Event 18 (Day 1B)
$3,300+$200 WPT Borgata WPO Championship
$3,000,000 Guaranteed
Structure Sheet
End of Level 8: Blinds 400/800/800 BB Ante
Flight A Entries: 424/219 Advance to Day 2
Flight B Entries: 780/~410 Advance to Day 2
Joey Couden
Day 1B of the BWPO WPT Championship has come to an end after 8 levels of play and it’s Joey Couden bagging the overall chip lead with 321,600.
Approximately 410 Day 1B survivors will be joining the 219 Day 1A survivors on Day 2.
The players will return on Tuesday January 28 at 12 P.M. to resume Day and tournament registration and re-entry remains open until the start of Level 11 (Approx. 2:15 PM).
Below is a look at some of the Day 1B big stacks and players that are advancing.
A full list of Day 2 chip counts and seating assignments will be posted as soon as they’re available.
Joey Couden- 321,600
Alex Aqel- 246,700
Ness Reilly- 194,200
Eric Siegel- 193,000
Bobby Oboodi- 144,200
Joe McKeehen- 126,800
Joey Galazzo- 126,000
Johnny Escobalez- 106,9000
Tim Reilly- 84,000
Andrew Lauer- 74,300
Mike Nye- 68,500
Darren Elias- 46,000
Alex Rocha- 43,600
$3,300+$200 WPT Borgata WPO Championship
$3,000,000 Guaranteed
Structure Sheet
Level 8: Blinds 400/800/800 BB Ante
Flight A Entries: 424/219 Advance to Day 2
Flight B Entries: 775
Joey Couden-255,000
Alex Aqel- 215,000
Andrew Kelsall- 165,000
Johnny Escobalez- 100,000
Joe McKeehen- 115,000
Ryan D’Angelo- 110,000
Christian Harder- 110,000
Greg Fishberg- 105,000
Chris Reslock- 90,000
Ryan Eriquezzo- 85,000
Tim Reilly- 70,000
Dan Buzgon- 60,000
Scott Blumstein- 55,000
Greg Himmelbrand- 50,000
Nick Palma- 45,000
$3,300+$200 WPT Borgata WPO Championship
$3,000,000 Guaranteed
Structure Sheet
Level 8: Blinds 400/800/800 BB Ante
Flight A Entries: 424/219 Advance to Day 2
Flight B Entries: 760
Joe McKeehen
As we made our way through the jam packed Event Center we spotted two WSOP Main Event winners in the field. Joe McKeehen and Scott Blumstein are seated just one table apart and both have lived the moment that every poker player dreams about.
Joe McKeehen won the $10,000 WSOP NLH Main Event in 2015 besting the stacked 6,420 entry field earning over $7,600,000 and his first WSOP bracelet. McKeehen has since added a second WSOP bracelet to his resume and he’s earned more than $15,700,000 throughout his career.
McKeehen is no stranger to success here at The Borgata where he holds three Borgata Poker titles dating back to 2014.
Scott Blumstein
Scott Blumstein’s WSOP NLH Main Event victory came in 2017. He bested the massive 7,221 entry field earning $8,150,000 and his first WSOP bracelet.
Blumstein may have honed his skills in large entry tournament fields here at Borgata as well. His previous largest career tournament score came in the 2016 Borgata Summer Open.
Blumstein was the last man standing in the 2,368 entry $560 BSPO $1,000,000 Deepstack Kick-Off NLH to take home $199,854 and the trophy.
$3,300+$200 WPT Borgata WPO Championship
$3,000,000 Guaranteed
Structure Sheet
Level 7: Blinds 300/600/600 BB Ante
Flight A Entries: 424/219 Advance to Day 2
Flight B Entries: 750
Ryan Eriquezzo
We are approaching the last level of the night here in our second BWPO WPT Championship flight. There are plenty of big stacks starting to emerge in the sea of players and Ryan Eriquezzo is one of them.
The WSOP bracelet winner just scooped another pot and he’s now up to just over 85,000.
$3,300+$200 WPT Borgata WPO Championship
$3,000,000 Guaranteed
Structure Sheet
Level 7: Blinds 300/600/600 BB Ante
Flight A Entries: 424/219 Advance to Day 2
Flight B Entries: 740
Matt Mendez
The players have just returned from break and we spotted a few BorgataPoker.com online qualifiers in the field. Soheb Porbandarwala is fresh off a win in the BWPO Saturday Series NLH event. He bested the 639 entry field winning over $52,000 and the trophy.
Soheb Porbandarwala
Anthony Maio
Anthony Maio’s Borgata Winter Poker Open also got off to a great start. Maio made a deep run in the massive 5,130 entry Event 1 finishing 36th for $7,255.
WSOP bracelet winner Matt Mendez also won his BWPO WPT Chamionship entry on BorgataPoker.com. Mendez wasted no time putting his starting stack to work and he has been in cruise control for much of the day.
He is now playing over 100,000 and will look to finish strong with less than two levels of play left in the night.
$3,300+$200 WPT Borgata WPO Championship
$3 Million Guaranteed
Structure Sheet
Level 7: Blinds 300/600/600 BB Ante
Flight A Entries: 424 / 219 Advance to Day 2
Flight B Entries: 735
We’re into the final two levels of today’s flight. Alex Aqel, in the lead all level 6, has fallen a little, to 215,000.
Jeremy Maher, left, on table 6 has a protection bet called on the turn, then shows it down for a small win.
Dan Walsh, who can move the chips around, is on 20 with the Dragon himself.
Paul Fisher puts in the raise versus Brett.
Now let’s see what Pizza is up to. At 300/500 an UTG open, Paul Fisher calls in EP, and a chain of flatters ensues, including Pizza Brett Butz in the small blind, liking those odds.
On 
, Pizza Brett leads 2200 into the 7700. The PFR folds, but Paul Fisher now raises to 5700. Folds back to Pizza, who spends some time in the oven, then gives it up.
Brett Butz. The sunglasses help keep him unnoticed by the field.
$3,300+$200 WPT Borgata WPO Championship
$3,000,000 Guaranteed
Structure Sheet
End of Level 6: Blinds 300/500/500 BB Ante
Flight A Entries: 424/219 Advance to Day 2
Flight B Entries: 723
Two WSOP bracelet winners Paul Volpe (left) and James Caldararo are sharing the felt.
The Day 1B BWPO WPT Championship NLH players are now on a 15 minute break and this is the last break of the night. There are now over 700 entries this flight brining the combined Championship total to over 1,100 entries and counting.
When the players return there will be just two more levels of play left in the night before the bagging process begins.
We will pick right back up on all of the live Day 1B tournament action when play resumes.
$3,300+$200 WPT Borgata WPO Championship
$3,000,000 Guaranteed
Structure Sheet
Level 6: Blinds 300/500/500 BB Ante
Flight A Entries: 424/219 Advance to Day 2
Flight B Entries: 709
TK Miles
TK Miles raised to 1,200 from middle position and the big blind called. They went heads up to the 
flop and both players checked.
The turn was the 
and again both players knuckled the felt. The 
hit the river and the big blind checked for a third time. Miles tossed out a bet of 5,000 and his opponent quickly folded.
TK Miles- 50,000
$3,300+$200 WPT Borgata WPO Championship
$3,000,000 Guaranteed
Structure Sheet
Level 5: Blinds 200/400/400 BB Ante
Flight A Entries: 424/219 Advance to Day 2
Flight B Entries: 699
Christian Harder
We caught up to the four handed action on the 
flop. Christian Harder checked and Maurice Hawkins moved all in for 6,000 with 10,500 already in the main pot.
The player in early position called and it folded back to Harder who check-raised all in for about 40,000. The player quickly folded and the cards were shown.
Christian Harder: 
Maurice Hawkins: 
The turn 
and river 
were no help to Hawkins and Harder’s pocket aces held up to earn him the knockout.
Christian Harder- 55,000
“Please don’t call” says Maurice Hawkins to no avail.
$3,300+$200 WPT Borgata WPO Championship
$3 Million Guaranteed
Structure Sheet
Level 6: Blinds 300/500/500 BB Ante
Flight A Entries: 424 / 219 Advance to Day 2
Flight B Entries: 689
Alex Aqel appears pleased so far.
Passantino has not disappeared, however, and chipped back to 175,000, still on table 62.