2018
$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.
$3,300+$200 WPT Borgata WPO Championship
$3 Million Guaranteed
Level 33: 100,000/200,000/25,000
Total Entries: 1,244
Players Remaining: 3
Average Stack: 12,440,000
Live Stream
Zach Gruneberg
Zach Gruneberg slipped against Eric Afriat earlier in Level 33 but got some back to regain the chip lead.
Afriat opened the button to 400,000 and Gruneberg called out of the small blind as did Zaki in the big blind. The 
flop checked to Afriat and he bet 375,000. Only Gruneberg stuck around to the turn. He checked again and Afriat bet 600,000 more.
Gruneberg called and the 
river was checked down. Gruneberg showed 
for a rivered flush and Afriat waited a moment before showing 
. Afriat is below 6,000,000 with the blinds up. Full counts are below.
- Eric Afriat – 5,900,000
- Zach Gruneberg – 17,200,000
- Justin Zaki – 14,125,000
$3,300+$200 WPT Borgata WPO Championship
$3 Million Guaranteed
Level 33: Blinds 100,000/200,000/25,000 ante
Total Entries: 1,244
Players Remaining: 3
Average Stack: 12,440,000
Link to Live Stream.
Justin Zaki
In a battle of the blinds, Justin Zaki (sb) and Eric Afriat (bb) swapped spots on the leaderboard. Both limped to the flop of 
and Justin checked, Eric bet 250,000, and Justin popped it to 750,000. Eric called.
Turn was the 
, Justin bet 850,000 and Eric called. River was the and Justin needed a Time extension before deciding to bet 2,250,000. Eric called, showing 
for a pair of Kings, but Justin tabled 
for the straight to take the pot.
Eric’s stack dropped to about 8.5 million and Justin chipped up to about 12.5 million, moving into 2nd place behind chip leader Zach Gruneberg, who’s got about 16 million.
$3,300+$200 WPT Borgata WPO Championship
$3 Million Guaranteed
Level 33: 100,000/200,000/25,000
Total Entries: 1,244
Players Remaining: 3
Average Stack: 12,440,000
Live Stream
Eric Afriat
Eric Afriat started the WPO Championship final table as the short stack and is now right next to Zach Gruneberg for the chip lead.
Afriat raised to 400,000 out of the small blind and Gruneberg called the big blind. Afriat bet 250,000 on the 
flop and Gruneberg called to the 
turn. They both checked and the 
river featured a bet of 1,000,000 from Afriat.
Gruneberg called and Afriat showed 
for a full house. Gruneberg mucked. Both Afriat and Gruneberg are over 15,000,000 with Justin Zaki at half of their respective totals. Updated counts are below.
- Eric Afriat – 15,200,000
- Zach Gruneberg – 15,300,000
- Justin Zaki – 7,100,000
$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.
$3,300+$200 WPT Borgata WPO Championship
$3 Million Guaranteed
Level 33: Blinds 100,000/200,000/25,000 ante
Total Entries: 1,244
Players Remaining: 3
Average Stack: 12,440,000
Link to Live Stream.
Zach Gruneberg
Zach Gruneberg (button) opened for 450,000, then Justin Zaki (sb) 3-bet to 1.4 million. Zach called and the flop fell 
. Justin checked and Zach did as well.
The turn brought the and Justin checked again. Zach launched a 1.25 million salvo into the pot and Justin folded.
Zach added almost 1.7 million to his stack on that hand.
$3,300+$200 WPT Borgata WPO Championship
$3 Million Guaranteed
Level 33: 100,000/200,000/25,000
Total Entries: 1,244
Players Remaining: 3
Average Stack: 12,440,000
Live Stream
Joe McKeehen
Joe McKeehen climbed close to Zach Gruneberg earlier at the final table but lost a few small pots at the end of Level 22. At the start of Level 23, McKeehen lost back-t0-back hands to go out in fourth place.
Eric Afriat raised to 425,000 under the gun and Gruneberg called on the button. McKeehen three-bet to 1,500,000 out of the small blind and Afriat pushed back for 2,675,000. Gruneberg folded and McKeehen called.
McKeehen checked the 
flop and Afriat bet small for 950,000 into a pot of over 6,000,000. McKeehen folded and was down to about 4,000,000.
The next hand, Gruneberg opened to 450,000 under the gun and McKeehen pushed all-in for his remaining stack. Gruneberg called with 
and led the of McKeehen. The 
board was no help to McKeehen and he exits in fourth place. McKeehen finished in fourth place in his last WPO Championship final table in 2016.
Gruneberg is up to 20,000,000.
$3,300+$200 WPT Borgata WPO Championship
$3 Million Guaranteed
Level 32: Blinds 75,000/150,000/25,000 ante
Total Entries: 1,244
Players Remaining: 4
Average Stack: 9,330,000
Link to Live Stream
Michael Marder
Zach Gruneberg (cutoff) and Michael Marder (bb) got involved in a hand that resulted in Michael’s elimination.
Zach opened for 350,000 and Michael called. The flop came 
and Michael checked it over to Zach, who fired 300,000. Michael called. Both checked the 
on the turn and the 
hit the river.
Michael led out for 425,000 and Zach announced: “all in”. He had Michael well covered and Michael took a moment before calling all-in.
Michael’s gave him the second nut-flush, but Zach tabled 
for the straight flush and the stone-cold nuts to take the pot. He added Michael’s last remaining chips to his big stack and is back up to 14.6 million.
Michael busted out in 5th place, earning $181,329.
We caught up with him at the end of Day 4 to discuss his chances coming into the final table.
$3,300+$200 WPT Borgata WPO Championship
$3 Million Guaranteed
Level 32: 75,000/150,000/25,000
Total Entries: 1,244
Players Remaining: 5
Average Stack: 7,465,000
Live Stream
Joe McKeehen
Joe McKeehen and Zach Gruneberg are closer than they have been during the whole final table at the start of Level 32. McKeehen picked up almost 2,000,000 chips from Gruneberg to put himself near the start of final table chip leader.
Gruneberg opened under the gun to 375,000 and McKeehen called in the cutoff. Gruneberg bet 350,000 on the 
flop and McKeehen went to the turn. They both checked and the completed the board.
After Gruneberg checked, McKeehen bet 1,250,000. Gruneberg called and McKeehen’s 
was enough to take the pot. McKeehen is playing 10,400,000 and Gruneberg is hovering ahead of him with 12,350,000.
$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.