Level 9 (400/800/75)
Total Day 1A Entries: 515
Jerry Maher (Warren, NJ)
Throughout Borgata Poker Opens, there are different “groups” of players that make up the fields of various tournaments depending on the day of the week and one of those groups is the “weekend warriors”, players who work full time during the week and come down on the weekends to get into the BPO action.
One event that is a favorite of those weekend players is the $100,000 GTD ‘Saturday Series’, a one day event that regularly attracts upwards of 600 player fields and always crushes the guarantee and during September’s WPT BPO one of the more accomplished Borgata “weekend warriors” finally broke through in that ‘Saturday Series’ event after coming extremely close to a Borgata title a few times before.
Jerry Maher, who has close to 30 live rated results and over $300,000 in career earnings to his name, would win his first Borgata Poker trophy in that ‘Saturday Series’ event, redeeming his half dozen or so previous podium finishes, outlasting a 750 player field to take home the biggest tournament cash of his career.
The restauranteur, who mainly plays limit cash games, is a weekend staple at the Borgata but always takes time to make the bigger guaranteed events, as a deep run in an opening BPO event is well worth the time missed from work for anyone, as these events have immense value for such a small $560 entry fee.
We expect see more “weekend warriors” in the next few starting flights of this $1,000,000 GTD event chasing the value that it offers and Maher will certainly be a player to watch throughout the rest of the Spring Poker Open.
Mo Farah (Bensalem, PA)
Level 9 (400/800/75)
Total Day 1A Entries: 510
In the Olympics world, Mohamed “Mo” Farah is a Somalia-born, British long-distance and middle-distance runner. The dude has 1.17 million followers on Twitter.
But in the poker world, Mohammad “Mo” Farah is a marathoner of a different ilk with nearly $200,000 in career tournament earnings.
Our Farah was just seen sitting down at Table 17 in the Signature Room, looking to build on what has been a pretty good run of things at the Borgata over the past several series.
He won a black chip bounty event in the 2014 Summer Poker Open before pocketing a couple grand for a seventh-place finish in a six-max event later in the same series. At the Borgata Poker Open in September, Farah finished third in an Omaha Hi/Lo tournament. And then in this $1 million guarantee event in the fall, Mo made a deep run through a field of nearly 2,200 entrants to finish in 103rd place.
He had no recorded cashes in the Borgata Winter Poker Open, but that arguably just means he was conserving his energy for a big Spring series.
Level 9 (400/800/75)
Total Day 1A Entries: 505
The Day 1A field has just moved into Level 9, meaning there is just one more level remaining in the late registration period for this starting flight but, while we expect to see a decent amount of late entrants into this flight over the next half hour, many of those players will likely hold off for any of the subsequent flights, as they’ll be able to sit down with a full starting stack and be deeply stacked as opposed to sitting down with just 30 big blinds in Level 9.
It’s not like players will have to wait very long for the next flight to start either, as Day 1B is set to begin later today at 7 PM and with Day 1C and 1D running tomorrow at 10 AM and 6 PM respectfully.
These long late registration periods and multiple starting flights should allow plenty of opportunities for players to re-enter and get into this $1,000,000 GTD opening Spring Poker Open event at some point over the next two days.
Level 8 (300/600/75)
Total Day 1A Entries: 495
Greg Weber (Howell, NJ)
It’s looking like it might be a bit of deja vu for Greg Weber, as he again looks to be leading the ‘Borgata Million’ albeit a little earlier than he did last time around during the Winter Poker Open version of this event earlier this year.
During that WPO event, Weber was pegged as a chip leader late in Day 1A and he managed to hold that early advantage and parlay it into a deep run, just missing out on the final table, bowing out in 11th place. That result would dwarf in comparison to his two biggest Borgata scores, including a deep run in the 2014 Fall Poker Open version of this event.
That FPO run would see Weber notch a podium finish in the opening $1,000,000 GTD event, finishing 3rd for a $78,000 pay day, the biggest of his career after his 2011 BPO victory that earned him his first Borgata Poker title and a $15,000 score.
Weber will certainly be player to watch through the remainder of this event and series as he seems to play some of his best poker and make some big scores in the bigger events that the Borgata offers, something he’ll look to continue to do here in the $1,000,000 Spring Poker Open Event 1.
Players are now mid-way through Level 8, meaning there is just under an hour remaining in the late registration period which will officially close for this starting flight after the next break.
Ken Silberstein (Plainfield, NJ)
Level 8 (300/600/75)
Total Day 1A Entries: 495
Rocking a “Borgata Deep Stacks” hat, Ken Silberstein (Plainfield, NJ) is hoping to turn his Event 1 deep stack into a significant chunk of dough.
Silberstein has a slightly below average stack at the moment, but don’t be fooled by his current situation. His past indicates that he is going to be a fierce competitor. Silberstein has cashed in 20 Borgata Poker Open events dating back to January 2010, including a six-figure score for his fourth-place finish in the championship event of the 2013 Borgata Fall Poker Open.
However, he has yet to hoist a trophy in his poker career, never finishing better than third here at the preeminent poker destination on the East Coast.
Perhaps this will finally be his tournament to win. It would certainly be one heck of a payday, with a guaranteed prize pool of $1,000,000.
Level 7 (250/500/50)
Total Day 1A Entries: 459
Players are currently flooding out of the signature room for their second 15-minute break of the day.
The number of entrants continues to climb, as the late registration period will remain open until the end of the break after Level 9 – approximately 4:15 p.m.
Players will return at 2:35 to Level 7 with a still-modest big blind of 500. These next three rounds will be Moving Central with short stacks hoping to either double up or bust out in time to get back to the cage for a re-entry.
Level 6 (200/400/50)
Total Day 1A Entries: 435
The last time a full Borgata Poker Open series was held outside the Event Center was in November when the Fall Poker Open played out in the intimate setting of the Signature Room and it was during that series that two players announced themselves to the poker community, notching their first big results and deep runs, which both Michael Hollenberg and Chad Reynolds have continued since the FPO.
November’s Fall Poker Open seemed to kick start a run for Michael Hollenberg as he almost notched back to back to back FPO final tables during that series and has since recorded cashes from up and down the East Coast, including a WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open Championship score and a 6th place finish at last month’s Foxwoods Poker Classic which earned him just over $11,000.
Chad Reynolds burst onto the tournament scene in the FPO, making the biggest score of his career as he notched a 5th place finish in the opening $1,000,000 event. He followed that up with back to back final table appearances in WSOP Circuit events to end 2014 and his lone cash of this year came in the opening WPO event, where he again made a deep run, notching a top 80 finish.
Level 5 (150/300/25)
Total Day 1A Entries: 405
Matt Stout (Las Vegas, NV)
While some of the “bigger” names in poker won’t be making their way to the Borgata until later in the Spring Poker Open, New Jersey native Matt Stout, who despite his lengthy tournament resume took to the virtual felt this past month and managed to qualify for this event online at BorgataPoker.com, just took his seat in the Poker Room where nearly 20 tables are currently housing players as the Signature Room has been working at capacity for the last few levels.
Stout may have one of the more complete tournament resumes in this $1,000,000 GTD field, with over 100 career rated scores as well as just over $3,000,000 in career tournament earnings.
But, for all the results and deep runs, including a handful of podium finishes in WSOP and WPT events, Stout has, shockingly, never won a Borgata Poker title with his best Borgata finish coming in a 2006 BPO event.
His last Borgata result, even though it wasn’t a final table appearance, might have been his most impressive though, as he was able to navigate through an over 4,000 person field to notch a 15th place finish in the opening $2,000,000 GTD event of this year’s Winter Poker Open.
While that result would earn Stout just under $12,000, the run had the poker community buzzing as he was trying to become the first well known tournament professional to make a “live streamed” Borgata final table, something Daniel Buzgon would achieve a week later, en route to winning the $1,000,000 GTD WPO event.
Stout has not slowed down from that WPO result as he followed that deep run up with three straight final tables and an outright win at the WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open and will look to continue to ride that streak here in the opening event of the Spring Poker Open.
Level 4 (100/200)
Total Day 1A Entries: 375
Gary Raina (Parsippany, NJ)
If there is one thing Gaurav “Garry” Raina knows, it’s how to get lots of chips through the early portions of these opening Borgata Poker events, as he’s done just that, coming out of his respective starting flights during September’s Borgata Poker Open and November’s Fall Poker Open with the chip lead or close to it.
He was able to parlay that BPO advantage into a live streaming final table appearance, a podium finish and a $145,000 score and while he wasn’t able to see the same occur in the FPO opening event, bowing out with a little better than a min cash, he’s proven that his aggressive play through the starting flights of these events works as he’s always near the top of the leaderboard heading into Day 2.
While it’s still very early, he’ll certainly be a threat to make another deep run here in the Spring Poker Open and with unlimited re-entries through four starting flights, a bagged stack, regardless of size through the first flight is incredibly valuable as many players have found themselves firing multiple bullets into these events.
Raina headlines a tough opening table, seated next to the likes of Bob Romanowski and Scott Blackman who both have major tournament final tables and victories on their poker resumes.
Raina, and the rest of this field, hope to only be loading his gun once and will certainly be a player to follow through this Day 1A flight and potentially on Day 2 if he’s able to keep his starting flight trend alive today.
Level 4 (100/200)
Total Day 1A Entries: 375
Players have jus returned from their first break of the day and will resume with Level 4 with the total field for this opening $1,000,000 GTD event hovering near the 400 player mark.
That number will without a doubt be crushed over the next few levels as we expect this and subsequent flights to top out near the 500 player mark, a number we should reach as there are just over 3 hours remaining in the late registration period.
Player features and updates on the overall field size will continue up to and through that late registration period as we continue to play through this Day 1A flight.