Event 1 (Day 1E)
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
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.
Will “The Thrill” Failla (Smithtown, NY)
End of Level 16
Blinds 2,000 / 4,000 / 400 Ante
Total Day 1E Entries: 1,447
Total Event 1 Entries (Flights A-E): 3,650
Will “The Thrill” Failla made it to the end of Flight 1E with a respectable stack and will be returning to Day 2 action … unless he decides to buy in to the swiftly starting Day 1F flight for a shot at a bigger stack. The Best Stack Forward rule means that players start Day 2 tomorrow at noon with the best end of day stack among all their end-of-day finishes.
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.
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.
Level 14 (1,200/2,400/300)
Total Day 1E Entries: 1,447
Total Event 1 Entries: 3,650
There are still a few hours in this Day 1E flight but it’s around this time of each session that chip leaders start to emerge and the picture of how each flight will end starts to get a little clearer. As it stands, Steven Sarmiento and Sean Shah look to be trending towards some top 1E stacks, as they are each on either side of 200,000 heading into Level 14.
Steven Sarmiento has a BPO title to his name and over $150,000 in career tournament earnings but the primarily cash game player is still looking for his first big Event 1 score. The New Yorker could be trending towards a “big” finish here today, as he’s playing nearly 200,000 heading into the homestretch of this Day 1E flight.
While Sarmiento likely considers Borgata his ‘home casino’, Sean Shah has never cashed in Atlantic City but has a Florida resume that includes over 50 tournament scores. The biggest of those scores came last spring, when Shah finished 7th in the WPT SHRPO Championship, earning just shy of $170,000. He’ll now try to notch his first score of 2016 in the opening event of this WPT series and is in a good position to do so with over 250,000 chips.
Level 13: Blinds 1,000/2,000/300 ante
Total Day 1E Entries: 1,447
Total Event 1 Entries: 3,650
“Gator Dave” (Jackson, NJ)
“Gator Dave” arrived at Table 36 and found himself ensnarled in the very first hand he was dealt. Irina Akerman shoved her last 12,200 from middle position. Dave flatted from the middle, then the player in the cutoff raised to 26,000, perhaps in an attempt to isolate.
It didn’t work, however, as Gator Dave jammed for 93,400 total, sending the cutoff into the tank. He eventually called, tabling pocket 8s. Dave was out in front with pocket Kings, and Irina was trailing the trio with {ah}{5s}.
When the flop fell {Ac}{th}{6c}, it appeared Irina was going to triple up and carry on, but then the last two cards fell {jh}{qs}, giving Dave the Broadway straight. He more than doubled to ~210,000.
Irina was sent to the rail and we’re not sure if she’ll try again in Flight F, on tap for 7pm tonight.
“Gator Dave” says “Hi to Pete!”
End of Level 12: Blinds 800/1,600/200 ante
Total Day 1E Entries: 1,447
Total Event 1 Entries: 3,650
End of level 12 and players are enjoying their last break of the day.
Shortly before the break and on the last hand played at table 51 before it broke, Will ‘the Thrill’ Failla took a bite out of Duane Wallace’s big stack.
Picking up the action on the flop, the board read {as}{kh}{qc} and Will was all-in for 51,500. Duane tanked for a couple of minutes, then called. Will was holding the nuts with {Jd}{td} for Broadway. Duane was drawing slim with {ad}{9s} for top pair. He need two pefect runners to make a full house or chop.
When the {tc} came on the turn, Duane was drawing to only three outs for a chop — he needed a Jack on the river just to split the pot. The river was the {7d}, however, and Will doubled up to ~160,000.
Duane was still in good shape heading into the break with ~220,000.
Level 12: Blinds 800/1,600/200 ante
Total Day 1E Entries: 1,447
Total Event 1 Entries: 3,650
Duane Wallace (Reading, PA)
Despite getting his pocket Aces cracked earlier by Will ‘the Thrill’ Failla, Duane Wallace just took done a monster pot and maybe the chip lead.
The player in seat 9 opened for 6,500, got a call from seat 10, and Duane. On the flop of 9 6 4 with two diamonds, all heck broke loose. It was checked to the player in seat 10, who fired 16,000. Duane raised to 33,000, seat 9 four-bet-shoved, seat 10 called all-in for less, and Duane called all-in.
The hands were tabled:
Duane: 44 (bottom set)
Seat 9: 97 (top pair)
Seat 10: {ad}{qd} (nut flush draw with two overs)
Somehow Duane managed to fade all the outs and the last two cards were blanks. The player in seat 10 was eliminated and seat 9 took a small side pot. Duane chipped up to about 320,000.