Event 1 (Day 1A)

Level 17 (2,500/5,000/500)
Total Day 1A & 1B Entrants: 913
Total Day 1A & 1B Survivors: 156

While there are still two days and four starting flights before Friday’s Day 2 session, there are already over 150 players that have their tickets punched to that restart. In total, 913 players played yesterday’s Day 1A and 1B flights and when it was all said and done, around 2:30 AM, Ryan Eriquezzo was pacing both flights into Day 2.

The former WSOP bracelet winner bagged up 369,000 and, heading into today’s two starting flights, that number is good for the clubhouse lead. Kareem Marshall was right behind Eriquezzo, as he finished with 362,000 and Matthew Wantman, who broke through for his first BPO title during last year’s Winter Poker Open, bagged 326,000, good for third overall.

Day 1A chip leader Chinmay Patel and Brian Allen were the only other players over the 300,000 chip mark and they round out the top-five. A complete list of the surviving 156 players from Day 1A & 1B is provided below:

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End of Level 16:  Blinds 2,000/4,000/400 ante
Flight A Entries: 593
Filght A Players Remaining:  124
Average Stack:  119,500

Chinmay Patel (Huntingdon Valley, PA) – Flight A Chip Leader

When the maelstrom of the end of night chip bagging process was completed, we discovered we had a new chip leader that had flown under the radar all day.  Chinmay Patel  bagged up 319,500, good for the Flight A chip lead.

Other stacks over 250,000:

Barry Allen – 313,500
Giuliano Lentini – 289,500
Brett Murray – 284,500
Larry Jaffee – 282,500
Mario Digangi – 269,500
Joe Cornwall – 263,000
Yehail Haim – 260,500
Kenneth Lin – 250,500

A full list of players with 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.

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Level 16:  Blinds 2,000/4,000/400 ante
Flight A Entries: 593

Some big stacks are emerging now that the last level of the flight is underway.

Giuliano Lentini (Manhattan, NY)

Giuliano Lentini appears to be in the lead with ~300,000.  He’s been flopping sets all day and most recently flopped a set of 3s against A9 and rivered quads.

Brian Allen (Port Washington, NY)

Brian Allen was in the lead with roughly 350,000, but as I watched, another player got all-in with pocket Queens against Brian’s pocket Kings.  The flop fell {As}{qc}{3h} giving his opponent a lead with a set.  When the turn brought the {Js}, Brian picked up some more outs, but the {4h} on the river was not one of them.

After shipping he double, Brian was left with about 260,000.

Larry Jaffee (Long Island, NY)

Larry Jaffee appears to be right on Giuliano’s heels with roughly 290,000.

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Level 14:  Blinds 1,200/2,400/300 ante
Total Event 1 Entries: 874

Scott Baumstein (New York, NY)

When we arrived at the table, Scott Baumstein (cutoff) had shoved for 28,100 total after his opponent in seat 6 (big blind) fired a bet of 12,000.  They were looking at a board of {qh}{9c}{3s}{8c} and with one card to come, his opponent was in deep thought.

After a minute or so, the call was made and Scott tabled {qs}{6s} for top pair.  His opponent rolled over {as}{9d} for second pair.

Once the {5h} was delivered on the river, Scott’s pair held up, securing his double-up to about 65,000.

Scott’s career earnings are approaching $1.5 million.  He has one Borgata Open series title from last September, but his largest single cash was actually a runner-up finish here at Borgata during the 2012 Fall Poker Open.  He finished 2nd in the Championship event, earning $209,480.

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Danny Currie

Level 14:
Blinds 1,200/2,400/300 ante
Total Event 1 Entries: 864

Immediately after the previous hand, Matt Stout shoves his last 21,000 and Danny Currie calls.

Stout: {9h}{9c}
Currie: {Qs}{Ac}

The board runs out {4d}{Qc}{6h}{10s}{Jd}

And Stout stands up and heads out of the Event Center. We don’t yet know if he plans to enter back in to Flight B.

Danny Currie: 94,000

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Lewis Alves

Level 14:
Blinds 1,200/2,400/300 ante
Total Event 1 Entries: 864

Caught the end of this hand. From first position with a flop of {2d}{6h}{Kh}, Lewis Alves went all in for about 16,000 in chips. In late position, Matt Stout calls and flops over {7h}{5h} for a heart flush draw. Alves turns over {Kc}{Js} for a pair of kings. The turn and river run out {Qs}{Jd} and the two pair leaves Stout with a mere 21,200 remaining.

Lewis Alves: 84,000

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End of Level 12:  Blinds 800/1,600/200 ante
Total Event 1 Entries: 810

Break time again for Flight A and they’ll get fifteen minutes off before returning for the final four levels of play.

Lisa Pickell (Brick, NJ)

A few minutes before the end of level 12, Lisa Pickell got her last 18,800 all-in good holding pocket Kings.  Her opponent in seat 8 had pocket Jacks and she was in good shape to more than double up (there was a micro-stack all-in holding pocket 6s as well).

Oh No Quadzilla!

Just to put the icing on the cake, she flopped a King, then the case King came on the river, giving her quads.  With that pot, she chipped up to roughly 45,000.  She said at one point earlier in the day she was down to only 7,900, so she may have launched her epic comeback.  It will not be an easy climb, as she has poker pros Matt Stout and Jamie Kerstetter in the two seats to her right.

Lisa has career earnings of more than $119,000, the lion’s share of which came when she won her WSOP Circuit ring along with $47,860 back in 2005.

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Level 12:  Blinds 800/1,600/200 ante
Total Event 1 Entries: 788

Flight A is thinning out quickly.  The floor staff are breaking tables as quickly as they can collect the open seat cards.  Only 25 tables remain.  With 250 players in action, the average stack would be almost 60,000 (37 big blinds).

Jeff Rogers (Ithaca, NY)

Jeff Rogers has pulled into the lead — he’s currently stacking about 180,000.  With three times the average stack and more than 112 big blinds, this professional poker player is setting himself up for a strong finish in Flight A.

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Level 10:  Blinds 500/1,000/100 ante
Total Event 1 Entries: 682

Players are back at the tables and cards are flying once again.  Lots of familiar faces are pouring in.  Matt Stout announced his arrival via Twitter:

Just bought into the @BorgataPoker opening event 1a. Not f***ing finishing 2nd again. #BWPO2016

— Matt Stout (@MattStoutPoker) January 19, 2016

Of course he’s referring to his runner-up finish in Event 1 of the 2015 Fall Poker Open, when he got heads-up with Stephanie Hubbard. She had a significant chip lead and held on to take the title, leaving Matt with $102,257 for second place.

Matt’s got more than $3.3 million in career earnings and a WSOP Circuit ring, but has yet to take home a Borgata Open series title.  Could this be his year?

Also turning up in Flight A:

Dan Buzgon
Scott Blackman
Tom Dobrilovic
Svetlana Gromenkova
TJ Shulman
Max Amjadi
Sam Bernstein
Danny Yousefzadeh
Michael Somma
Scott Baumstein
Mike Santoro
Rick Rossetti

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End of Level 9:  Blinds 400/800/75 ante
Total Event 1 Entries: 654

Kathy Long (Reading, PA)

Players are on their third break of the day while the green 25 chips are being colored up.  When play resumes, registration will close for this flight.

Kathy Long came dressed for success today.  She’s got the {qh} on her shirt and has a Royal Flush on each hand.  Her fingernails are painted with the playing cards {as}{ks}{qs}{js}{ts}.

Looks like it’s bringing her good luck as she’s already up to about 100,000, which will be 100 big blinds when they get back in action.

Kathy is a frequent flier on the felt here at Borgata, but she makes her living in Real Estate.

Two Royal Flushes for Kathy Long

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