Event 2 (Day 2)
Level 20 (5,000/10,000/500)
Total Entries: 513
Players Remaining: 33
Chip Average: 388,600
Tim Kelliher (Somerset, MA)
Yesterday we had blogged about Tim Kelliher gaining ground here in Event 2, and not much has changed since. Kelliher currently sits with one of the biggest stacks in the room and is showing no signs of slowing down.
As we walked by table 4 we noticed a big pot brewing between the table chip leader and Kelliher. The board read {Qh}{10c}{Jc}{3c} and Kelliher had a bet of 50,000 carved out in front of him. The big stack made the call and we were heads up to the river.
The dealer completed the board with the {3d} and Kelliher slid forward a tower of chips totaling 150,000. After a few moments his opponent called and Kelliher rolled over {10s}{10d} for tens full. His opponent knuckled the table and complimented him on the hand as he slid his cards into the muck.
With this pot Kelliher has now cracked the 800,000 chip mark as he currently sits with 860,000, making a run at being our first player to crack the 1,000,000 chip mark.
Level 20 (5,000/10,000/500)
Total Entries: 513
Players Remaining: 47
Chip Average: 310,000
Chris Baublitz (York, PA)
As the Event 2 field starts to dwindle down, we are recognizing a few familiar faces that are still battling it out. One of those faces belongs to the very boisterous Chris Baublitz.
Baublitz has been cracking jokes with us since he told us his life story, which happened to be an identical story to another poker player, Phil Ivey.
“You know I used to come down here a lot, but I was always short on money. I’d lose what I had and end up sleeping in hotels or under the boardwalk.” He said trying to hold back a smile.
“I’m the white Phil Ivey!”
Baublitz may not have quite the same success as Ivey yet, but he is off to a good start here on Day 2 of Event 2. Baublitz came into the day in the middle of the pack with 214,000, but has been chipping up nicely as he now sits with a little over 300,000 with just 47 players remaining.
Level 18 (3,000/6,000/500)
Total Entries: 513
Players Remaining: 54
Chip Average: 250,000
Dionissios Panagopoulos is leading the field as Event 2 is now in the money early in Day 2.
Mid-way through Level 18, we are officially in the money here in the Event 2 $100 Black Chip Bounty.
Players have all now locked up at least a $697 score, but many, including current chip leader Dionissios Panagopoulos, will have their sights set on the Final Table and the top payouts that come with it.
Panagopoulos, who is from Clinton, CT and usually plays at his home casino of Foxwoods, is making his first Borgata score here in Event 2, and will make his fifth career Final Table, as he has reached four over the last two years, all at Foxwoods.
Other notable players still in the field are Alyson Parker, Howard Wolper, Stuart Gold and Chris Kusha.
Level 34 (Blinds 150,000/300,000/40,000)
Total Entries: 4,179
Players Remaining: 10
Chip Average: 8,850,000
Edgar Flores, David Fried, Kenny Levine, Ryan Jones and Mikhail Volfson round out the $2,000,000 GTD Event 1 Final Table.
We just previewed the first half of our $2,000,000 GTD “live streaming” Final Table and there are five more players that need to be introduced before they take their seat that the biggest tournament table of their lives.
Again, these players don’t have the “biggest” tournament resumes, but none of that matters anymore as they have all outlasted over 4,000 players to get to this point and are now competing for the largest tournament scores of their career.
Here is the second half of the Event 1 Final Table:
Edgar Flores (Brooklyn, NY) – 3,230,000 (11 BB)
- The 25 year old Flores is making his first “real” tournament appearance, as he’s never played in a “major” event before this series. He comes in as the short stack, but he’s been in this position before as he came into Day 2 as one of the shorter stacks in the room with under 9 big blinds.
- He can be found on twitter @edgarfloresFTW and his interests outside poker include another card game “Magic The Gatehering” and women. This lady’s man will be making his biggest poker score here regardless of his Final Table finish.
David Fried (Marlboro, NY) – 5,980,000 (20 BB)
- The self employed Fried is also looking to make the biggest score of his career, but he’s been to a Borgata Final Table before, a feat he accomplished during the 2012 Fall Poker Open.
- Away from poker, Fried enjoys hiking and traveling.
Kenny Levine (East Brunswick, NJ) – 7,360,000 (24 BB)
- Deja vu, as we have another player looking to make the biggest score of his career, as Levine has been playing poker for close to 20 years, but has yet to have a “breakthrough” result.
- That will certainly come today regardless of how he finishes, as the owner and operator of a gold trading business will come to this Final Table with an average stack.
- Levine can be found on twitter @chillindaily and is a huge hockey fan.
Ryan Jones (Burlington, NC) – 18,215,000 (60 BB)
- Jones comes in not only as the Final Table chip leader, but also the only player with over $100,000 in live tournament earnings to his name. His biggest scores came in the summer of 2013, where he won a Wynn Summer Classic event in Las Vegas for $35,000 and then cashed in the WSOP Main Event for just over $40,000.
- The avid sports enthusiast can be found on twitter @grindonmind and will look to earn his second major poker title here today.
Mikhail Volfson (Brooklyn, NY) – 3,065,000 (10 BB)
- Volfson, the CEO of his own “All Pro Billing” company, comes into this Final Table with the shortest stack, nursing just over 10 big blinds.
- He’s had a few Borgata scores over the last six months, Final Tabling the PocketFives Open Main Event this past summer and then cashing in the $2,000,000 GTD Event 1 during the WPT BPO in September.
- Outside of poker, he enjoys an active lifestyle, regularly playing basketball, volleyball, soccer and fishing.
Level 18 (3,000/6,000/500)
Total Entries: 513
Players Remaining: 59
Chip Average: 217,000
We are minutes away from the Day 2 restart of the $100 Black Chip Bounty Event and just a few eliminations away from the money.
We imagine that the money bubble will burst within the first level or so, with live updates coming up and through that moment.
This event generated a prize pool of close to $180,000 and 54 players will be getting paid.
A full payout structure is listed below:
- $43,359
- $24,382
- $15,675
- $12,453
- $9,753
- $8,012
- $6,357
- $4,964
- $3,483
10-12. $2,264
13-15. $1,742
16-18. $1,306
19-27. $958
28-36. $871
37-45. $784
46-54. $697
But, as this is a bounty tournament, many players have already recouped some or all of their buy-in fee, as each bounty is worth $100.
That dwarfs in comparison to the top few payouts though, so players will not try to let the “attraction” of a $100 chip deter them from their ultimate goal, the Event 2 championship.
As the players begin to file in for the start of Event 4, the rest of the Event Center is being prepped for Day 2 of the $100 Black Chip Bounty, which will resume play at 12 PM, just five spots from the money.
A full list of the payout structure will be posted before play resumes, but in the meantime, a list of the 59 players that bagged up chips in Day 1 of this event, in alphabetical order, with their new Day 2 seating assignments is listed below.
| CHRISTOPHER | BAUBLITZ | 214,000 | 4 | 4 |
| MATTHEW | BEIER | 183,000 | 6 | 7 |
| JOSEPH | BELARDINELLI | 311,500 | 5 | 5 |
| RICHARD | BOCOLA | 270,500 | 6 | 4 |
| GARY | BOWKER | 75,500 | 2 | 6 |
| MICHAEL | CAMPESI | 90,000 | 3 | 7 |
| JOHN | CERBONE | 134,000 | 5 | 4 |
| MIKE | CHANG | 89,000 | 7 | 7 |
| MICHAEL | DIMAIUTA | 255,000 | 3 | 4 |
| DOUGLAS | DROBBIN | 99,500 | 6 | 2 |
| SAMUEL | ELIACIN | 327,500 | 5 | 6 |
| MALIKA | EVANS | 110,500 | 4 | 2 |
| MICHAEL | FOGLIA | 83,500 | 5 | 1 |
| STUART | GOLD | 109,000 | 5 | 7 |
| ERIC | GREENWOOD | 249,000 | 4 | 1 |
| JOHN | GUERRIERO | 164,000 | 1 | 4 |
| THAI | HA | 434,500 | 7 | 8 |
| SCOTT | HEISER | 327,500 | 4 | 3 |
| DONALD | HIMPELE | 186,000 | 3 | 2 |
| GEORGE | KARMIRES | 160,000 | 6 | 3 |
| JOSHUA | KEARNS | 310,500 | 1 | 3 |
| TIMOTHY | KELLIHER | 384,000 | 3 | 8 |
| GARY | KOSAKOWSKI | 370,000 | 1 | 1 |
| CHRISTOPHER | KUSHA | 189,500 | 3 | 1 |
| GLENN | LAFAYE | 257,000 | 2 | 3 |
| STEVEN | LATHROP | 93,500 | 1 | 5 |
| TIMOTHY | LATOUCH | 280,000 | 2 | 8 |
| DENIS | LAWLOR | 470,000 | 7 | 3 |
| CHRISTOPHER | LEONG | 65,500 | 1 | 2 |
| LOUIS | LEPORE | 395,500 | 4 | 6 |
| RALPH | MACRI | 104,500 | 1 | 8 |
| WILLIAM | MARX | 52,000 | 2 | 5 |
| RASHAD | MAYSAUD | 268,500 | 6 | 1 |
| NICHOLAS | MESIANO | 167,000 | 2 | 7 |
| CHRISTINE | NELSON | 185,500 | 7 | 1 |
| DANIELE | NESTOLA | 296,000 | 2 | 2 |
| JASON | NEUHOF | 114,500 | 4 | 5 |
| JAN | NIKITIN | 90,500 | 4 | 8 |
| JESUS | PALMERONI | 293,500 | 7 | 5 |
| DIONISSIOS | PANAGOPOULOS | 417,500 | 4 | 7 |
| ALYSON | PARKER | 137,500 | 3 | 9 |
| DAVID | PATTERSON | 88,000 | 6 | 6 |
| DANIEL | PLOURDE | 97,000 | 6 | 8 |
| PAUL | RADOCHIA | 309,000 | 3 | 3 |
| LUIS | RODRIGUEZ | 680,500 | 4 | 9 |
| BARBARA | ROGERS | 147,000 | 7 | 2 |
| BARRY | ROSENKRANZ | 202,500 | 7 | 6 |
| THOMAS | ROSS | 96,000 | 2 | 4 |
| TONY | SABBAGH | 277,500 | 5 | 8 |
| RYAN | SMITH | 103,000 | 3 | 5 |
| LEE | SOMMERS | 239,500 | 7 | 4 |
| MARK | TARANTO | 238,000 | 2 | 1 |
| ARMANDO | THEN | 155,000 | 5 | 3 |
| RAGAVAN | THIAGARAJAH | 415,500 | 2 | 9 |
| JOSEPH | TOZZI | 252,000 | 1 | 7 |
| PHILIP | VITALE | 81,000 | 3 | 6 |
| ALLAN | VROOMAN | 207,000 | 6 | 5 |
| TEDDY | WAY | 347,500 | 5 | 2 |
| HOWARD | WOLPER | 81,500 | 1 | 6 |
Again, Day 2 of the $100 Black Chip Bounty Event 2 will be played in the Event Center and will begin at 12 PM.
Early this morning, the $2,000,000 GTD Event 1 field was finally narrowed down to it’s final ten players, making up a group that will be playing the biggest tournament of their careers on a “live stream” an addition to the Borgata Poker Open structure that was rolled out with much excitement and success during the last WPT stop in September.
That first live streamed Final Table had a few more familiar faces than this one, as nearly every player coming back in Event 1 will be making the biggest tournament scores of their career, regardless of hour they finish at the Final Table.
That’s the beauty of an event of this magnitude though and why the live stream was an ingenious idea put together by the not only the Borgata Poker team, but the marketing team as well.
It’s an amazing way to publicize the enormity of this event and also promote players that will be making a life changing score, with one player looking to put himself on the top of the poker world when it’s all said and done.
That live stream will start at 3 PM and we will be previewing the players and setting the stage for our “main main event” up until that time, but until then, it is going to be another busy day here in the Event Center, as three other “main” events will be running with the first starting in under an hour.
That is the two-day $560 Big Stack NLH Event 4, which will kick off at 11 AM.
Next on the docket, will be Day 2 of the $100 Black Chip Bounty event that ended last night in the Poker Room.
Updates from that event yesterday were few and far between, as the field was separated from the action in the Event Center, but with the field returning just a few spots from the money, live updates will be plentiful as we will be crowning a bounty champion here today.
Lastly, is the next “mix” event on the schedule, the first was won by David Thurston last night, is the $500 HORSE Event 5, starting at 1 PM.
This is also a two-day event, meaning that both Event 4 and 5 will not be crowning a champion today.
The Winter Poker Open blog will update you on all the action, so make sure you are following along so you don’t miss a beat of the action.