Event 1 (Day 1C)

Level 17 (2,500/5,000/500)
Total Day 1A, B, C & D Entrants: 2,202
Total Day 1A, B, C & D Survivors: 412

As mentioned in our earlier posts, over 2,200 players have already taken their shot in this opening $2,000,000 GTD event, with just over 400 players punching their ticket to Day 2 through the first four starting flights. Ryan Eriquezzo finished as the Day 1A/B chip leader but his 369,000 was beat in a handful of spots yesterday.

Christian Soto lead the Day 1C flight with 434,000 and Shannon O’Grady came out of the Day 1D session with the clubhouse lead, bagging an impressive 477,000. O’Grady will now keep his eye on the leaderboard over today’s final two flights, to see if anyone from Day 1E or Day 1F are able to eclipse the half-million chip mark.

That remains to be seen but what we do know, is how those 414 players that have already advanced stack up. Their chip counts are listed below.

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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.

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Budwey Salhab (Toronto, Canada)

End of Level 16
Blinds 2,000/4,000/400 Ante
Event 1C Entries: 753
Total Event 1 Entries: 2,132

Budwey Salhab wants a shout out to family back home. Though he’s not among our chip leaders, he’s well above average at 220,000 as this flight comes to an end. He has numerous final tables and wins to his name all over the East Coast and over $100,000 in total earnings. We’ll be seeing him again on Day 2.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Level 14: Blinds 1,200/2,400/300 ante
Total Day 1C Entries: 753
Total Event 1 Entries: 1,999

While Rosario Simone and Matt Cooper continue to pace this Day 1C flight through the second half of play, some other big stacks have started to emerge from the massive Event Center field. They’re playing either side of 200,000 and could be a few hot levels away from bagging near the top of the overall Event 1 leaderboard.

Danny Drozdov is playing just over 230,000 and after recording a cash in the opening $2,000,000 GTD event of the WPT BPO series in September, could be trending towards another Event 1 score this weekend. He’s currently near the top of the leaderboard but finds himself at a tough, well-stacked table that won’t make it easy over the last few Day 1C levels.

Alex Jim isn’t up and over the 200,000 chip mark just yet but he’s steadily climbed the leaderboard over the last few levels. He’s now in a position to bag a potentially top stack in this Day 1C flight, parlaying a BorgataPoker.com online qualifier into a seat in Friday’s Day 2 restart.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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