Level 6: Blinds 200/400/50 ante
Flight 1F Entrants: 1,154
Total Event 1 Entrants: 4,804
Mike Linster (Island Park, NY)
The pride of Island Park, NY, Mike Linster, has fired again in this final flight. We spotted him in some earlier flights, but no word on how many bullets he’s in. The professional poker player won back-to-back tournaments three years ago during the 2013 Winter Poker Open. In addition to that, he’s got one WSOP Circuit win and a WPT title. His WPT Regional Championship came in April 2013 at bestbet Jacksonville. That’s his largest cash to date, good for $296,521 of his more than $1.2 million in career earnings.
So far today he’s more than doubled his 25,000 starting stack and is up to about 65,000 in early action.
This flight is going to run until almost 5am, which means any players hoping to bag chips will be up late tonight.
Level 5: Blinds 150/300/25 ante
Flight 1F Entrants: 1,109
Total Event 1 Entrants: 4,759
Steve Dannenmann (Severn, MD)
Everybody’s favorite runner-up, Steve Dannenmann, has joined the field, albeit a little bit late. His starting stack of 25,000 has shrunk to about 16,000. “I got here two hours late,” he said.
Arriving late to an event like this is risky, because players frequently end up at a table stacked with lots of late-arriving pros. Steve has to share his patch of green felt with Victor Ramdin. Among Victor’s many titles are a WPT Championship and a WSOP-Europe bracelet, contributing to his career earnings of nearly $4 million.
Steve is best known for his second-place finish in the 2005 WSOP Main Event. That single score earned him more than $4.2 million. He also has a Borgata Open title from the 2011 Winter Poker Open.
He hasn’t let it all go to his head, which is what makes Steve a crowd favorite. He’ll sit down and play a $100 + $20 buy-in tournament and enjoy himself chatting up his opponents, just as much as does in big buy-in events.
Level 4: Blinds 100/200/25 ante
Flight 1F Entrants: 1,063
Total Event 1 Entrants: 4,713
Ben Bianco (Franklin Square, NY)
Ben Bianco knows what it’s like to take down a massive opening event — he did it here back in 2012.
During the 2012 Borgata Poker Open, the opening event carried a $1 Million Guarantee and only had two starting days. That event drew 3,705 entrants, pushing the final prize pool close to $2 Million, nearly doubling the guarantee.
The tournament was scheduled for two days, but the huge turnout and massive amount of chips in play forced them to add a third day. Ben managed to grind his way through more than 3,700 entrants to get heads-up with Dan Wach. It all came down to a coin flip, which Ben got the best of. His win was good for $309,196 and was his first and only Borgata Open Series title. If you’re going to win one, that’s the one to win!
Ben is a home builder and semi-professional poker player, but has still managed to amass nearly $700,000 in tournament earnings.
End of Level 16: Blinds 2,000/4,000/400 ante
Total Day 1E Entries: 1,447
1E Players Remaining: 281
1E Average Stack: 129,000
Total Event 1 Entries (Flights A-F): 4,665
Courtesy of Twitter, we have some Chip Chirps from players who bagged up in Flight E earlier tonight. Follow us @BorgataPoker and keep those Tweets coming! #WPO2016
Bagged 225k @BorgataPoker 2m Gtd. D2 tomorrow noon at 2.5k/5k #BWPO2016 #Team1+1bullet
— Michael Guzzardi (@mjg916) January 22, 2016
Bagged 217k $560 2 Million guar @BorgataPoker #BWPO Day 2 tomorrow Let’s go! @Epicpokertr @jiffylubeFL
— Marsha Wolak (@marshawolak) January 22, 2016
Level 2: Blinds 75/150
Event 1F Entries: 911
Total Event 1 Entries: 4,561
David Eilers (Rocky Mtn, NC)
David Eilers owns a BBQ restaurant back home in North Carolina, but likes to get up here to Borgata to play tournaments whenever he can. Back in 2013, David took down the $450 Black Chip Bounty NLH event during the Summer Poker Open, earning $27,091.
He followed that five-figure score up with another during last summer’s Open series. He made the final table of the 2015 Summer Poker Open Championship event, finishing 8th for $32,155.
End of Level 16: Blinds 2,000/4,000/400 ante
Total Day 1E Entries: 1,447
1E Players Remaining: 281
1E Average Stack: 129,000
Total Event 1 Entries (Flights A-E): 3,650
Flight E has been bagged and tagged, but the process had to be expedited to make room for Flight F, and we’re not certain who the chip leader is.
The biggest stacks we found belonged to David Engleton, who bagged 399,000, and Vincent Fiorenza, who bagged 388,000.
Former chip leader Duane Wallace dropped below 300,000 before the end of play.
A full list of players with official chip counts will be posted when available. A redraw will take place before Day 2 begins at 12 noon Friday, and the seating assignments will be posted in the blog and in the Event Center.
Level 16: Blinds 2,000/4,000/400 ante
Total Day 1E Entries: 1,447
Total Event 1 Entries (Flights A-E): 3,650
The final four hands of Flight E are underway, so the bag & tag process will begin shortly.
Richard Seymour – Not Playing Defense Today
There’s a crowd on spectators gathered around a table on the far side of the Event Center and upon investigation, we discovered former NFL defensive player Richard Seymour.
Seymour has played in seven Pro Bowls, has been named to three All-Pro teams, and has been a member of three Super Bowl-winning Patriots teams. Some have considered him to be the best defensive lineman in the NFL.
He played college football for the University of Georgia, and was drafted by the New England Patriots sixth overall in the 2001 NFL Draft. He has also been described as the best #6 overall draft pick of all time.
Since retiring from the NFL, he has booked several tournament cashes, including two five-figure scores in WPT events. It looks like he’s headed for Day 2 of this event as they wrap up Flight E.
Tab Duchateau announced that the start of Flight F, which was scheduled for 7pm, will be delayed. There are already more than 720 players registered for that fight which means all 90 tables in the Event Center will be needed.
Flight E is about 15 minutes from conclusion and they will have to color-up, inventory, and bag their chips before their tables can be cleared for the next flight.
Current estimate for start of Flight F is 7:20pm.
Level 16: Blinds 2,000/4,000/400 ante
Total Day 1E Entries: 1,447
Total Event 1 Entries (Flights A-E): 3,650
The last level of the night is underway.
Dante Scattolini (N Wildwood, NJ)
Another big stack has appeared. Dante Scattolini is up to about 320,000 and surging as the field approaches the Day 1 finish line. He’s a home remodeling contractor and admits he “got a little lucky” to accumulate all those chips.
Meanwhile, across the room, Duane Wallace has continued to build his stack. In a recent hand, three players reached the river with a board of {Qd}{Js}{5c}{th}{6d}. Duane bet 10,000, which was just a small fraction of the pot. He got one call and one fold.
Duane tabled {9h}{8d} for the straight and his opponent mucked. That pot took his stack over the 400,000 chip mark.
Level 15: Blinds 1,500/3,000/400 ante
Total Day 1E Entries: 1,447
Total Event 1 Entries (Flights A-E): 3,650
Steve Greenberg (Randolph, NJ)
Steve Greenberg is gathering up chips as they being the last hour of play in Flight E. He’s up to about 300,000 (100 big blinds).
Steve owns a small business selling telecom services and plays poker as an amateur, but he’s got some professional-sized results. In the March 2008 WSOP Circuit Event in Atlantic City, he made the final table of the Championship event. That final table was loaded with poker talent, including the likes of Eric “Sheets” Haber, Soheil Shamseddin, Nick Binger, and Scott Blackman.
He ended up finishing in 5th place, earning more than $80,000. Later that same year, he picked up $31,280 for a 7th place finish in a Borgata Deep Stack event. His lifetime earnings have topped $126,000.