Event 1 (Day 1F)
Level 6: Blinds 200/400/50 ante
Flight 1F Entrants: 1,240
Total Event 1 Entrants: 4,890
Todd Rebello (Oak Bluffs, MA)
Todd Rebello is not looking at an easy table. Although Ben Bianco, who was sitting on his left, has busted out, Todd’s still facing off against the likes of Mike Dentale, Mike Linster, and Antonio Payne.
In a recent hand, Todd got all-in for his last 22,850 on a flop of {kd}{6c}{5d}. The player in the small blind had fewer chips than Todd and was all-in holding {Ah}{ks} (top pair, top kicker). The big blind called, showing {Ah}{ad}. Todd had {5s}{5h} and had flopped bottom set.
The dealer burned and turned the {Jd}, then burned and rivered the {2s}, both of which were safe cards for Todd. He dragged the pot, chipping up to about 95,000, while the player in the small blind reported to the rail.
Todd has a Borgata Open series title and a WSOP Circuit ring among his many poker accolades. His largest single cash came last March when he finished second in the Foxwoods Poker Classic NLH Championship for nearly $82,000. His lifetime total has exceeded $544,000.
Level 6
Blinds 200/400/50 Ante
Event 1F Players: 1,240
Total Event 1 Players: 4,890
Cullen “H” Hoffman, one of our short-stacked jokesters from last night, is once again short on chips, and he’s picked a funny way to show it.
An Andy Warhol original, "Set Under Set". #BWPO2016 pic.twitter.com/RE2l2uQwVF
— HMan (@CullenHMan) January 22, 2016
Bill Kridle (Smithfield, PA)
Level 6
Blinds 200/400/50 Ante
Event 1F Players: 1,222
Total Event 1 Players: 4,872
Bill “gutshotkridle35” Kridle tells me he’s an avid comic book collector and collects key books, new and old, including first appearances and first issues. (He has my book, for example.) He’s also a player up and down the circuit in New England as well as Florida. He played in this event a year ago and had quite a crazy hand in that event involving a “live misclick.” Take a look at the hand — it has to be read to be believed.
One more interesting thing — he has a tiny frog as his card capper. He says his mother gave it to him right before he went to Florida and made three straight final tables. It says “Lucky Frog” on it.
We’ll be keeping an eye on Bill throughout this series.
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.
Corina Lupascu (Romania)
Level 5:
Blinds 150/300/25 Ante
Day 1F Entries: 1,134
Total Day 1 Entries: 4,786
Corina Lupascu, from Romania, bet into a flop of {As}{6h}{9d} for 1,700 and her opponents folded in early action. Corina has over $30,000 in live tournament winnings, including a win at the women’s event at the PCA in Paradise Island back in 2013 for $22,420. It’s a safe bet we’ll be seeing her a lot this series.
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.
Tony James (Long Island)
Level 5:
Blinds 150/300/25 Ante
Day 1F Entries: 1,109
Total Day 1 Entries: 4,759
Tony James from Long Island is keeping himself busy at his table, not only shuffling chips around his fingers, but also doing a trick where he snaps a chip way up into the air and catches it.
“I can hit the ceiling at Harrahs,” says Tony. “If it touches the dealer in the poker room, though, I have to tip him, so I try to only do it with $1 chips.”
“Do you do magic tricks?” asks another player at the table. “I can’t even tie my shoe,” Tony replies. He then says that one time a chip landed right on someone’s bald head and stayed there. Awkward!
Barry Leventhal (Brooklyn, NY)
Level 4:
Blinds 100/200/25 Ante
Event 1F Entries: 1,070
Total Event 1 Entries: 4,720
Barry Leventhal has been a fixture on the East Coast poker scene and Borgata specifically for years and years. His distinctive beard and Brooklyn cap can be spotted a mile away. Just now he check-raised his opponent’s bet with a big stack of yellow 1,000 chips. His opponent reluctantly called with black kings, but Barry had trip 7s to take a nice pot.
Barry won Event #7 here back in November, and has tournament winnings of about $370,000.
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.
Rob Campion (Stony Brook, Long Island, NY)
Level 3
Blinds: 100/200
Event 1F Entrants: 1,029
Total Event 1 Entrants: 4,679
Rob Campion of Long Island bets 4,500 into a board of {4d}{4s}{8h}{3h}{7c} and his opponent calls. Rob turns over {5s}{4h} for flopped trips and his opponent mucks.
Rob is from Stony Brook, Long Island, New York, a major tourist town and adjacent to Stony Brook University.