Event 10 (Day 1E)
End of Level 16: Blinds 2,000/4,000/400 ante
Flight 1E Entries: 878
Flight 1E Players Remaining: 153
Flight 1E Average Stack: 143,500
Total Event 1 Entries (A-E): 2,330
The last of the chips of Flight E have been bagged and tagged.
Soheb Porbandarwala (Stamford, CT)
file photo
After sorting through the chaos, it appears that Soheb Porbandarwala is the Flight E chip leader. He bagged 463,000, which puts him second overall behind only Kevin Saul , who bagged 479,500 last night.
Soheb won the $450 NLH Bounty event during the 2013 Borgata Poker Open for more than $56,000
The other big stacks from Flight E:
Christopher Masi – 440,000
Ryan Olisar – 414,500
Jake Schwartz – 409,000
Vanessa Selbst – 384,000
Dave Banerjee – 376,500
Tyler Patterson – 346,000
John Cleaver – 333,000
Patrick Curzio – 322,000
Steven Fiorentini – 311,000
Richie Smith – 309,000
TJ Shulman – 298,000
2015 November Niner Neil Blumenfield discovered that the third time is the charm. On his third bullet he managed to bag a very respectable 270,000. That’s about double the average stack and will be 54 big blinds when they return for Day 2 at 12 noon Friday.
Level 16: Blinds 2,000/4,000/400 ante
Flight 1E Entries: 878
Flight 1E Players Remaining: 200
Flight 1E Average Stack: 109,800
Total Event 1 Entries (A-E): 2,330
When his previous table broke, Sean Kurland landed at Table 2 in the 10 seat. Unfortunately for Sean, he has a murderer’s row to his direct left.
In the 1 seat is Vanessa Selbst. In the 2 seat is Mukul Pahuja, and in the 3 seat is Dan DiZenzo. Sean has his work cut out for him if he’s going to hold on to his chips long enough to get them in a bag at the end of this level.
Level 15: Blinds 1,500/3,000/400 ante
Flight 1E Entries: 878
Flight 1E Players Remaining: 210
Flight 1E Average Stack: 104,300
Total Event 1 Entries (A-E): 2,330
The General (Portland, ME)
The player known only as “The General” has happy to get all his chips in the middle on a flop of {kd}{8d}{2h}, showing {2s}{2c} for bottom set. Mark Dikker had him covered but was in bad shape with {8h}{2d} for two pair.
The {5d} on the turn didn’t mean much, but then the {6d} put four diamonds on the board and that little deuce of diamonds made the nut-low flush, good for Mark to take the pot.
The General was stripped of all his chips and hit the rail. Just two days ago, The General won the Super Stack Elevator event, collecting more than $37,000.
Level 15 (1,500/3,000/400)
Flight 1E Entries: 878
Flight 1E Players Remaining: 250
Flight 1E Average Stack: 87,800
Total Event 1 Entries: 2,330
While the chip leaders in this flight are all over the quarter-million chip mark, there are two players that have built well over the last few levels. These player are both over the 200,000 mark and some of the more experienced players left in this Day 1E field. They could contend for the end of day chip lead in just over an hour but should be contenders no matter where they finish heading into tomorrow’s Day 2 session.
One of Ryan Olisar’s best finishes of last year came in this event, as he finished 18th in the 2015 version of the ‘Borgata Million’. He now looks like he’s trending towards a sizable bag in this year’s event, as he’s playing just over 200,000 heading into the final two levels.
TJ Shulman likely could have been included in our last post, as he’s misfired a few bullets in previous flights. It looks like this Day 1E bullet has hit the target thus far though, as he’s also up and over the 200,000 chip mark. Shulman does most of his tournament damage in Florida but he’s looking to do some northern damage in the ‘Borgata Million’ after cashing in Event 1 last week.
Level 14: Blinds 1,200/2,400/300 ante
Flight 1E Entries: 878
Flight 1E Players Remaining: 250
Flight 1E Average Stack: 87,800
Total Event 1 Entries: 2,330
Frank Reina (Elizabeth, NJ)
Frank Reina reported that every single hand at his table has been raised pre-flop — except one. When he got a walk in the big blind, he looked at his cards and sure enough, he had pocket Aces.
Onofrio ‘Frank’ Reina is a fixture here and has more cashes and final tables at Borgata than we care to count. He has one Saturday Series title from May 2013, but an Open series title continues to elude him.
His largest career cash was $46,721 and came from a 14th place finish in the 2008 Winter Poker Open Championship event. His earnings have topped $233,000 and he shows no signs of slowing down.
Level 14 (1,200/2,400/300)
Flight 1E Entries: 878
Flight 1E Players Remaining: 280
Flight 1E Average Stack: 79,000
Total Event 1 Entries: 2,330
Over the course of every multi-starting flight event, we see players take multiple shots and, for some, in the end it’s worth it, as a sizable prize pool is up for grabs. A few repeat offenders have made it into the final three levels of Day 1E, after some bullets have failed to hit the target in earlier flights.
James McKinnon burst onto the tournament scene this summer, claiming two Borgata Poker titles over the last few 2015 series. So far, he’s been unable to regain that form this side of New Years but he’s trending towards a bag heading into the final hour and a half of Day 1E.
Tyler Patterson has already been to one live streamed final table this series, albeit in the commentary booth calling the Event 1 action this past weekend. With his professional obligations behind him, the WSOP bracelet winner and WPT champion will now try to make his own run, looking strong with close to 150,000 heading into Level 14.
Level 13: Blinds 1,000/2,000/300 ante
Flight 1E Entries: 878
Flight 1E Players Remaining: 270
Flight 1E Average Stack: 81,300
Total Event 1 Entries: 2,330
Luke Schmidt (New York), Sean Kurland (Wayne, PA), & Neil Wertheim (Middlesex, NJ)
As of the break, a few larger stacks stood out among the empty tables.
Richie Smith shipped a double across the felt before the break, so his stack dropped back to about 250,000.
Other big stacks (estimated):
Luke Schmidt – 230,000
Sean Kurland – 230,000
Dan DiZenzo – 220,000
Neil Werthein – 220,000
Level 13 (1,000/2,000/300)
Flight 1E Entries: 878
Flight 1E Players Remaining: 290
Flight 1E Average Stack: 76,000
Total Event 1 Entries: 2,330
This Day 1E flight is just coming back from it’s forth and final break of the day, meaning that just four levels separate this remaining field from the bags. We mentioned earlier that this field had been dropping fast and that trend has continued over the last few levels.
It remains to be seen just how many players will advance from this flight but the WPO blog will be here to follow all the action, as we continue to progress towards tomorrow’s Day 2 session.
This week, all roads lead to the World Poker Tour and Cate Hall will enter this weekend’s WPT WPO Championship second in the WPT Player of the Year standings. A year ago today, the Washington DC based Hall was still working full-time as a lawyer but after making the switch to poker full-time this summer, Hall has had some impressive tournament runs.
We caught up with Hall on her off day, as she bagged chips yesterday, to talk about that transition, her recent final table run at the WPT Bellagio Five Diamond Classic and about playing with, and learning from, the world’s best.
Level 12: Blinds 800/1,600/200 ante
Flight 1E Entries: 878
Flight 1E Players Remaining: 310
Flight 1E Average Stack: 71,000
Total Event 1 Entries: 2,330
Richie Smith (Edgewater, MD)
It looks like Richie Smith is the first player to amass more than 300,000 in chips and he’s just crossed that milestone. That’s more than four times an average stack at this point in Flight E and is more than 187 big blinds.