Event 3
Time flies when you’re having fun and the first week of the Winter Poker Open has certainly been just that, as six WPO champions were crowned, along with multiple players making deep runs to notch some of the biggest results of their career. To start this ‘First Week Action’ recap with anything other than the opening $2,000,000 GTD event would be criminal. That event saw a massive 5,100 player field come together and in the end, it was Jason Loehrs claiming victory. He earned just over $380,000 for the win, which was his first here at Borgata.
Loehrs claimed victory yesterday and there were two other WPO trophies awarded before the weekend officially over, as Duane Hunton locked up a win right before 6 AM today. That Event 6 ‘Big Stack NLH’ victory was good for a nearly $30,000 score and Guy Cicconi overcame a sizable heads up chip disadvantage to claim an over $14,000 score for his Event 5 ‘Seniors NLH’ win. He’ll be back for the WPT WPO Championship next weekend and we could very well see Joe Cashen back for that main event as well, as he claimed just shy of $45,000 for his Event 3 ‘Saturday Series’ win on Saturday.
Alison Grippo was another Saturday winner this weekend, as she took home just shy of $5,000 for her Event 4 ‘Ladies NLH’ win. The biggest winner, save for Jason Loehrs, was Ryan Slanicka though, as he took home close to $52,000 for his Event 2 ‘$100 Black Chip Bounty’ victory, after a grueling 15 hour Day 2 session.
There are still over a dozen WPO titles still up for grabs, meaning that the final week and a half of the series is surely going to be just as exciting as the first week. The WPO blog will be here to bring you all of that action but if you want to go back and catch up on what’s happened over the last week, the links at the top of this post will bring you to each event’s individual coverage.
It should also be noted, that a complete list of results from each event are linked as well.
Event #3: $350 + $50 Saturday Series Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em
End of Tournament:
Blinds 200,000 / 400,000 / 40,000 Ante
Total Event 3 Entrants: 525
Event 3 Remaining Players: 1
Joe Cashen (Winner of Event #3)
After a nearly two-hour heads up battle (and it only took three hours before that to eliminate the rest of the final table!) Joe Cashen finally comes out on top after playing from behind virtually the entire two hours. Joe wins $44,387 and the commemorative Borgata trophy! This more than doubles his existing tournament winnings, including 7th in a WPT main event in Maryland. There’s a good chance this imposing cardslinger will be seen at more events this series.
That wraps up the fifth day of action at the Borgata Winter Poker Open, but stay tuned, as action returns in just a few short hours! See you then.
Kevin Wang (Flushing NY)
Event #3: $350 + $50 Saturday Series Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em
Level 35:
Blinds 200,000 / 400,000 / 40,000 Ante
Total Event 3 Entrants: 525
Event 3 Remaining Players: 2
Average Stack: 6,560,000
On a flop of {Jc}{6c}{7h}, Joe Cashen bets 800,000 and Kevin Wang makes it 2,100,000. Joe goes all in and Kevin calls.
Joe: {7c}{6h}
Kevin: {Jd}{5s}
Joe has flopped two pair, while Kevin has top pair and a runner-runner straight draw. The turn is {8h}, giving Joe the double-ended straight draw outs. Two jacks in the deck are also outs, as are three fives. The river bricks out with a {10d} and Joe now leads four to one.
Two hands later, Joe has a five to one chip lead, and they get it all in preflop. Joe has {9c}{9h} and Kevin has {3h}{3c}. The board runs out {Qc}{Kh}{9d}{5c}{6h} and the trip 9s on the flop seals Kevin’s fate in second place.
Event #3: $350 + $50 Saturday Series Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em
Level 35:
Blinds 200,000 / 400,000 / 40,000 Ante
Total Event 3 Entrants: 525
Event 3 Remaining Players: 2
Average Stack: 6,560,000
At the moment, Kevin still leads 7,100,000 to 6,025,000, though this is after just doubling up Joe on a flop of {2c}{3s}{6h}. An all in and call later, Kevin flops {7h}{3d} but Joe has the same piece at {8h}{3c} but a better kicker. The turn and river are {9h}{4s} and Joe doubled. Joe’s been as much as a 4:1 underdog and has successfully battled back. Will he do so again?
Event #3: $350 + $50 Saturday Series Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em
Level 34:
Blinds 150,000 / 300,000 / 40,000 Ante
Total Event 3 Entrants: 525
Event 3 Remaining Players: 2
Average Stack: 6,560,000
Kevin Wang is down to 5,850,000 to Joe Cashen’s 7,275,000 after a big pot swung Joe’s way. As the players battle back and forth after sunup, the blinds get larger and larger.
Event #3: $350 + $50 Saturday Series Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em
Level 33:
Blinds 120,000 / 240,000 / 30,000 Ante
Total Event 3 Entrants: 525
Event 3 Remaining Players: 2
Average Stack: 6,560,000
As we come back from break, still in Level 33, Kevin has 7,075,000 and Joe has the remaining 6,050,000.
Event #3: $350 + $50 Saturday Series Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em
Level 33:
Blinds 120,000 / 240,000 / 30,000 Ante
Total Event 3 Entrants: 525
Event 3 Remaining Players: 2
Average Stack: 6,560,000
Monsterpötten being the European term for “many chips in the center of the table,” it went down like this.
Kevin Wang raised to 500,000 preflop and Joe Cashen called. The flop came {7c}{Jc}{2c} and Joe checked. Kevin bet 600,000 and Joe called.
The turn came {4s} and Joe checked again. Kevin bet 600,000 and Joe called.
The river was {10d} and Joe checked a final time. Kevin went all in. “Good bet,” said Joe as he laid it down. The players are taking an impromptu 5-minute break.
Event #3: $350 + $50 Saturday Series Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em
Level 32:
Blinds 100,000 / 200,000 / 30,000 Ante
Total Event 3 Entrants: 525
Event 3 Remaining Players: 2
Average Stack: 6,560,000
Kevin Wang and Joe Cashen are heads up for the Event #3 title. Kevin has 6,600,000 and Joe has 6,530,000, so they’re almost dead even.
Event #3: $350 + $50 Saturday Series Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em
Level 32:
Blinds 100,000 / 200,000 / 30,000 Ante
Total Event 3 Entrants: 525
Event 3 Remaining Players: 3
Average Stack: 4,375,000
Richie Tennenbaum and Kevin Wang got it in heads up preflop, with Richie holding {Qh}{Kh} and Kevin {Ah}{Js}. The board went {2s}{4h}{As}{9h}{Qd} and a pair of aces was good enough to put Richie out in third.
Matthew Zimmerman (Out in 4th)
Event #3: $350 + $50 Saturday Series Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em
Level 32:
Blinds 100,000 / 200,000 / 30,000 Ante
Total Event 3 Entrants: 525
Event 3 Remaining Players: 3
Average Stack: 4,375,000
Matthew Zimmerman went all in and Kevin Wang snap-called, turning over {Ad}{10h}, in the lead versus Zimmerman’s {Ah}{9s}. The board ran out {Qs}{Ac}{6d}{Jd}{10c} and Matthew is out in fourth, and will have a great gift of nearly $13K for his wife’s birthday. And Kevin gets back many of the chips he lost to Richie Tennenbaum earlier.