Event 10 (Day 1C)

Level 17 (2,500/5,000/500)
Total Day 1A, B, C & D Entrants: 1,452
Total Day 1A, B, C & D Survivors: 254
Chip Average: 142,000

The first three starting flights of this $1,000,000 GTD Winter Poker Open event ended with some big stacks but the biggest of those stacks came from last night’s final flight. Kevin Saul bagged over 100,000 chips than his nearest Day 1D competitor, good enough for the clubhouse lead heading into today’s final two starting flights.

The former WPT Champion was spotted late last night buying rounds of beer for his table mates but coming into Day 2, Saul will likely not be in the giving mood. Instead, he’ll try to use his massive stack to first make the money and then, eventually the final table. He’s in a good position to do so, leading the current 254 players that have already advanced into tomorrow’s Day 2 session.

A complete list of those players is provided below, in our always sortable and always searchable table:

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End of Level 16:  Blinds 2,000/4,000/400 ante 
Flight 1C Entries: 432
Total Event 1 Entries (A+B+C): 1,064
Flight C Players Remaining:  79
Flight C Average Stack:  136,500

The survivors of Flight C have bagged their chips and headed out of the Event Center.

Dan Maisano (Arlington, VA) – Flight C Chip Leader

Dan Maisano bagged the most with 376,500, putting him in 4th place overall through the first three flights.

Other big stacks in Flight C:

Tommy Romeo – 354,500
Craig Stern – 351,500
Greg Fishberg – 318,000
Ryan Weber – 317,000
Stosh Gepp – 315,500
Stephen Benkovic – 315,000
W Miller – 274,500
Neil Vitello – 263,000
Ryan McCarroll – 260,000
Jack Duong – 245,500
Greg Himmelbrand – 225,000

Neil Vitiello – Fight C Honorable Mention (since he has a nice smile)

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Level 16:  Blinds 2,000/4,000/400 ante 
Flight 1C Entries: 432
Total Event 1 Entries (A+B+C): 1,064
Flight C Players Remaining:  100
Flight C Average Stack:  108,000

We’ve got two players vying for the chip lead as they enter the last level of the flight.

Ryan Weber (Philadelphia, PA) & Craig Stern (Croton, NY)

Ryan Weber has more than $19,000 in reported tournament cashes, but none from Borgata.  He’s well on his way to his first with about 300,000 in chips entering the last level of play.

Also toying with the 300,000 chip mark is Craig Stern.  He’s got four prior cashes at Borgata, two of which were final table appearances.  He says Howard Stern is his third cousin.

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Level 15:  Blinds 1,500/3,000/400 ante 
Flight 1C Entries: 432
Total Event 1 Entries (A+B+C): 1,064
Flight C Players Remaining:  120
Flight C Average Stack:  90,000

Harrison Gimbel (Jupoter, FL) sits to the right of Greg Fishberg (Huntingdon Valley, PA)

Another quiet and reserved player we see regularly here is Greg Fishberg.  Greg has proven his skills on the felt, accumulating more than $682,000 in career earnings.  He’s got two Borgata Open series titles and one WSOP Circuit ring on his resume.  One of those Borgata wins brought him his largest single score.  He won the $1,000 NLH event during the 2008 Summer Poker Open for $115,710.

Today he’s got another accomplished player seated on his right.  Harrison Gimbel finished 9th in the Super Stack Elevator event yesterday ($2,658), adding to his $3.4 million in career earnings.

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Level 14:  Blinds 1,200/2,400/300 ante 
Flight 1C Entries: 432
Total Event 1 Entries (A+B+C): 1,064
Flight C Players Remaining:  140
Flight C Average Stack:  77,100

Stephen Benkovic (Harrisburg, PA)

It’s still early with more than three full levels to play, but Stephen Benkovic is already stacking heaps of chips.  He’s approaching 260,000 — more than three times an average stack and over 108 big blinds.

Apparently his heater started with a modest 54 offsuit in the big blind.  After a raise and call, he came along for the flop.  After flopping an open-ended straight draw, he wasn’t going anywhere and “benked” his straight to beat pocket Tens and pocket Kings.

He went on to beat AK with AQ — by “benking” two Queens on the flop.

While I was watching, he bet his opponent out of the pot on the turn with three spades on board — and showed {5s}{4s}.  He had “benked” his flush on the turn.

Our favorite ‘poker mom’, Alison Parker, is sitting on his right and she’s not too happy about having such a big stack on her left — especially when he keeps “benking” big hands!

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Level 13:  Blinds 1,000/2,000/300 ante 
Flight 1C Entries: 432
Total Event 1 Entries (A+B+C): 1,064
Flight C Players Remaining:  156
Flight C Average Stack:  69,200

Players are back from their last break of the flight and settling in for the final four levels of the night.  After two hours of play, the survivors will bag up their chips.

Those unfortunate enough to bust out will still have the option to join Flight D tonight, or the final two flights tomorrow.

Since this is a best stack forward event, even players who bag chips tonight may opt to play another flight trying to better their situation going into Day 2.

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Level 12:  Blinds 800/1,600/200 ante 
Flight 1C Entries: 432
Total Event 1 Entries: 1,064
Flight C Players Remaining:  167
Flight C Average Stack:  64,700

Kevin McColgan (Douglasville, PA)

Kevin McColgan is one of those quiet, polite, unassuming players that you would never notice in a crowd.  That could be why other players underestimate him at the poker table.  Kevin has FIVE WSOP Circuit rings, which ranks him 9th in the world, behind the likes of Chris Reslock and Ari Engel — and one ring ahead of Men ‘the Master’ Nguyen.

In between gathering up all that bling, Kevin also picked up a Borgata Open trophy back in November of 2012, contributing $25,462 to his career earnings of more than $588,000.  He cashed in the Millionaire Maker at last summer’s World Series of Poker in a field of more than 7,000 entrants.

If you see this guy at a poker table, hang on to your chips or they might find their way into his stack!

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Level 11 (800/1,600/200)
Total Day 1C Entries: 432
Total Event 1 Entries: 1,064

Ben Beahm was the runner-up in last year’s ‘Borgata Million’ for an over $125,000 score. There is plenty of poker left to be played this year but if he’s able to continue to hit some timely rivers, he could be making another deep run.

The final table of last year’s Winter Poker Open ‘Borgata Million’ was relatively stacked for a nearly 3,000 player $400 buy-in event. Eventual champion Daniel Buzgon has over $1,000,000 in career earnings and Dan Wach, Travel Thomas, David Zeitlin and Tyng Low have all had their fair share of poker success. While Buzgon claimed that tournament title, and a $195,000 score, that live streamed final table was also where Ben Beahm announced himself to the East Coast poker world.

Coming into that final table, Beahm wasn’t a relative unknown, he didn’t exist in poker. It was his first major tournament score and, in the end, it was good for a $126,000 result. He’s now trying to get back to that final table and, even though it’s early, he just binked a river against Cate Hall to stay alive.

Action was missed but with the board showing {Kh}{7s}{4s}, Cate Hall bet and then called Beahm’s shove holding {8s}{6s}. Beahm held {As}{9s}, meaning Hall’s flush outs counted for nothing but he still had to have his ace-high hold. It couldn’t through the turn, as the {8d} paired up Hall and left Beahm now searing for one of his high cards or a spade.

He got the latter on the river, as the {2s} completed the board and his superior flush. When the dust settled, Hall was cut down slightly to 100,000, while Beahm is playing slightly under that number. He’s got a long way to go if he wants to notch back to back final table runs in this ‘Borgata Million’ but if he’s able to continue to run well and hit some timely rivers, he could find himself on another live stream.

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Level 11:  Blinds 600/1,200/200 ante 
Flight 1C Entries: 432
Total Event 1 Entries: 1,064
Flight C Players Remaining:  200
Flight C Average Stack:  54,000

Eric Rappaport (Lansdale, PA)

Eric Rappaport is another frequent flier here at Borgata with numerous cashes.  He has one Borgata Open title from the 2013 Borgata Poker Open when he took down a $500 Deep Stack NLH event.  After a back-and-forth heads-up battle against Vitor Coelho lasting more than two hours, Eric Rappaport came out on top, claiming his first Borgata Open trophy, $45,183.  His career earnings of more than $314,000 only include one larger score, which came from a 2nd place finish at another venue in October of 2014 for $51,150.

Eric is back in action today after firing once in Flight A yesterday:

Ak<99 for 80k.. Will fire again tmr

— Eric Rappaport (@Rappy300) January 26, 2016

His day has gotten off to a slow start apparently.

Nothing eventful 21k heading into 1kbb

— Eric Rappaport (@Rappy300) January 27, 2016

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Level 10:  Blinds 500/1,000/100 ante 
Flight 1C Entries: 432
Total Event 1 Entries: 1,064
Flight C Players Remaining:  214
Flight C Average Stack:  50,500

Flight C has collapsed down to only 22 tables with 214 players so more than half the Flight C entrants have been eliminated.

Cornel Cimpan (Sacramento, CA)

Proving that he hasn’t lost his sense of humor, Cornel Cimpan bet 5,000 on the river with a board of K K 5 8 9.  As his opponent was considering the action, Cimpan said “Don’t call me with Ace-high.  That would be embarrassing.”

He didn’t specify embarrassing for whom, however.  After giving it a bit more thought, his opponent tossed in one blue chip to call.  Cimpan rolled over {7s}{6s} for the rivered straight and his opponent mucked — so we don’t know what he was calling with.

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