$560 Deep Stack NLH (Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed
End of Level 9: Blinds 400/800/75 ante
Brownie ‘BW’ Garrett (Virginia Beach, VA)
Shortly before the end of level 9, Johnny Lau took his big stack up against Brownie ‘BW’ Garrett. BW said “I’d been gettin’ beat down all day, so when I saw [pocket Jacks] I decided to go with ’em”. He got all his chips in pre-flop against Johnny’s AK. Big Slick failed to improve and BW’s Jacks were good for a double-up. He ended the level with 126,000. Johnny was left with 146,000.
Players got a 20-minute break while the green 25 chips were colored up and removed from play.
$560 Deep Stack NLH (Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed
Level 9: Blinds 400/800/75 ante
Men ‘the Master’ Nguyen (Bell Gardens, CA)
My latest pass through the tables in the High Limit room uncovered a surprise. Men ‘the Master’ Nguyen, quietly looking at his phone. He’s got more than an average stack in front of him, about 65,000, and seems unconcerned with the action taking place around him.
The Master has a poker resume longer than the Atlantic City Expressway. He has won seven WSOP bracelets and amassed more than $10 million in reported career earnings, putting him 16th on the All Time Money List according to Hendon Mob. The Californian only has four cashes here at Borgata, the best of which was a 7th place finish back in 2004. He’s still looking to make his mark on the East Coast.
This is the last level for late registration and re-entry in this flight and they’ll get a break before returning for level 10.
$560 Deep Stack NLH (Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed
Level 8: Blinds 300/600/75 ante
Day 1B Entries so far: 294
Patricia Barsanti-Chou, Aristides Zarifis, and Greg Glassman
Aristides Zarifis (Queens, NY) is way back in the corner of the High Limit room, quietly building a big stack. He’s up to about 130,000.
The young player has less than $10,000 in career earnings and is wedged in between a couple of more accomplished players. On his right sits Patricia Barsanti-Chou, (Metuchen, NJ) who has three Borgata titles to her credit along with more than $181,000 in career tournament earnings. On his left is Greg Glassman, (Brooklyn, NY) who has four final tables at Borgata and nearly $83,000 in reported tournament earnings.
Only 21 tables remain active, although registration is still open. The chip average is around 40,000, so Aristides is cruising at a comfortable altitude.
$560 Deep Stack NLH (Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed
Level 6: Blinds 200/400/50 ante
Gary Wong (Woodhaven, NY)
She Lok Wong (who goes by Gary) is taking part in flight B tonight. He came close to winning the 2013 Borgata Fall Poker Open Championship, but was toppled by Russell Crane. Gary picked up over $203,000 for his second place finish in that event, which was is his best finish here at Borgata and his largest single career cash. Meanwhile the New Yorker has booked five wins at Foxwoods over the last two years, the most recent of which was just a couple of weeks ago.
Gary’s reported lifetime earnings are more than $454,000, but he’s still hunting for his first Borgata victory.
$560 Deep Stack NLH (Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed
Level 5: Blinds 150/300/25 ante
Day 1B Entries so far: 264
Katayon ‘Kat’ Khaterzai (Levittown, NY)
The numbers are creeping up slowly for this flight with plenty of time for late registering and re-entering. There are 264 entries so far, bringing the total for both 1A & 1B to 763.
Among those in action is Katayon ‘Kat’ Khaterzai. Kat has one previous win at Borgata in the Saturday Series back in July 2013, winning $56,822 (her largest career cash). Since then she has gone deep in a couple of other big events, finishing 16th in the 2013 BPO Main Event ($20,271), and finishing 28th in the 2014 BWPO ($15,084).
$560 Deep Stack NLH (Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed
Level 4: Blinds 100/200
Players are back from their first break of the day.
Perry Johnson (Oak Island, NC)
One traveling regular has arrived and wanted to let his #1 fan know. Perry Johnston regularly travels from North Carolina to Borgata to play tournaments. His grand-daughter Brynn always sweats him via the Borgata Blog, following the action from back home.
Perry said to tell Brynn “Paw-Paw made it!” Now he just has to make it through 11 more levels to bag chips at the end of this flight. He’s got three previous final tables in Borgata events and nearly $73,000 in reported live tournament earnings.
Level 3: Blinds 75/150
Day 1B Entries so far: 218
Flight B In the Poker Room
There are 26 tables up and running here in the Poker Room with several of those tables located in the High Limit area. The field is jam-packed with well known locals and traveling pros as well. Just to name a few (in no particular order):
Ibra Ibramovic
Jesse Cohen
Tony Sinishtaj
Brian O’Donoghue
Mike Lydon
David Semless
John Hinds
John Myung
Steven Rodriguez
Samuel Bernstein
Mickey Woll
Ilya Vasserman
Paul Shedaker
Dan Howe
Danny Yousefzadeh
Eugene Fouksman
Travis Greenawalt
Jamie Kerstetter
Patricia Barsanti-Chou
Manny Minaya
Benny Bianco
Sach Ramrakhani
$560 Deep Stack NLH (Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed
Level 2: Blinds 50/100
Some well-known New Jersey pros have turned up for this flight and announced their presence via Twitter.
Michael Marder has two Borgata titles won in Spring and Summer of 2014. His live earnings are approaching $400,000.
Dan Buzgon took top honors in the 2015 Winter Poker Open Borgata Million, cashing for over $194,000 and booking his first major win. His lifetime earnings are now over $1.4 million.
$560 “Milly” @BorgataPoker starting shortly. Woke up fresh, bright and early for this 7pm flight! GLGL #BSPO1 pic.twitter.com/i6gMvLwUXW
— Michael Marder (@MMarder86) April 14, 2015
Back at @BorgataPoker for event 1 of the spring open. #timetomash #mybankrollintopieces
— Daniel Buzgon (@WiLDmAn_75) April 14, 2015
$560 Deep Stack NLH (Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed
Level 1: Blinds 25/50
The second of four starting flights for this Million Dollar Guarantee event has kicked off in the Poker Room. Other than the location, everything else is the same as Day 1A. Players began with 25,000 chips and levels 1 through 12 are 30 minutes long. The final three levels of the night, levels 13-15, are 40-minutes long leading up to the ‘bag & tag’ at the end of the night.
Day 1A saw nearly 500 entrants take to the felt and they’re less than an hour away from the end of the night.
Players who bust out of 1A can try again in 1B. Late registration and re-entry are available until the start of level 10 (about midnight). After that, they’ll have to try again tomorrow in 1C and/or 1D.
Players who bag chips in any flight will forfeit those chips if they play any subsequent flight — this is NOT a best stack forward event.