Event 1
$540+$60 Deep Stack NLH
$2 Million Guaranteed
Level 8: Blinds 300/600/75 ante
Entries: 303
Kathy Liebert has busted out, but that’s OK. She said earlier that she had “$600 in her pocket” so she was prepared to fire another bullet. Not sure if she’s going to re-enter this flight (registration remains open until the start of level 13, about 5:45pm) or start fresh in Flight B, which begins at 5pm. Of course there are still four flights over the next two days, so she’s got a plethora of choices.
Mike McGuinness
Mike McGuiness has been moved into her vacant seat, which may have some lingering bad mojo. He was just holding pocket Queens when a mis-deal occurred. Mike holds the record for most reported wins at Borgata (six) with none of them coming during a major Open series. He’s got four DeepStacks Challenge wins, a Mini Series win, and his most recent, a win in the December 2016 Bar Poker Open.
Jesse Cohen has busted out and Dan Wach is back on Table 2, this time in the 10 seat which used to be Jesse’s.
Dan Wach
Dan Wach is probably still feeling the burn from the 2017 Fall Poker Open Championship back in November. On Thanksgiving Eve, he was playing the six-handed Live Streamed Final Table. His AQ failed to improve against Mark Kaganovsky’s pocket 9s and he was felted in 6th place ($54,484). Nevertheless, that score pushed his career earnings over $800,000.
$540+$60 Deep Stack NLH
$2 Million Guaranteed
Level 7: Blinds 250/500/50 ante
Entries: 289
The action continues on Table 2, where Dan Wach sat briefly, but now has been replaced by Scott Blackman.
Jesse Cohen
Jesse Cohen opened the action for 1,000 from early position, got a call from the player in seat 2, then Amir Tamuz moved in for 6,275. The short-stacked Kathy Liebert got out of the pot, then Wooyang Lin, (button) seated to her left, shoved for about 25,000 total.
The player in seat 8 (sb) thought about it, then folded, later saying he threw away pocket Queens. Blackman folded his big blind and Jesse committed the last of his chips (12,275 total). Seat 2 got out of the way and the hands were tabled:
Jesse: 
Amir: 
Wooyang: 
Board: 
Amir Tamuz
The flop was good for Jesse, who retained the lead, but it gave Amir a pair of Jacks and also gave Lin a gutshot. The Ace on the turn gave Amir the lead with Aces-up and the brick on the river earned him more than a triple-up to ~21,000.
Jesse’s Queens took the side pot and he was left with 12,000. Lin’s stack was cut down to about 13,000.
Wooyang Lin
$540+$60 Deep Stack NLH
$2 Million Guaranteed
Level 7: Blinds 250/500/50 ante
Entries: 277
Carlos Charon enjoying the seat vacated by Joseph Mosca
After a player opened for 1,500, Kathy Liebert tossed in a yellow (1k) chip and blue (5k) chip, intending to call, but mistaking the 5,000 chip for a 500 chip. The unintentional raise to 6,000 had to stand, however. Carlos Charon shipped it all, about 24,000, from the big blind and the opener opted out.
Kathy decided she was committed, so she called, having Carlos covered by a smidge. Her pocket 3s were in bad shape against his pocket Aces. The flop fell 
and Kathy picked up a flush draw with her 
, but the last two fell offsuit 
and she had to ship most of her stack to Carlos. He’s up to about 50,000.
$540+$60 Deep Stack NLH
$2 Million Guaranteed
Level 6: Blinds 200/400/50 ante
Entries: 269
Vinny Pahuja
He’s bundled up against the cold (it is only 40 degrees outside) but we still spotted BorgataPoker.com Ambassador Vinny Pahuja in the field. Vinny’s amassed more than $2.5 million in live earnings, including his best live cash of $289,800, which was won here at Borgata when he finished 2nd in the 2008 Summer Poker Open Championship. He’s got two Borgata trophies at home, from the 2012 Spring Open SixMax and the 2012 BPO Mixed Max NLH events.
BorgataPoker.com’s $5 Qualifiers and $45 Satellites into this event are still running. Click here for the details. The online satellite program has already awarded seats to 40 players! For more information on all the promotions on BorgataPoker.com, go to https://poker.theborgata.com/.
$540+$60 Deep Stack NLH
$2 Million Guaranteed
Level 5: Blinds 150/300/25 ante
Entries: 249
Kathy Liebert
The first woman to win $1 million playing tournament poker has arrived and is in action early today. Kathy Liebert won an even $1,000,000 in the 2002 Party Poker Million Cruise $8,000 Limit Hold’em Championship. She also has a WSOP bracelet from 2004, won playing Limit poker, and has finished 17th in the WSOP Main Event twice. This year she made it deep in the Main Event again, busting out on Day 5 in 251st place for just over $40,000.
She’s one of only a handful of women to finish 2nd in a World Poker Tour Championship open event (no woman has ever won an open WPT event). Her runner-up finish was good for $550,000 in the 2009 WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star Championship. She’s appeared on six televised WPT final tables. One of those was right here at Borgata, where she finished 3rd in the 2005 WPT Borgata Poker Open Championship for more than $427,000.
Over her career, she’s earned more than $6.2 million playing tournament poker and is ranked 81st on the US All Time Money List.
$540+$60 Deep Stack NLH
$2 Million Guaranteed
End of Level 4: Blinds 100/200/25 ante
Entries: 235
Four levels down and it’s time for the first break of the day! Players have 15 minutes away from the action to take care of other business.
Luckily it’s only a few steps to the MarketPlace Eatery Food Court, which is immediately adjacent to the tournament floor. They’ve got both hot and cold foods, snacks and beverages, ready to go. You can get pizza, chili, salads, baked goods, and even fresh fruit. Cash, credit cards, comp dollars, and even din-cash food vouchers accepted!
$540+$60 Deep Stack NLH
$2 Million Guaranteed
Level 4: Blinds 100/200/25 ante
Entries: 215
Adam Gerber
It has been a decade since Adam Gerber finished 2nd in the 2007 Borgata Poker Open $5,000 NLH event, collecting more than $248,000. A few weeks later, he won the US Poker Championships Main Event for another $606,000.
After winning $854,595 in less than a month, it took a couple of years for Adam to push his winnings into seven-figure territory. He did that with four five-figure cashes, then an 11th place finish in the 2009 Borgata Poker Open $300 NLH, which pushed his earnings over $1 Million.
Adam stays busy running the family business and taking care of his family, but when the big events come to town, this amateur player makes it a point to get in the action. We usually only see him in the Championship events, but this $2 Million Guaranteed kickoff event was too juicy to miss.
$540+$60 Deep Stack NLH
$2 Million Guaranteed
Level 3: Blinds 100/200
Entries: 195
It was a tough showdown on unlucky table 13 for the player in the cutoff, to the right of Kathy Long (button). His had been counterfeited by the board, which read 
, giving both players the Ace-to-five straight flush, also known as a “Steel Wheel”.
All the chips went in on the river and he said “I thought we were chopping”, but then saw the bad news: Kathy had 
for the six-high straight flush to scoop the pot. She chipped up to about 45,000 while her opponent reported to the rail.
Kathy Long
$540+$60 Deep Stack NLH
$2 Million Guaranteed
Level 2: Blinds 75/150
Entries: 155
It only took about three minutes from the start of play for the first victim to hit the rail. He was not a happy camper, so we didn’t get the details of his demise. Not sure if he picked up a Re-Entry ticket on his way out.
Meanwhile, there are still players arriving and taking their seats for the first time today. Among the early arrivals, we spotted some familiar faces.
Stephen Scales
Stephen Scales opened his poker resume with a win right here six years ago. During the 2012 Winter Poker Open, he won the $350 Big Stack NLH event for $32,913. That remains his “best live cash” on record. He took home a WSOP Circuit ring later that same year, but has not returned to the winner’s circle since. A near-miss during the 2013 Spring Poker Open earned him 2nd place in the $600 DeepStack NLH and more than $24,000. He’s accumulated more than $214,000 in reported earnings, but is still on the hunt for another trophy for his case.
Joseph Mosca
Joseph ‘mumbles’ Mosca was another 2012 Winter Poker Open winner. He claimed 1st place in the $270 Big Stack NLH event and more than $51,000, which remains his best live cash. He’s looking for a return to the winners circle, which has been denied him over the last six years.
$540+$60 Deep Stack NLH
$2 Million Guaranteed
Level 1: Blinds 50/100
Borgata Tournament Director Tab Duchateau has completed the opening comments and issued the order to “Shuffle Up and Deal!” Cards are in the air here in the Borgata Event Center, officially starting the 2018 Winter Poker Open!
Late registration and re-entry are available until the start of level 13 (about 5:45pm). Late arrivals and re-entering players will start with a full 25,000 stack.
Players who bust out of this flight can re-enter this or any subsequent flight until registration closes (Unlimited Re-Entries). Players who don’t bust out and bag chips in any flight can also re-enter any subsequent flight (Best Stack Forward). Any player who manages to bag chips in more than one flight will only take their largest stack into Day 2.
Players wishing to re-enter should get a “Re-Entry” ticket from their dealer, which allows them to use the separate “Re-Entry Only” line at registration.