Event 23
$260 + $40 Entry Deepest Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$100,000 GTD
End of 15: 2000/4000/400
Entrants: 528
Remaining: 170
Average Chips: 124,235
We now take the dinner break and return at 8:30 PM.
Here’s your big stacks:
Cathy Dever has 387,000.
Seok Le has 475,000 and the likely lead.
Arslan Arslanoski has something over 400,000 in that mess!
Ryan Currier is just south of 380,000 – and regretting a recent call.
YT has been holding steady at 400,000 – here showing off top pair! Hurray.
[My final post for the BWPO2018, thanks and good luck, CM]
$260 + $40 Entry Deepest Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$100,000 GTD
Level 14: 1500/3,000/400
Entrants: 528
Remaining: 200
Average Chips: 105,600
Table nine, featuring east coast tournament legend Abraham Korotki and a lot of table talk, won’t leave you disappointed.
Korotki kicked off a series of troublesome pots by opening from late position and picking up Diego Villaruel in the big.
Abraham Korotki looking sharp. His flop raise ripples out aggressively toward Villaruel.
On 
, Diego, living dangerously, led straight into the preflop raiser. It’s an easy raise for the experienced Korotki, and he put it in without much delay.
Diego didn’t like it, huffing, “You have to have aces or kings!” He let it go.
Korotki gently mocked the read from Diego while he mucked his cards. “Everybody reads me… I’ll have to take lessons!”
“Will you pay?” The banter carried on into the next hand, where an opener folded tens face up to a three bet from Gordon Wasser.
They teased him about the big fold. “We all suck,” concluded the opener, a little depressed.
A plan comes together: Wasser getting raised by Diego, who looked interested from the moment the cards were dealt.
Next Wasser decided to open limp from the cutoff, an unusual play, and the button Diego, looking very interested, put in an isolation raise. It didn’t exactly work, however, as Spencer Mensh called from the big blind, and Wasser came along.
On 
, it was Mensh’s turn to lead into the preflop raiser. Wasser snap folded, and Diego simply stuck in this last 57,000 over the 11,000 lead.
Spencer, looking intense, deals with the shove by Diego, foreground. Melber, right, watches the situation curiously.
Another regretted donk bet, apparently, as Spencer took his time but mucked. Diego turned over 
for everyone to see – he had hit basically hit the nut board for his hand.
Diego could barely collect his pot before an outrageous hand went down, where, in another strange repetition, it ended up his turn to fold tens preflop, and 
versus 
versus went down.
Ridiculous action, ridiculous result: the dealer pushes up Melber’s rivered one-liner. He smiles under his hat, right center, while the player celebrating in center realizes he is getting the sidepot and still alive.
Diego was miserable at first, as the board started 
, as he had missed out on set over set for all the chips. However, the turn came the 
and the river the 
, giving Nicolas Melber with the sevens a straight and a needed triple. Nines did get a side pot.
Wasser has 130,000, Diego 80,000, Spencer, 60,000, Melber 65,000, the unlucky Kings still has 60,000, and Korotki is comfortable at 110,000. Somehow no one went bust and the table appears to be trading chips despite all the great action.
$260 + $40 Entry Deepest Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$100,000 GTD
Level 13: 1200/2400/300
Entrants: 528
Remaining: 230
Average Chips: 91,826
Katie fades her all in. Charles Blanford in the corner, grey t-shirt, has risen to 270,000.
Iocozzia and Zhou both get involved with a short stack’s shove…
…however, he flips up his hand with action pending, two kings! Zhou binks an ace on the turn, to send KK home and take another chunk from the now mid-stacked Jeremy.
Terry K. is still hanging on, here with another big stack, Johnny Downey, with 240,000.
Meanwhile, the paradoxically rambunctious yet conservative YT has changed his mind about getting a little help from savvy Wayne Harmon: they’ll be talking poker soon!
“I’m here to provide guidance and light,” Wayne explained humbly.
YT is still leading in chips, nearing 400,000.
$260 + $40 Entry Deepest Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$100,000 GTD
Level 11: 800/1600/200
Entrants: 528
On 19, Ting Zhou bombs river to get the big stack Iocozzia off a chop: great play.
YT is not likely to run out of chips (or words) soon: over 300,000.
YT has emerged as the table captain on action table one. First he took out early big stack and gutterball kingpin Bob Veranic, flush over flush. He apparently wounded Vanna Nuon as well, who is likely under average at the moment.
However, YT also revealed a conservative, more sensitive side to his game. Opening 
to a big 4500, he was flatted then squeezed to 16,000. Only YT made the call. After flopping fours full, he ended up putting his opponent on aces full on the 
runout, checking the river out of position after snap calling a turn raise.
YT declared a full house after his opponent pot controlled behind, mucking quickly. The table couldn’t believe he didn’t bet his hand, but YT explained his cautious streak.
“I folded queens to two shoves of ace king last night. It only cost me $600 and eight places!”
Meanwhile, nearby tournament badass Wayne “Money Not Fun” Harmon stood up to offer YT a hug and some poker advice.
Wayne, rejected: a hug and poker equity analysis offered to YT, but neither taken by the happy big stack.
Re-entry is done, time to make your stack work.
$260 + $40 Entry Deepest Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$100,000 GTD
Level 9: 500/1000/100
Entrants: 475
Jeremy Iocozzia has the lead with 270,000.
While Jeremy’s stacks was counted, Yanni tried to help out with the number. “He’s due to double someone up, that’s how much he has!”
Rags on 6 gets it in with KK against a very interested player with AA…
…”I’d wish you good luck but I don’t mean it,” said aces. King ball, right in the window!
“Moy is a bad boy,” complained Ron Alina, who just got cooled off by Stephen’s higher full house.
$260 + $40 Entry Deepest Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$100,000 GTD
Level 7: 300/600/75
Entrants: 419
Great action on one has left Bob Vernaric with a big stack and a player down.
In one hand, Ruslan limped from EP and was immediately raised very large by Aditya to 2500. It folded around, and the limper made the call.
Ruslan abut to mix it up with Aditya, right.
The extremely dry 
led to a natural cbet in position from Aditya, but Ruslan quickly called. With a bunch of suited and playable aces in Ruslan’s range, things were looking interesting for the aggressive Aditya.
The 
turn was pretty much a blank, but Aditya slowed down and let the action check through. Ruslan now fired 10,000 on the river and Aditya snap called.
Ruslan turned over 
while Aditya showed – a bitter loss of chips for a player who has earned action.
Burch, left, with Vernaric, center. Aditya projects strength, leaning back comfortably while Bob deals with the raise.
In the next hand, again, more limping from the early position players, but Yvonne Burch in the small blind now raised very tiny to 1400, inciting a cascade of calls and creating a huge pot.
She led out bravely but again a small ball 3000 into the field on 
, representing at least top pair and probably more. Vernaric called. One fold, Ruslan folds, and now Aditya sticks in the raise to 15,000, a very big bet at this stage.
Yvonne folds – later claiming , Vernaric calls, and Ruslan gives up .
Then it got weird. On the 
heads up, Vernaric led 5,000 into in the 40,000 pot. Aditya found an unsurprising shove for 24,000, and Bob went into the tank for a long time, counting his chips and talking to himself.
Flummoxed. Vernaric led tiny as a block, and doesn’t want to call it off.
Finally he called, and Aditya pumped his fist – he was value betting, turning over 
, while Vernaric had an ambitous 
which only the small flop bet by Burch ever allowed to see the light of the day.
However, even with the kings and nines nearly dead, the fell on the river and Aditya let out a squawk of disappointment. Bob had gotten there with a straight, and was now big stack at the table.
Bamboozled by the river, Aditya, right, studies the board in disbelief. Out!
He didn’t quit. In the next hand, he led out on a raised flop of 
, only to be raised by Vanna Nuon.
Bob calls, but once again leads turn on the 
! Another lead, but only a call from Nuon.
On the 
, Vernaric led 10,000. Vanna muttered “sick” to himself, and eventually released.
Unamused: Nuon figures out the meaning of the change of lead on the turn.
Bob is over 100,000 and beating a simultaneously tough and action table.
We head to break in a few minutes. returning after 3:17 PM.
$260 + $40 Entry Deepest Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$100,000 GTD
Level 5: 150/200/25
With our first break over, we will start to see some meaningful action, and a table for that is clearly number 1.
Ruslan, Aditya, Patel and Vanna all together, all with great runs in the BWPO and different styles of play. What has Brian Powers, right, got himself into?
Then, YT sits in as well, after a great run in 22 and four straight cashes in the BWPO.
“The winning entry:” YT does not lack confidence!
YT did not waste time, getting involved with 
, raising not one but two players on the turn of 
with a spade draw, then shoving river when a deuce peeled off on the river for a sick bluff/merge against spades or a jack. Let the games begin!
$260 + $40 Entry Deepest Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$100,000 GTD
Level 3: 100/200
Words of Wisdom with Bobby Cheung: “PROFESSIONAL BET – you bet more, I raise more!”
Frank Reina, opening a little light here, with Ricardo Amidani, who mixed it up well in the Championship.
Reina just pulled a big pot. Following an open, Reina saw a three bet to 650 and a cold call before looking down at 
.
Frank Reina went for the 4 bet to 3650. The original raiser folded, but the three bettor now made it 1250. Reina, knowing his man, decided it was kings plus, and smooth called, looking to hit or fold.
On the happy 
board, Frank check raised all in over a large, committing cbet of 20,000 and was snapped off by .
A queen on the turn gave Reina quads, left the kings drawing dead, and Frank has almost double starting stack now.
He’s taking the moment to give a shout out to his brother Randy and all firefighters.
John Yanni is in the mix. He recently encountered one of the most rude players ever in the ring games – and was able to slowroll him with the nuts: Satisfaction!
Meanwhile, check out the details on last year’s Event 23 and the heads-up play here.
$260 + $40 Entry Deepest Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$100,000 GTD
Level 1: 50/100
Our wrap up Deepest Stack has arrived. Rub the remnants of your BWPO bankroll together and brawl with 40,000 in starting chips!
Meanwhile, good luck to dedicated Borgata tournament survivor Michael Marder – he’s in the WPT Championship Final Table!