a table.  Seated there are:

James Tedrow
Roman Valerstein
Jonas Wexler
Joshua Weizer
Amanda Musumeci

Table 17 has broken, so those sharks have been relocated into empty seats elsewhere in the room.

Late registration and re-entry are still available thorugh the break after level 6.

Event 15: Another One Gone

$400 + $50 Omaha H/L 8B    

Robin Lee

Robin Lee (Norwich, CT) won the Ladies event a few days ago, but came up short here today.

She busted out 14th, just 5 away from another payday.

Event 16: Late Reg Tables

$700 + $60 No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry)   

Table 17 is up and running with a very tough crowd.  This is what happens when you register late:

Matt Matros - 3 WSOP bracelets
Mike Santoro
Christian Harder
Anthony Caruso
Brock Parker - 2 WSOP Bracelets
Jeff Papola - 1 WSOP Bracelets

Table 13 is also pretty heavily loaded:

Joe Liberta
Andrew Badecker
Dan Walsh
Stephen Reynolds
Dwyte Pilgrim (after busting out and re-entering)

Level 4 is done and they're on a break.

Event 15: Two More Out the Door

$400 + $50 Omaha H/L 8B   

Level 18:  Limits 6k/12k.

Jason Rivkin & Adel Shakerian

Two more Omaha-lics have departed short of the money:

Adel Shakerian (Falls Church, VA)
Jason Rivkin (Eatontown, NJ)

14 players remain.  Average stack is 82k.

Rich Weisberg (Old Bridge, NJ) has moved into the chip lead with ~180k.

Event 16: KK v QQ v JJ!

$700 + $60 No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry)   

Three players were all-in pre-flop holding pocket Kings, pocket Queens, and pocket Jacks.

Kou Vang

Kou Vang had the biggest pair and they held up when the board ran out A T T T x.  He essentially tripled up to ~30k.

The player with pocket Jacks was busted.  (Another player at the table lamented folding AQ on that hand.)

Four premium hands on one deal is amazing!

Event 15: Back to Omaha

$400 + $50 Omaha H/L 8B  

17 players made it to day two of Omaha H/L and are back in action.

Level 17:  Limits 5k/10k.

The short-stack, Robert Reardon (Nantucket, MA) busted out very early in 17th place.

Only the final 9 make the money.

Event 16: Break-Time Tweets

$700 + $60 No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry)  

Here's the latest Tweet-worthy news:

Mark Epstein ‏@eppy12588
16k from 15k starting going to 75/150

Amanda Musumeci ‏@TheReaLMander
Had it up to 25k from 15k ss but then lost with 2pr vs trips... 22k on 1st brk comin back to 75/150

adam lippert ‏@lippypoker
Very upsetting made sick call on turn live read and was right and he got there river huge pot then had to renter :( 

James Tedrow ‏@teddyrowe
Just regged for today's $760. 15k ss 

Event 16: Back From Break

$700 + $60 No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry)  

Level 3:  Blinds 75/150.

Players returned from their first break of the day.

Thirteen tables are active with registration open for four more levels.

Event 16: More Familiar Faces

$700 + $60 No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry) 

Late arrivals to the Signature Room:

Adam Lippert
Jeremiah McKenna
Vinny Pahuja
'Lucky' Lee Kirsch
Ari Engel
'Action' Bob Hwang
Joe Liberta
Dan Walsh

Also playing today, in his first live tournament since September, according to his latest Tweet:

Andrew Badecker ‏@Andrewbadecker:

$770 @BorgataPoker first live tourney since September for me!

Event 16: Aces Good for DiBella

$700 + $60 No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry)

Level 2:  Blinds 50/100.

During the previous level, only about 30 minutes into play, we heard the call of "Seat Open!" here in the Signature Room.

John DiBella

Jedial Pires (Goiana Goias, Brazil) tangled with John DiBella (Eastchester, NY).  With a Jack on the turn, they got all the chips in the middle.

Jedial had KJ for a pair of Jacks, but John had pocket Aces to take the pot, chipping up to ~30k.

Jedial took the walk to the rail.  He has re-entered and landed at a different table.

Jedial finished 2nd in event #4, $500 Black Chip Bounty NL for over $19,000.

John DiBella won the 2012 PCA $10,000 NL Main Event for over $1.7 million.

Borgata Tournament Leaderboard Update (11/16)

Borgata Fall Poker Open Leaderboard
By participating in any Borgata Fall Poker Open event (November 8-21, 2012), players earn points based upon the Borgata Fall Poker Tournament Leaderboard Formula.

Below are the top scores for the 2012 Borgata Fall Poker Open Leaderboard*
(Final Results from events: 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33)


466.075:  JEDIAL PIRES
387.500:  DANIEL WALSH
373.860:  EMANUEL FAILLA
306.400:  MATTHEW ILES
263.075:  ROBERT GOTTFRIED
262.675:  PAUL VACCHIO
258.825:  DILIP RAVINDRAN
256.875:  KHALED ALWAN
253.063:  WARREN WIGGINS
252.900:  AUSTEN JOHNSON
251.588:  KEVIN MCCOLGAN
246.750:  ASHER CONNIFF
246.050:  BRUCE YAMRON
245.600:  TOBY KASSER
237.750:  MOHAMMAD AMJADI
236.250:  HYON KO
229.338:  DOUGLAS MACKINNON
223.088:  TONY TRAN
219.738:  HARRY KOROTKI
202.488:  XIAOFENG HU

Event 16: Early Bird Tweets

$700 + $60 No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry)

Checking in this morning via Twitter:

Mark Epstein ‏@eppy12588
$760 at Borgata today #ok

John Ting ‏@JohnCTing
Event #16 @ the Borgata Fall Open

Daniel Buzgon ‏@WiLDmAn_75
Borgata $760 w reentries today. 15k ss. #lettucebuild

Amanda Musumeci ‏@TheReaLMander
$760r BFO today. Glll

Event 16: Familiar Faces

$700 + $60 No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry)

Borgata regular Gordon Eng (Cliffside Park, NJ) is making his Fall Poker Open debut today.

Lots of other familiar faces already in action in the Signature Room:

Just to name a few:

Dallas Williams
David Stefanski
David Rittmeyer
Vitaly Kovyazin
Neville Darrell
Dan Spirer
Jeremy 'the Big Dog' Brown
Jerry Maher
Dan Buzgon
Jedial Pires
Tony Sinishtaj
Dwyte Pilgrim
Thomas Hoglund
Roman Valerstein
Coco Teknici

Event 16: Underway

$700 + $60 No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry)

Today's only main event is a good warmup for the Championship which begins on Sunday. 

Players began with 15,000 chips and 40 minute levels.  Starting with level 16, they will expand to 50 minutes for the remainder of the event.

Late registration and re-entry are available through level 6 (until about 3:30 pm).

Level 1 Blnds: 25/50.

Cards are flying!

Event 15 - Seat Assignments

Borgata Fall Poker Open
Event 15:  $400 + $50 Omaha H/L 8B
November 15-16, 2012

Entries:  96
Total Buy-In:  $38,400

Players Remaining:  17
Average Chip Stack:  67,500


START OF DAY 2 SEAT ASSIGNMENTS & CHIP COUNTS:
T1 | S1 - ANDREW CHAPMAN (WESTERLY, RI):  35,000
T1 | S2 - CHRIS RESLOCK (ATLANTIC CITY, NJ):  27,500
T1 | S3 - GEORGE GAVIN (BROOKLYN, NY):  81,000
T1 | S4 - ADEL SHAKERIAN (FALLS CHURCH, VA):  32,000
T1 | S5 - BEHROOZ SHAHRZAD (KENSINGTON, MD):  148,500
T1 | S6 - JEFFREY MOSES (E RUTHERFORD, NJ):  29,500
T1 | S7 - WILL FAILLA (SMITHTOWN, NY):  133,000
T1 | S8 - WILLIAM GERICS (BRICK, NJ):  73,000
T1 | S9 - CANDACE VERRASTRO (PT PLEASANT, NJ):  46,500

T2 | S1 - ALLEN KESSLER (LAS VEGAS, NV):  58,000
T2 | S2 - ROBERT REARDON (NANTUCKET, MA):  12,500
T2 | S3 - GLORIA LORUSSO (BRIGANTINE, NJ):  74,000
T2 | S4 - JASON RIVKIN (EATONTOWN, NJ):  81,500
T2 | S5 - ROBIN LEE (NORWICH, CT):  88,000
T2 | S6 - ILYA DYMENT (BROOKLYN, NY):  77,500
T2 | S7 - RICHARD RUBINSTEIN (BROOKLYN, NY):  38,000
T2 | S8 - RICHARD WEISBERG (OLD BRIDGE, NJ):  110,000

Friday, November 16

TODAY'S EVENTS (Poker Room & The Signature Room) 

11AM: Event 16 - $700 + $60 No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry)
  • Players start with 15,000 in tournament chips 
  • Levels 1-15: will last 40 minutes each | Levels 16+: will last 50 minutes each 
  • Players may Re-Enter through Level 6 
  • 2-Day event with two starting days.  Day 2 begins Saturday at 1PM


12 PM: Event 34 - $270 + $30 Championship Qualifier No Limit Hold'em
  • Players start with 12,000 in tournament chips 
  • Levels 1-15: will last 25 minutes each | Levels 16+: will last 30 minutes each 
  • Approximately 1 in 10 will win $2700 entry into the Borgata Fall Poker Open Championship
    (Nov 18 - 21, 2012)
  • 1-Day event  

4 PM: Event 35 - $400 + $50 Survivor No Limit Hold'em
  • Players start with 15,000 in tournament chips 
  • Levels will last 30 minutes each 
  • Approximately 1 in 10 will win $4,000 CASH
  • 1-Day event  



7 PM: Event 36 - $200 + $30 + $50 Double Green Chip Bounty NLH 
  • Players start with 12,000 in tournament chips 
  • This is a Bounty tournament. Players must have their Bounty chips clearly displayed on table in order to remain active in tournament 
  • Levels will last 20 minutes each
  • Players may Re-Enter through Level 6 
  • 1-Day event

Event 14 Recap

$500 + $60 No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry)

The final nine players elected to turn a two-day tournament into a one-day marathon and in the end its Kevin McColgan (Douglassville, PA) who outlasted the field at the Borgata Fall Poker Open.

On the final hand, McColgan beat Aaron Massey (Elmwood Park, IL) with 10 10♠ against A♠ K♣ to take the title, the trophy and the $25,462 top prize.

"This is great," said McColgan, who has a lot of respect for Massey. "He's really good," says McColgan. "We stayed out of each other's way most of the day until we got down to three."

And the feeling is mutual.

"He's a well deserving champion," said Massey. "He played really well. I'm happy with how I played, I made very few mistakes."

The only fly in the ointment for Massey and McColgan was Jay Jaffe (Morganville, NJ).  He got multiple double-ups before McColgan knocked him out to set up the winning coin flip.

It looked like the tournament would bag and tag as planned at 2am, but a blitz of eliminations gave the players the option to conclude on Day 1.

One of the biggest hands came when chip leaders Al Wasserberger (Chicago, IL) and Elliott Zaydman (Glen Rock, NJ) collided in a 700k chip pot just after the final 18 made the money.  Wasserberger cracked pocket kings with two pairs which left Zaydman with 1,500 chips and eventually an 18th place finish.

Wasserberger road the big stack to a fourth place finish, but gave way to McColgan who was the first player to crack the one million chip mark and he stayed there the rest of the way.

The day began with 175 entries for a total buy-in of $87,500.

Those making the money included WSOP bracelet holders Greg Ostrander (15th) and Shawn Busse (13th), along with Paul Vacchio (8th) who made his third final table of the series.

The decision to finish in one day was something that played to McColgan's strength.

"I can play for a long time," he said after 20 hours of poker, "The stacks are deep, I like to play a lot of small pots so that was good for my game."

Both Massey and McColgan will take some time off before gearing up for the Borgata Fall Poker Open Championship event which starts this weekend.

Final Table Results 

1 Kevin McColgan (Douglassville, PA) $25,462
2 Aaron Massey (Elmwood Park, IL) $14,004
3 Jay Jaffe (Morganville, NJ) $8,063
4 Al Wasserberger (Chicago, IL) $6,790
5 Sam Akiki (Allendale, NJ) $5,093
6 James Tedrow (Youngwood, PA) $4,244
7 David Fried (Marlboro, NY) $3,395
8 Paul Vacchio (Inwood, NY) $2,546
9 Ari Engel (Las Vegas, NV) $1,910
10 Kori Hunter (Ellicott City, MD) $1,698

FINAL RESULTS

Event 14 Winner: McColgan

$500 + $60 No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry)

Kevin McColgan (Douglassville, PA
$25,462

After a long night of poker, heads up doesn't take very long.  Kevin McColgan wins a coin flip over
Aaron Massey in the first few minutes of play.
 Blinds 10k/20k/3k ante

McColgan: 10 10♠
Massey: A♠ K♣

Flop: 8 8 7♠ (McColgan still leads)

Turn: 7 (no change)

River: 4♣ (no change)

McColgan wins the flip and the title.

"He's really good," says McColgan. "We stayed out of each other's way most of the day until we got down to three."

This is McColgan's first Borgata win which adds to his good run in 2012.  "I'ts been a good year. I just want to keep the streak going while it lasts."

Event 14: 2nd Place - Massey

$500 + $60 No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry) 

Aaron Massey (Elmwwod Park, IL)
$14,004

Aaron Massey finishes runner-up after his A♠ K♣ doesn't connect against the pocket 10s of Kevin McColgan.

"He's a well deserving champion," says Massey. "He played really well. I'm happy with how I played, I made very few mistakes."

Event 14: 3rd Place - Jaffe

$500 + $60 No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry)

Jay Jaffe (Morganville, NJ) 
$8,063

Blinds 10k/20k/3k

Jay Jaffe is all in for 250k with Q 7 vs the 8 6 of Kevin McColgan. 

McColgan hits a pair on the turn and two pair on the river to eliminate Jaffe in third place.

McColgan (1.8 million) and Aaron Massey (800k) are heads up for the trophy.

Event 14: Back from Break

$500 + $60 No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry)

(l-r) Jaffe, Massey, McColgan

New Blinds: 10k/20k/3k ante

Chip Counts

Kevin McColgan 1.1 million (55 bb)
Aaron Massey 900k
Jay Jaffe 600k (30 bb)

Event 14: 9 Lives for Jaffe

$500 + $60 No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry)

8k/16k/2k ante

Jay Jaffe is all in for 289k with A 7 against Aaron Massey's pocket 2s.

Jaffe hits an ace on the turn and gets the double up.

"You have many lives," says Massey who drops to 904k.

Event 14: Double, Double

$500 + $60 No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry) 

Jay Jaffe doubles 308k through Aaron Massey when he hits a flush on the river. The hand drops to Massey to 700k, but he doubles through Kevin McColgan two hands later.

Massey's AK flops a king against the McColgan's pocket 10s.

Massey is up to 1.4 million, while McColgan has been cut in half.

Event 14: 4th Place - Wasserberger

$500 + $60 No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry) 

Al Wasserberger (Chicago, IL)
$6,790

8k/16k/2k ante

Al Wasserberger makes his last stand with A 2 against the A 10 of Aaron Massey.  Wasserberg flops a gutter ball, but bricks the turn and river for a 4th place finish.

Massey is now up to one million and just behind the 1.3 million of Kevin McColgan. Jay Jaffee is a distant third with 300k.

Event 14: 5th Place - Akiki

$500 + $60 No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry)

Sam Akiki (Allendale, NJ) 
$5,093

Sam Akiki has less than 200k when he moves all in with K J vs the AK of Al Wasserberger.

There's no change or sweat on the board and Akiki finishes in 5th place.

Event 14: Jaffe Doubles Through McColgan

$500 + $60 No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry)

Jay Jaffe is down to his last 144k with A 6 vs the A 10 of chip leader Kevin McColgan. The board runs out to give Jaffe a 6-high straight and new life.

McColgan is still out in front with ~1 million chips.

Event 14: McColgan Keeps Building

$500 + $60 No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry)

5k/10k/1k ante

After cracking the one million chip mark, Kevin McColgan adds to his stack through former chip leader Al Wasserberger.

On a board of J 3 Q 10 7, Wasserberger bets 100k and McColgan calls, showing two pair, jacks and sevens.

"You really got my number tonight Kevin," says Wasserberger who mucks and drops to less than 200k.

This was the penultimate hand at the level, blinds are now 6k/12k/2k ante.

Event 14: 6th Place - Tedrow

$500 + $60 No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry)

 James Tedrow (Youngwood, PA) 
$4,244

James Tedrow loses his last 205k in a classic race with QQ against Aaron Massey's AK.  The flop brings a king for Massey and brings Tedrow a 6th place finish.

Event 14: 7th Place - Fried

$500 + $60 No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry)

 David Fried (Marlboro, NY) 
$3,395

Blinds 5k/10k/1k ante

David Fried ships 150k with K J against he A 9 of Kevin McColgan.

McCoglan now has the chip lead after knocking Fried out in 7th place.

Event 14: In for the Long Haul

 $500 + $60 No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry)

The final seven players are prepared for a long battle and are getting their caffeine and nicotine fits during a 10 minute break.

Blinds moving up to 5k/10k/1k ante. 

Chip Counts

Al Wasserberger 800k (80 bb)
Kevin McColgan 780k
Sam Akiki 290k
James Tedrow 165k
Aaron Massey 220k
David Fried 150k
Jay Jaffe 140k (14 bb)

Event 14: 8th Place - Vacchio

$500 + $60 No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry)     

Paul Vacchio (Inwood, NY) 
$2,546

Vacchio's pocket 8s run into the Aaron Massey's pocket aces for 95k.  

Vacchio is out in 8th place, his third final table of the series totally $11,387.

Event 14: 9th Place - Engel

$500 + $60 No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry)    

Ari Engel (Las Vegas, NV) 
$1,910

On an 8 high flop, Engel and Al Wasserberger get the last of Engel's chips in the middle.  Engel's two over cards (K J) don't connect and he's beaten by a pair of 8s (A 8).

Event 14: 10th Place - Hunter

$500 + $60 No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry)     

Kori Hunter (Ellicott City, MD) 
$1,698

Kori Hunter runs pocket jacks into the pocket aces of Sam Akiki on his way to 10th place finish.

The remaining nine players have agreed to play down to a winner instead of returning for the originally planned Day 2.

Event 14: Final Table

$500 + $60 No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry) 
 
Seat-Name

1 Ari Engel
2 Al Wasserberger
3 David Fried
4 Jay Jaffe
5 Paul Vacchio
6 Aaron Massey
7 Kori Hunter
8 Sam Akiki
9 Kevin McColgan
10 James Tedrow

Event 14: 11th Place - Vizirov

$500 + $60 No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry)     


Len Vizirov (Chalfont, PA)
$1,698

Event 14: 12th Place - Johnson

$500 + $60 No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry)      


Austen Johnson (Woodsboro, MD)
$1,698

Event 14: 13th Place - Busse

$500 + $60 No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry)    

 Shawn Busse (Maasapequa, NY)
$1,485

Event 14: 14th Place - Farley

$500 + $60 No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry)      

 Chris Farley (West Deptford, NJ)
$1,485

Event 15: Bag & Tag

$400 + $50 Omaha H/L 8B 

Behrooz Shahrzad
Chip Leader

The final 17 players are done for the night and Behrooz Shahrzad (Laurel, MD via Iran) is the chip leader with 148,500.

The average stack is 68k (7 big bets) with limits going to 5k/10k.

Play resumes 1 pm Friday as the field looks to make the top 9 and the money before playing for the  $13,038 top prize.

Chip Counts

Behrooz Shahrzad  148,500
Will "the Thrill" Failla 133,000
Rich Wisberg 110,000
Robin Lee 88,000
Jason Rivkin 81,500
George Gavin 81,000
Ilya Dyment 77,500
Gloria LoRusso 74,000
William Gerics 73,000
Allen "Chainsaw" Kessler 58,000
Candace Verrastro 46,500
Rich Rubenstein 38,000
 Adel Shakerian 32,000
Andrew Chapman 35,000
Jeff Moses 29,500
Chris Reslock 27,500
Robert Reardon 12,500

Check back after 9 am for seat assignments

Event 14: 15th Place - Ostrander

$500 + $60 No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry) 

 Greg Ostrander(Webster, NY)
$1,485

Event 14: 16th-18th ($1,273)

$500 + $60 No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry)    

Joe Mascio (Sewell, NJ)
16th Place
Dilip Ravindran (Jersey City, NJ)
17th Place

Elliott Zaydman (Glen Rock, NJ)
18th Place

Event 14: Chip Leaders Collide

$500 + $60 No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry)     

Blinds 2,500/5k/500 ante

In the hand of the tournament, Al Wasserberger and Zaydman play a monster pot as both begin the hand with ~350k.

Al Wasserberger opens to 10k in middle position, Elliott Zaydman makes it 30k from the BB, Wasserberger calls.

Flop 10♠ 6♠ 5♣

Zaydman bets 40k, Wasserberger calls

Turn: 8

Zaydman moves all in for 272k, Wasserberger calls.

Zaydman: K K♣ (pair of kings)
Wasserberger: 8♣ 10 (two pair)

River: 4♣

Wasserman's two pairs wins the nearly 700k chip pot to leave Zaydman with only 1,500 as he's knocked out on the next hand in 18th place.

"Tough way to go, but there's always another tournament," says Zaydman who earns $1,273 for the min cash.

Event 14: Final 2 Tables

$500 + $60 No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry) 

Table 1

Seat-Name

1 Kevin McColgan
2 James Tedrow
3 Austen Johnson
4 Joe Mascio
5 Len Vizirov
6 Paul Vacchio
7 Jay Jaffe
8 Ari Engel
9 David Fried

Table 2

Seat-Name

1 Greg Ostrander
2 Shawn Busse
3 Al Wasserberger
4 Chris Farley
5 Aaron Massey
6 Elliott Zaydman
7 Dilip Ravindran
8 Kori Hunter
9 Sam Akiki

Event 14: Vizirov Helps Vanquish Bubble

$500 + $60 No Limit Hold'em (Re-Entry)

Len Vizirov delivers a crippling blow when his pocket 10s hold against his opponents K 9. Vizirov doubles 53k and leaves the player with 5,100.

After paying his big blind, the anonymous player is all in for 1,100 and is out the next hand.

The remaining 18 players are in the money, guaranteed a min cash of $1,273 and are still in the running for the $25,462 top prize.

Players are on break and will draw new seats on the final two tables.

Event 15: Dropping Like Flies

$400 + $50 Omaha H/L 8B  

34 players remain, as nearly 2/3 of the the 96 player field is gone.

Still Playing

Dwyte Pilgrim
Allen Kessler
Chris Reslock
Will Failla
Robin Lee
Ilya Dyment
Gloria LoRusso
Jason Rivkin