Level 8: Blinds 300/600/75 ante
Total Event 1D Entries: 484
Total Event 1 Entries: 2,150
Roland Israelashvili (Forest Hill, NY)
Roland Israelashvili is definitely a “big name” in the poker world, and that’s not just a joke about his last name. Roland has more than $2.5 million in career tournament earnings and too many titles to mention. He owns three WSOP Circuit rings, one of which was for a Championship event. He also has two Borgata Open series titles.
He just added another notch to his resume with a win in the $1,100 NLH Turbo at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure earlier this month. The win was good for more than $30,000.
His largest single score was in the 2012 WSOP $50,000 Players Championship, where he finished 5th for almost $318,000.
End of Level 16: Blinds 2,000/4,000/400 ante
Total Flight 1C Entries: 753
Flight 1C Players Remaning: 146
Flight 1C Average Stack: 129,000
Total Event 1 Entries: 2,126
Christian Soto (North Bergen, NJ) – Flight C and Overall Event 1 Chip Leader
The last chips are bagged for Flight C and the players have departed. They will join the survivors of the other five flights for Day 2 on Friday at 12 noon.
Christian Soto held on to the chip lead through the last three hands and has also claimed the overall chip lead through the first three flights. He bagged up 434,000.
Other big stacks:
Po Fuk Ying – 386,000
Mark Roberts – 373,500
Matt Cooper – 331,500
John Moe – 311,500
Danny Drozdov – 295,000
Jon Borenstein – 294,000
Mark Bees – 260,500
Kunal Patel – 252,000
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.
End of Level 16: Blinds 2,000/4,000/400 ante
Total Day 1C Entries: 753
Total Event 1 Entries: 2,095
The players in Flight C are wrapping up their last three hands, which will be followed by a black chip color-up, then the chip inventory, then finally the bag & tag.
Christian Soto (North Bergen, NJ)
During the last level of play, Christian Soto caught a big hand, pushing him ahead of the field. He opened the pot and got calls from the two players to his left. On the flop of K T 9, Christian checked, the next player bet 20,000, and the other folded. Christian check-raised to 80,000 and got called.
Turn was an 8 and Christian shoved his last 150,000, getting a call. His opponent showed KQ for top pair, but Christian had pocket 9s for a set. The river was a brick and Christian took the pot, chipping up to~430,000.
Matt Cooper has dropped back to about 330,000, which is still a respectable end of night count.
Level 16: Blinds 2,000/4,000/400 ante
Total Day 1C Entries: 753
Total Event 1 Entries: 2,056
Mark Roberts (Buffalo, NY)
Mark Roberts is making a surge late in the day to pull into second place on the leaderboard. He’s currently stacking about 373,000. He said he “worked hard for ’em” when asked about how he came by all those chips.
The New Yorker has a couple of small cashes here at Borgata, plus a couple of small wins at other venues, accounting for a bit over $24,000 in reported tournament earnings. His largest single score on the books was for about $4,700, so a big finish in this event would put him on the poker map.
Level 15: Blinds 1,500/3,000/400 ante
Total Day 1C Entries: 753
Total Event 1 Entries: 2,025
Matt Cooper has reclaimed his chip lead in the flight in a big way. He’s up to over 415,000, saying “Take that, Eriquezzzo!” since he’s already passed Ryan’s Day 1 chip lead.
To get this last batch of chips, Matt opened from the middle and got a call from the cutoff, then the button raised. Both players called to see the flop fall K 9 9. Matt led out for 35,000, the cutoff called, and the button folded. Turn was an 8 and Matt launched 60,000 into the pot.
The player in the cutoff called to see an innocuous 3 come on the river. Matt jammed, having his opponent covered. The cutoff tanked for a while before finally calling off all his chips with KT (Kings-up). Matt held J9 for trips to take the pot, sending his opponent to the rail.
Level 14: Blinds 1,200/2,400/300 ante
Total Day 1C Entries: 753
Total Event 1 Entries: 1,999
Rosario Simone has chipped up to about 320,000. With more than an hour left to play, he could potentially contend with Ryan Eriquezzo for the overall chip lead. Ryan bagged 369,000 at the end of Flight B last night.
Rosario has also taken the chip lead away from Matt Cooper. Matt’s stack has lost a little heft. He’s dropped down to roughly 260,000.
Level 13: Blinds 1,000/2,000/300 ante
Total Day 1C Entries: 753
Total Event 1 Entries: 1,928
Flight C players have returned from their final break of the day. They’ll play the final four levels straight through, then bag their chips for the night.
Matt Cooper continues to accumulate chips. He’s approaching 300,000 with two more hours before the end of play.
The other players at his table disagree on whether he’s playing well or getting hit by the deck. In a confrontation before the break, I was told he four-bet pre-flop holding {ax}{8x} against a player holding pocket Tens. Matt caught an Ace on the flop to win yet another pot.
Level 12: Blinds 800/1,600/200 ante
Total Day 1C Entries: 753
Total Event 1 Entries: 1,866
Stephanie Hubbard is not having a good day. She got her last chips in holding pocket 5s and was looked up by a player holding KQ. A King on the flop was all it to to send Stephanie to the rail for he second time today.
Michael Somma (Middle Village, NY) & Dan Wach (Boonton, NJ)
A couple of tables away, Michael Somma got his last chips in holding pocket Tens and got action from Dan Wach, who had KQ. This time the board blanked, missing Dan completely.
Michael’s Tens were good and he doubled up to ~45,000. Dan dropped to ~35,000.
Level 1: Blinds 50/100
Total Event 1 Entries: 1,848
The fourth of six starting flights has kicked off here in the back of the Event Center. Players sit down with 25,000 chips to start and late registrants and re-entering players will get the same. Registration will remain open until the start of level 10, about 10pm.
All levels are 30-minutes long and they will play through level 16 before calling it a night (at about 2am).
Two more starting flights are on tap for Thursday, but the times will change. Flight E begins at 10am and Flight F begins at 7pm.
With unlimited re-entries and best-stack-forward, we’re seeing many of the same faces, over and over again!
Level 11: Blinds 600/1,200/200 ante
Total Day 1C Entries: 753
Total Event 1 Entries: 1,848
Matt Cooper (West Haven, CT)
Matt Cooper is stretching his lead at a pretty rowdy table up front in the Event Center. He acquired a good portion of his 190,000 chips in a hand holding top pair and all-in against a player with a straight-flush, straight, and flush draws.
He managed to dodge all his opponents outs to take the pot.
Most of Matt’s tournament earnings came in one lump sum. This past summer, he made it to the semi-finals of the WSOP $10,000 No Limit Heads-Up Championship, earning $111,525. He lost his semi-final round to well-known pro Paul Volpe. (Paul finished second, losing in the final round to Keith Lehr.)
When another player at the table compared his appearance to “Mr. Clean”, he said, “but I have hair!”