Event 4 (Day 1)
The scene in the Event Center.
Both Event 2 (Day 2) and Event 4 (Day 1) are now on their 1 hour dinner break.
Level 10 (Blinds 500/1,000/100)
Total Entries: 382
Players Remaining: 135
Tommy Dobrilovic (West Nyack, NY) tosses his cards into the muck.
We were walking through the Event Center as we noticed a pot building on Tom Dobrilovic’s table. A player opened the action with a raise to 2,000 from early position and action would fold around to Dobrilovic in the small blind who elected to call, the big blind tagged along as well.
The dealer spread the {Ad}{8c}{8d} flop and both blinds quickly checked to the original raiser who also opted to check. The turn brought the {6d} and Dobrilovic would check again. This time the big blind led out for 2,500 and the player from early position quickly called. Dobrilovic went into the tank for a few moments before clicking it back with a raise to 5,000 and both players would eventually fold, rewarding Dobrilovic with the pot as he now sits with over 50,000.
Dobrilovic is a well known player here at the Borgata, as the West Nyack, NY native has over $1,200,000 in life time earnings. His biggest score came here at the Borgata last fall in the $15,000 WPT Championship when he took final tabled the event and eventually finished 8th for $143,000. Dobrilovic has 10 scores since that and looks to be on pace to record his 11th here in Event 4.
Level 6 (Blinds 200/400/50)
Total Entries: 377
With majority of the action in the Event Center focused on the live stream of Event 1, players are still filing in to play event 4. This $560 Deepstack Event is scheduled for two days of play, with registration closing at the end of this break. There are currently 377 players registered and players are now on their second break of the day. So far we have noticed many familiar faces including Jay Calnan, Ralph Massey, Mark Sykes, Dan DiZenzo, Matt Stout, Chris Tryba, Branden Wiley, Glen Minxolli, Roman Valerstein, Matthew Wantman, Jerry Maher, Tom Dobrilovic, and Charbel Azzi.
Level 1 (25/50)
Opening up another exciting and packed day early in the Winter Poker Open is the Event 4 $560 Big Stack event, which just like yesterday’s $100 Black Chip Bounty, has an improved structure and will be a two-day tournament.
This tournament used to have 30 minute levels through Day 1 of the event, moving to 45 minutes on Day 2, but players will now be playing 45 minutes from start to finish, a change that will surely see this event be very well attended.
Players will start with 20,000 in chips and late registration will last through the end of Level 6, meaning there will be close to five hours to get into this event, and players buying in at the latest point will still have 50 big blinds to work with.
Players will be entering the Event Center shortly, meaning we are still a few minutes away from the pre-tournament announcements and the “shuffle up and deal” call, but once the field begins to populate, we will bring you a list of early arriving notables.
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.