Level 7 (Blinds 250/500/50)
Total Day 1B Entries: 450
Players will be returning from break in just a few moments, and will be playing with open registration for the next three levels. The next break is after Level 9, and once players return to Level 10, registration will be closed for this Day 1B flight. Those players whose opportunity to bag chips ends earlier than wanted have no need to worry, as there are two more flights scheduled for tomorrow:
Day 1C :Wednesday, January 14 (10:00am)
Day 1D: Wednesday, January 14 (6:00pm)
Players who are planning on entering one of the two flights tomorrow should be aware that the fields will be very large, so it would be a wise idea to register on the “earlier” side, depending on what flight you plan to play.
Level 6 (Blinds 200/400/50)
Total Day 1B Entries: 450
Packed House in the Event Center
As the clock winds down on level 6 players are heading to their second 15 minute break of the day. When they return the blinds will be 250/500 with a 50 ante. There are currently 450 players registered.
Level 6 (Blinds 200/400/50)
Total Day 1B Entries: 450
Dan Wach (Boonton, NJ)
We couldn’t the entire opening day of the Winter Poker Open without the obligatory “Dan Wach” post. Wach is best known for his two runner-up Event 1 finishes in back-to-back Borgata Poker Opens (2012 and 2013). He bested massive fields to reach heads-up play: 3,705 total entries in 2012, and 4,482 in 2013. The second place finishes earned him over $436,000 combined, and stamped his name in Borgata Poker lore.
Dan’s accomplishment is one that will likely never be matched going forward, and although his last recorded tournament cash came over seven months ago, he would never pass up the opportunity to fire a bullet (or two) into this prestigious event.
Wach is just one of the later arriving players to the field, following in the footsteps of David Inselberg, Phillip Hui, Loni Harwood, Jesse Cohen, Mukul Pahuja, Andrew Spears, Tony Chen, Dan Buzgon, Joseph Galazzo, Jacob Perry, Gregory Whiting, Scott Blumstein, and Ken Silberstein.
Level 5 (Blinds 150/300/25)
Total Day 1B Entries: 410
John Riccobono (Garden City, NY)
The action would be finished by the time we approached Table 209, with the dealer pushing a sizable pot the way of John Riccobono (Garden City, NY). The exact action leading up to the three-way all-in has yet to have been verified, but it would be John’s flush draw against two opponent’s flopped sets:
Flop: {5d} {6d} {kh}
Riccobono: {qd} {9d}
Ron Vittello: {kd} {kc}
Player X: {5h} {5c}
Turn: {ac}
River: {8d}
Riccobono’s flush draw was completed on the river with the {8d}, sending Vittello to the rail, while crippling the unknown player in the hand. John would chip up to 78,000 with the pot, a top ten stack in the early stages of this flight.
Level 16 (Blinds 2,500/5,000/500)
Total Day 1A Entries: 693
Players Remaining: 110
Day 1A Chip Leader Michael Dobbs Rakes in 428,000 Chip Pot
693 players took their seat in the Day 1A flight of Event 1, all hoping to take home their share of the massive $2,000,000 guaranteed prize pool. When the dust settled it was Michael Dobbs leading the remaining 110 players with his stack of 428,000.
The New Jersey native was coasting along in the middle of the pack all day until he got involved in a massive pot with 2 hands left in the night that shot him up the chip counts.
Dobbs found the last of his chips in the middle with {10c}{10s} against a short stacks {As}{8s} and another players {Kc}{Kh}. The board ran out clean until Dobbs spiked the {10h} on the river to eliminate both players.
Following Dobbs are plenty of familiar faces including:
Abraham Korotki: 380,000
Romeo Valentino: 325,000
Vincent Roazzi: 320,000
Matthew Wantman: 297,000
Mark Sykes: 250,000
Ralph Massey: 195,000
Chris Tryba: 170,000
Norm Michalek – 135,500
Dan Dizenzo – 130,000
Kevin Calenzo – 83,000
Also among the 110 remaining players is Party Poker’s Jamie Kerstetter who bagged 159,000. Kerstetter was grinding on a shorter stack earlier in the day, until she took advantage of Aces and secured a full double up.
Bagged 159k in Borgata $2M going to 2500/5k in a couple days. But first we must GSSS on @partypokerUS #NoBreaksJanuary
— Jamie Kerstetter (@JamieKerstetter) January 14, 2015
The remaining players will coming with the surviving fields of Day 1B, 1C, and 1D on Thursday at 12:00pm. Be sure to follow along with the rest of the action from the remaining 3 flights right here at https://winterpokeropen.blog.theborgata.com/.
Level 4 (Blinds 100/200/25)
Total Day 1B Entries: 430
Tyler Patterson (Everett, WA)
Tyler Patterson (Everett, WA) is one of a group of players to venture long distances in order to end up in the Event Center, traveling cross country to make it here today. The Washington native is no stranger to the Borgata though, with his largest career score coming here in 2012, when he finished third in the WPT Borgata Poker Open $3,300 Championship Event for $298,950. That cash was almost matched this past summer, when Patterson won his first WSOP bracelet in Event #48 ($1,500 Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo). Tyler would earn himself just over $270,000 to go along with the coveted piece of jewelry, pushing his career earnings north of $1,440,000.
Patterson may be passionate about the game of poker, but it pales in comparison to his allegiance to the Seattle Seahawks. Part of the “12th Man” that makes up the Seahawks fan base, Patterson stuck around after last year’s Winter Poker Open, knowing that his team would be playing in the Super Bowl (which was held at Met Life Stadium in New Jersey). With his team still alive (and headed to the NFC Championship), Patterson has his sight set on some warmer weather, hoping to take a trip to Arizona to see his team possibly win back-to-back Super Bowls.
Level 16 (2,000/4,000/400)
Total Entries: 693
Players Remaining: 150
Cheers
It’s no surprise to see a Massey with a plethora of chips here at the Borgata, as brothers Aaron and Ralph have both shared a lot of success in this very building.
Ralph seems to be making another run at a Borgata title as he has been quietly chipping up all day long. We lost track of him when his table broke earlier in the day, but circling through the Day 1A field just now we noticed Ralph sitting on a very healthy stack of over 155,000.
In the latest hand, a player opened from middle position to 8,000 only to see Ralph put in a three-bet to 20,800. The player called and they would be heads up to a flop of {2d}{4d}{2s}. His opponent checked, while Massey grabbed a handful of blue 5,000 chips and pushed them into the middle, putting his opponent all in.
After counting down his stack numerous time the player would eventually fold and Massey would scoop the healthy pot.
Level 3 (Blinds 75/150)
Total Day 1B Entries: 380
Travis Greenawalt (Lancaster, PA)
One of the first things you’ll notice when you walk into the Event Center is the large bracket for the Event 14 Heads Up field. While the board is currently blank at the moment, one name you can be sure will be on there is that of Travis Greenawalt (Lancaster, PA). Travis has three runner-up finishes on his resume from past Heads Up events, cashing for $30,896 in the 2011 Borgata Poker Open, $18,624 in the 2014 Borgata Poker Open, and $6,208 during the 2014 Borgata Fall Poker Open.
That format may be the favorite of Greenawalt, but his tournament success doesn’t stop there. Travis had his breakout score last October, winning the Big Stax VIII $1,100 event for $111,974. His career earnings are now over $266,000, but Greenawalt is still searching for his first outright win here at Borgata.
Players in the Day 1B field just exited the tournament area to head on their first break, which gave us a chance to spot more recognizable faces in this second flight. Seen leaving the tables were Joe Black, Jay Sharon, Amanda Musumeci, Andrew Lydon, Alex Bolotin, Daniel Chan, Scott Blackman, Robert Boyko, Yeubin Guo, Robert Hwang, Eric Doerr, and Michael Wang.
Level 16 (2,000/4,000/400)
Total Entries: 693
Players Remaining: 150
We are now into our the final level of play in Day 1A of the $2,000,000 GTD Event 1, meaning we are just under a half hour from the surviving Day 1A players bagging and tagging their chips for Thursday’s Day 2.
We expect close to 100 players to bag up chips, meaning there is still some fat to be trimmed from this Day 1A field, but, that doesn’t mean there aren’t other opportunities to advance in this massive opening event, as Day 1B is currently running in the back section of the Event Center and Day 1C and 1D will be running tomorrow, leaving players three more chances to bag up chips.
Live updates will continue through the end of both starting flights tonight and a list of top chip leaders from each flight will be posted when each flight ends, along with a full list of chip counts from all players bagging chips that will be posted tomorrow morning.
Level 15 (1,500/3,000/400)
Total Entries: 693
Players Remaining: 160
“Romeo Valentino”
The action was picked up in a hand between “Romeo Valentino” and an unknown player on a board of {Qs}{Jd}{8s} with Valentino leading out in to the pot and then calling the all-in raise of his opponent.
Valentino would stand as the cards were tabled, his opponent turning over {Qc}{10d}, Valentino with {Ad}{Qh}.
Valentino would speak to himself in Italian as the turn and river came down, first the {Ks} and then the {7d} completing the board, then celebrate with a peace sign as his hand would end up on the winner.
Valentino would break his Italian to say, “Those were my chips anyway.” as the dealer pushed Valentino the sizable pot.
Apparently, Valentino and our unknown opponent had been in a back and forth of sorts over the last few levels, with Valentino finally coming out on top to knock out the player and move himself near the 300,000 chip mark.
Valentino, who is going by an alias currently, is looking like one of the bigger stacks in the room as we move towards the last level of play in Day 1A of Event 1.