Event 1 (Day 1C)
$540+$60 Deep Stack NLH
$2 Million Guaranteed
End of Level 17 : Blinds 2500/5000/500 ante
Entries: 541
Players remaining: 78
Average stack: 173,435
Dan Wach, big stacked toward the end, snuck up from behind Diolosa and Borovetz to finish first in our flight.
Dan Wach tops 1C with 470,000.
It came close to not happening. In one of the final hands, Dan opened 
, and David Somers reraised him from the blinds. Wach looked at this cards and before mucking said, “the old Dan would have ripped this in!”
Somers flashed him the aces, naturally a tad disappointed. (Bagging 198,000 isn’t bad, though!) Further, one player tilted David a little by claiming to have folded ace-jack from late position with a short stack.
Jason Deutsch chipped up efficiently after busting Vinnie, and has 439,500.
At the top all flight long, John Diolosa has 463,500, just below Wach’s total.
Michael Borovetz had a great flight from beginning to end. 436,000.
More notable stacks:
Larry Jaffee – 427,500
Bernard Liberati – 444,000
Tong Zhang survived an all in at the end, felting two players with the Aces.
Unfortunately, Barry Sable didn’t get to take this impressive column of chips to a bag, busting out with an ace against AK and Q10 with about ten minutes to go.
Day 2 begins Friday, January 19 in the Event Center at 12 PM.
Meanwhile, 1D ticks on, with registration still open.
Good luck!
$540+$60 Deep Stack NLH
$2 Million Guaranteed
Level 16: Blinds 2000/4000/400 ante
Entries: 541
Players remaining: 112
Average stack: 120,759
It’s good to be king: John Diolosa has 450,000.
Mr. Jaffee, build up that wall: Larry has 425,000.
Early leader Borovetz is still strong, too, with near 400,000.
We head to the final break and final level of our flight.
$540+$60 Deep Stack NLH
$2 Million Guaranteed
Level 16: Blinds 2000/4000/400 ante
Entries: 541
Players remaining: 150
Average stack: 90,167
Aces had indeed been kind to John Lytle earlier, but the deck did him no favors in level 15.
On 
, his opponent Robert Billy ripped in his final 47,500, putting Lytle in a tough spot for more than half his stack.
Robert Billy covers ups his neck and chest while he waits for Lytle’s decision.
“Do you even have a pair?” Lytle inquired – he simply wasn’t convinced.
Lytle, left, then makes the tough call.
Unlike many, Lytle went with his read, making the call with his underpair 
. Billy turned over 
for a strong play with equity.
No good deed goes unpunished. The turn left Lytle with five percent of the pot, pairing Billy’s ace. A meaningless king fell on the river, only heading emphasis to Billy’s win.
“What you don’t understand,” seat one explained, “is that this man used to jump out of airplanes for a living. This is nothing.”
Lytle was nonplussed, though. “I climb one hundred and fifty foot trees.”
Now crippled, Lytle soon shipped in his final stack with 
, which turned out to be not so bad, being up against two opponents with ace king.
The three way shove – Lytle, upper right, looks grim.
However, another turned ace left Lytle drawing only to four outs, and no river magic saved him.
$540+$60 Deep Stack NLH
$2 Million Guaranteed
Level 14: Blinds 1200/2400/300 ante
Entries: 541
Players remaining: 160
Average stack: 84,531
On a table stocked with tournament talent, David Mock adjusted by getting tricky.
While Vinnie Pahuja was lamenting his decisions in the last hand – “I’d like to have that one back” – the pot was opened from early to 4700 at 1000/2000. Mock flatted from middle position, and Pahuja tossed in the call as well. From the big, TJ Shulman liked the price, saying “yum yum” and completing the action.
Shulman studies the board and the interesting bets from Mock.
Shulman naturally checked to the opener on 
, but he declined the continuation bet.
Then things go interesting. Mock took up the lead with a very small bet, just 5100 into the near 20,000 pot. Pahuja folded, and the action fell to Schulman, who did find a check call before the preflop raiser surrendered.
Mock is now in good shape. That’s Pahuja on his left, soon to decide his tournament fate.
On the blank 
, Mock continued for an increased proportion of the pot but still on the small side, 17,500.
Shulman looked regrettful however, and with his head down, pushed the cards forward with a series of finger flicks.
While the dealer pushed the very healthy pot to Mock, he flipped up a perhaps surprising hand – : top set.
Shulman groaned. “Bring the six of clubs!” indicating he was flushing.
“Or the four of clubs,” Pahuja joked.
However, Pahuja’s amusement would soon be over. After a shortstack shove from seat one went unchallenged, his tournament life was soon on the line.
Not quickly, though. After opening to 5,000, Jason Deutsch in the small blind ducked his head and looked serious – a three bet was incoming.
17,500 was the raise, the big got out of the way, and now Vinnie went into the tank for a very long time. It was unlikely, it seemed, that Jason could be too light with so much of Pahuja’s stack already in.
Ultimately, the Borgatapoker.com ambassador decided to go with it. He stuck in a committing raise, and Jason looked resigned to running the board, pushing all in.
Of course, it was a flip that Pahuja was in, holding 
, against the great tournament hand, ace king offsuit- he’s been hoping to see that, or maybe even a smaller, optimistic pair. The board ran out broadway for Jason, and Vinnie’s flight was over.
Victorious, Deutsch gets the chip count while Shulman contemplates the board- he covers.
Jason has 200,000 now, and Mock twice the average with 140,000.
$540+$60 Deep Stack NLH
$2 Million Guaranteed
Level 13: Blinds 1,000/2,000/300 ante
Entries: 542
Registration has closed for Flight C with an unofficial entry count of 542. With the 566 entrants in Flights A & B yesterday, that brings the overall total to 1,108.
As of the break, Michael Borovetz and John Diolosa are in a dead-heat with ~260,000 each.
-
- Michael Borovetz
-
- John Diolosa
$540+$60 Deep Stack NLH
$2 Million Guaranteed
End of Level 12: Blinds 800/1,600/200 ante
Entries: 542
Just before the end of level 12, John Lytle got all-in and had his opponent crushed, with top set over bottom set.
John Lytle
The final board read A J 7 9 3 and John’s pocket Aces were good against seat 1’s pocket 7s, although both had flopped a set. Seat 1 was felted and John chipped up to about 120,000.
Not a bad way to wrap up the registration phase of this flight. When play resumes, registration closes.
John won the 2017 Fall Poker Open Kickoff event, along with $114,833 (adjusted payout). That was his second Borgata trophy. He took home his first in 2016 when he won the Spring Poker Open SixMax event ($40,810).
$540+$60 Deep Stack NLH
$2 Million Guaranteed
Level 12: Blinds 800/1600/200 ante
Entries: 542
In addition to Borovetz, the other mid flight chip leaders are surfacing.
Pierre Deissler is a little behind the chip leaders.
On table 2, Pierre Deissler has 200,000. He just picked up a small pot from a strong opponent, Peter Mimmo, a Deepstack Challenge winner. Opening to 3,000 at 600/1200, only Mimmo in the field called. The action checked down on 
, with Deissler’s jacks not finding a value bet against Peter’s 
.
Peter Mimmo’s stack is sturdy at over 80,000.
Next it was Mimmo’s turn to open, and he chose a slightly larger sizing, going with 3,500. A very short stack with less than 13,000 shoved over the bet, and the action folded back to the opener. Despite the decent price, Mimmo hesitated – he had clearly started a little lighter than he represented.
Mimmo, scarfed on the left, faces the shove.
“A very loose call,” Mimmo declared, pushing in a chip and turning over 
, which turned out to be in great shape against two sevens. The board ran out 
, sending the shortie to the registration desk or beyond.
“Well, you got there,” he tersely complained.
A few tables away, another big stack is emerging as well.
John Diolosa has 250,000 and is near Borovetz.
Seat nine advised John that it will be all coming his way, however!
On 13, not big stacked but always capable of turning nothing into something and the reverse, Mike McGuinness is becoming healthy and dangerous as well.
McGuinness about to defend the big with over 130,000 behind.
We now take a short break, and registration for this flight will close at the beginning of the next level.
$540+$60 Deep Stack NLH
$2 Million Guaranteed
Level 12: Blinds 800/1,600/200 ante
Entries: 540
One of the major improvements of the 2018 Winter Poker Open is the “Big Clock”. The tournament clock is being projected on the side wall of the Event Center so it can be seen by all players in the event. The new clock is a big hit with the players.
I like the use of the wall space @BorgataPoker #BWPO2018 @TabDuchateau @BorgataAC pic.twitter.com/g6cY3GpGD0
— Katie Stone (@KatieStonePoker) January 17, 2018
Of course the small clocks will still be used when multiple events are running at the same time.
With 540 entries, Flight C has nearly doubled yesterday’s entry count. Registration remains open through this level and the break.
$540+$60 Deep Stack NLH
$2 Million Guaranteed
Level 11: Blinds 800/1600/200 ante
Entries: 531
On soon to break table 28, Max Goldfarb found the action folded around to his small blind. He jokingly asked for a chop, but the mild jest went unnoticed – the big blind Jordan Meadow was in another time zone. The dealer brought him back to our event and small hand gave Meadow fairly good value in the form of a flop bet for what turned out to be ace high on 
.
Meadow woke up with a little something and made it work.
The completion cost Goldfarb one street of action, and the careful play continued for the next few hands.
Max Goldfarb is ahead of the average stack.
In the next hand, Brett Brocaleri limped after Joe Shady in middle position. “This is going to be a big pot,” he promised.
Brocaleri gets involved with a very speculative hand.
On a king high board with straight draws available, he called in position a lead from Shady. When the turn brought a blank, Brett faced a decision: protect a marginal hand or see the river. He decided to check and Shady now bet out on a nine.
It wasn’t going to be a big pot, but this limp and turn check cost Brett. He briefly tanked, then suspicious of the bet/check/bet line, paid off a rivered set that might have folded the underpair earlier.
“Should have bet the turn!” Brett lamented.
6000 to go: A set of nines for Fritz got paid and pushed him past the even mark of 53,000.
Then, a more unusual open limp: this time Goldfarb from the cutoff who stuck out ten ante chips. However, Meadow on the button now raised to 3,000, picking up Martin Fritz in the small. The BB folded, and Goldfarb came along.
The monotone 
offered no natural two pairs but would be hard to fight on without a spade. Almost predictably, the action checked around.
The appeared, now bringing in any random flush cards. Fritz, who may have been looking to check raise, simply led out, and both players folded.
Cautious play from all the these average stacks, trying to make into post registration period without rebuying.
$540+$60 Deep Stack NLH
$2 Million Guaranteed
Level 11: Blinds 600/1,200/200 ante
Entries: 530
Will Failla
Will ‘the Thrill’ Failla has arrived and taken his seat, late in the registration period of Flight C. He passed on the PCA this year, for the first time in 11 years, so didn’t have to travel back from the Bahamas (some players have been stuck and/or re-routed due to the snow in Atlanta affecting their connecting flights).
With more than $5.4 million in career earnings, he can afford to take the time off! With seven Borgata titles to his credit, he trails only Abraham Korotki, who has eight, for the most Borgata wins.