Borgata Poker Open Blog 2020
- World Poker Tour will run the 2020 WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open from 14 th till 31 st of January at the Borgata Hotel Casino. The tournament features over 33 events including event such as the Borgata DeepStack Kick-Off NLH, DeepStack Black Chip Bounty NLH and the Almighty Stack NLH.
- Borgata Winter Poker Open – $1M Guaranteed Special Satellite January 11, 2020. The world-famous Borgata Winter Poker Open will be here January 14 – 31, 2020 with over $7,000,000 in guaranteed events across 2 weeks! If you are looking for an amazing series to test your skills against some of poker’s best, definitely check out this event!
The World Poker Tour continues its breakneck schedule through the early part of 2020 with their latest stop on the East Coast. The Borgata in Atlantic City, NJ, is the host for the WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open and, once again, the players have flooded the floor to the tune of 1290 entries for the event. After the conclusion of Day 3 on Wednesday, WPT Champions’ Club member Patrick Serda is looking to add his name again to the Champions’ Cup over the final 28 players.
Start In the Lead, Stay in the Lead
Serda would start Day 3 on Wednesday with the chip lead, but it would be an adventure for him. According to the WPT Live Updates and his own admissions, Serda swung massively throughout the day. “I (got up to) maybe 1.1 or 1.2 million early in the first level,” Serda is quoted by the WPT staff, “then I dropped to about 300K.” Apparently many of his problems were caused by another member of the WPT Champions’ Club, Olivier Busquet, who was at the table with Serda.
Borgata will reopen The Poker Room at 10am on Wednesday, October 21 following its closure earlier this year amidst the coronavirus crisis. Borgata Poker will return with 30 socially distanced tables following the company’s comprehensive health and safety protocols designed to protect employees and customers.
Busquet was charging along nicely until he ran into an unfortunate break. After an 8-7-2 rainbow flop, Sungwon Lee would check his option to Busquet and, after Busquet bet out 175K, would power in an all-in bet over the top of Busquet. Perhaps knowing what he was facing, Busquet made the call with his pocket Aces, but Lee had hit the jackpot with his pocket eights. Needing to find one of the two Aces remaining in the deck, Busquet would instead see blanks hit the turn and river to double up Lee and chop his stack down to only 125K. Busquet would be eliminated moments later when his pocket sixes were run down by Veerab Zakarian’s A-9 on an A-Q-9-8-7 board.
Once Busquet was out of the way, Serda was actually able to breath and expand his chip stack. He tested Larry Abrams in winning a large pot to crack the three million chip mark, then approached the four million mark in besting Matt Waxman. But it was another hand which pushed Serda into the stratosphere.
After a bet from Waxman and a call from Baitai Li, Serda defended his big blind to see a Q-9-4 flop. Three checks brought an eight on the turn, at which point Li checked, Serda pushed the issue with a bet of 115K and Waxman called. Li chose this moment to attack, pushing out a bet of 600K that Serda called and Waxman let go.
Now down to two players, the river eight paired the board and saw Li pound the pot with an all-in bet of 1.5 million chips. Serda pondered the action and, after completing his deliberations, made the call. It turned out to be the right move; Li could only show a 6♠ 2♠ for complete air while Serda turned up 10♠ 9♠ for a flopped pair and rivered two pair.
That pot pushed Serda over the six million mark and kept him in the lead for Thursday’s action:
1. Patrick Serda, 6.26 million
2. Veerab Zakarian, 4.075 million
3. Brian Altman, 3.88 million
4. Peter Vitantonio, 3.55 million
5. Stephen Press, 2.55 million
6. Jesus Martinez, 2.545 million
(tie) Paul Sneed
8. Derek Marmen, 2.11 million
9. Jorge Confesor, 2.03 million
10. Bin Weng, 1.895 million
Altman Drives for WPT POY Award
While Serda is in the pole position for the tournament, it is Brian Altman who is on the hot streak. After winning the WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open last week, Altman took over the lead in the WPT Player of the Year race. With a deep finish in this tournament, he will add on to his current lead and take the helm in the race for the POY championship.
1.Brian Altman, 2100 points
2. Alex Foxen, 1400
(tie) Toby Joyce
4. Donald Maloney, 1350
5. Geoffrey Hum, 1300
Maloney is still alive in the WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open, but he’s down the leaderboard significantly of the 28 remaining players. Both players have already earned 50 points for their cashes, but the points ramp up the deeper that a player goes in a tournament. With Altman still up around the top of the standings, Maloney will not gain any ground on Altman unless he lasts longer in the tournament.
The WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open will resume at noon on Thursday, with the plan to play down to the final table. At that point, play will be suspended until April 1, at which point the tournament will resume at the HyperX eSports Arena at the Luxor in Las Vegas. The players who make the final table won’t mind the wait, as all six will be guaranteed six figure paydays and the champion will receive $674,840.
$400+$50 Super Stack Elevator NLH
Level 20: Blinds 5,000/10,000/1,000 ante (55 minutes)
Total Entries: 97
Players Remaining: 8
Average Stack: 485,000
Borgata Winter Poker Open Blog 2020
In a battle of the blinds, Zhaoxing Wang opened for 25,000 from the small. James Lillis (bb) 3-bet to 85,000. Wang 4-bet to 190,000, James shoved for 503,000, and Wang snapped, showing pocket Kings. James had pocket Queens and appeared to be destined for 8th place.
Then the board came and the river saved James. He doubled up to 1,014,000 and is our new chip leader. Zhaoxing Wang saw his stack cut down to ~480,000.
$400+$50 Super Stack Elevator NLH
Level 20: Blinds 5,000/10,000/1,000 ante (55 minutes)
Total Entries: 97
Players Remaining: 8
Average Stack: 485,000
On a flop of , Anthony Antico (bb) checked, James Lillis shoved, and Anthony snapped, showing pocket Aces for top set and the current nuts. James rolled over for the open-ended straight-draw.
The on the turn completed the straight for James. Anthony needed the board to pair on the river to survive, but the was not one of the cards he was looking for. James took the pot, stacking up to about 480,000.
Anthony Antico finished in 9th place, earning $1,129.
$400+$50 Super Stack Elevator NLH
Level 20: Blinds 5,000/10,000/1,000 ante (55 minutes)
Total Entries: 97
Players Remaining: 9
Average Stack: 431,000
Zhaoxing Wang has been punishing the table. The last two hands pushed his stack up to ~1.1 million.
Aimon Abbassi limped, Anthony Antico limped the cutoff, Noemi Saleh limped the button, then Daniel Park made it 55,000 from the small blind.
Wang 4-bet to 147,000 from the big blind and one by one, then fell like dominoes, surrendering the pot to him.
On the next hand, Daniel Park opened for 22,000 on the button, Wang (sb) made it 70,000, Park hit it again for 172,000 total, and Wang shoved. Park gave it some thought, then opted to fold. He was left about 370,000.
$350+$50 Pot Limit Omaha
Level 5: Blinds 150/300
Total Entries: 54
Pot Limit Omaha player recently returned from their first break of the day with more than 50 entries in the game so far. It’s still a little off of last year’s two-day event numbers but there’s still time to get in the game with late registration available for the next four levels plus the break.
$400+$50 Super Stack Elevator NLH
Level 19: Blinds 4,000/8,000/1,000 ante (55 minutes)
Total Entries: 97
Players Remaining: 9
Average Stack: 431,000
On the last hand of this level, Zhaoxing Wang dragged another big pot without a showdown.
Michael Bonita opened for 18,000, Yannis Vitsentzos 3-bet to 50,000, Wang called from the small blind and Michael called as well.
The flop fell and they checked to Yannis, who fired 125,000. Wang called and Michael folded. The landed on the turn and this time both players checked. The completed the board and Wang announced he was allin (about 375,000).
Yannis tanked for a couple of minutes, then eventually surrendered the pot. No amount of begging could get Wang to show even one card. He’s now up to ~680,000 while Yannis is no longer the chip leader. He’s down to ~650,000.
Yannis Vitsentzos began Day 2 as the chip leader and held that lead until this hand.
$300+$40 Mike Sica Memorial Seniors NLH
Level 9: Blinds 500/1,000/100 ante
Total Entries: 109
Players returned from their second break of the day and the Mike Sica Memorial Seniors Event drew 109 entries to the Sunday morning/afternoon game today. That puts more than $30,000 up for grabs and we expect the last 18 players to take home some money. We will post the official numbers, prize pool, and payout information as soon as it is available.
We found defending champ TJ Shulman in the early field. He outlasted most of the field in this tournament last September and took home the biggest piece of a five-way adjusted payout deal then generously handed over the trophy to the family of Mike Sica.
$400+$50 Super Stack Elevator NLH
Level 19: Blinds 4,000/8,000/1,000 ante (55 minutes)
Total Entries: 97
Players Remaining: 9
Average Stack: 431,000
Daniel Park (bb) and Zhaoxing Wang (utg) were looking at a board of and Park bet 52,000. Wang gave it some thought, then called. River was the and Park checked.
Wang moved all-in for his last 83,000 and after taking a minute to consider it, Park let it go. “Did you have a deuce?” asked Wang, as he collected the pot. “If I had a deuce, I would have called” replied Park. A lot of table chatter ensued, speculating who had what, but we’ll never know.
Wang chipped up to ~365,000 while Park’s stack dropped to ~660,000.
Borgata Poker Open Blog 2020 Download
$400+$50 Super Stack Elevator NLH
Level 19: Blinds 4,000/8,000/1,000 ante (55 minutes)
Total Entries: 97
Players Remaining: 9
Average Stack: 431,000
Noemi Saleh limped early, was followed by Daniel Park, then Michael Bonita (cutoff) 3-bet to 28,000. Michael Cisco flatted the 3-bet from the button, then Aiman Abbassi (bb) jammed. One by one they released their hands and the pot was pushed to Aiman.
The other players enticed him to show his hand and he obliged, showing pocket Kings. Michael Cisco said he folded AQ suited.
All that dead money brought Aiman’s stack up to about 625,000.
$260+$40 Deeper Stack NLH Re-Entry
$50,000 Guaranteed
Level 8: Blinds 400/800/75 ante
Total Entries: 193
They didn’t hit the $50,000 Guarantee before the first break but they got there before the second one. The Deeper Stack event officially pushed the prize pool over that mark at the start of Level 8 and now they have four more levels of late registration to run it higher.
Jeffrey Trudeau Jr isn’t using the re-entry option today unless things go sideways. The Florida grinder is sitting in good shape at the moment as he tries for his third career Borgata cash. Trudeau has dozens of tournament results on his résumé with most of them coming before the age of 21, when he was unable to mix it up outside his home state. Since he expanded his reach from the Sunshine State, he has tournament wins in Biloxi and New Orleans but still waiting for his first Borgata title.
$400+$50 Super Stack Elevator NLH
Level 19: Blinds 4,000/8,000/1,000 ante (55 minutes)
Total Entries: 97
Players Remaining: 9
Average Stack: 431,000
Short-stack Michael Cisco got his last 154,000 all-in, getting action from chip leader Yannis Vitsentzos on his left. Michael’s was dominating Yannis’ .
The board whiffed it all as it came . Michael’s kicker played and he took the pot with nut-no-pair. He doubled up to 329,000. Yannis’ stack dropped to ~710,000.