Visit us at:

Borgata Poker Open
by 2005 World Poker Tour Coverage   
Monday, 19 September 2005


WPT Championship Event
Event #8: $9,700 No-Limit Hold 'Em, Day 1
by Daniel Lazerek

Buy-In: $9,700 + $300
Entries: 515
Prize Pool: $4,995,514

12:40 AM

 
 
Undisputed chip leader Tom Coan


 
 
Barry Greenstein, the source of most of Coan's chips. Coan rivered a flush and drew out on Greenstein's set.

10:30 PM
Play ends for the day. The tournament will resume tomorrow at 11 am. Blinds will start at $300-$600, $100 ante.
A complete chip count for the end of Day 1 will be posted here as soon as it is available.

9:50 PM
Partial chip count (estimated):
Player Chip Count
Tom Coan 275,000
David Pham 95,000
Vince Napolitano 70,000
Evelyn Ng 58,000
Erick Lindgren 52,000
Chau Giang 50,000
JC Tran 45,000
Chip Jett 42,000
Kathy Liebert 40,000
Russell Rosenblum 40,000
John D'Agostino 40,000
Mike Matusow 36,000
Chris Tsiprailidis 35,000
Barry Berger 30,000
Mickey Appleman 30,000
Barry Greenstein 30,000
Gavin Smith 28,000
Steve Hudak 25,000
Chris Ferguson 22,000
Steve Zolotow 20,000
Cyndy Violette 20,000
Joseph Hachem 20,000
Phil Laak 16,000
Allen Cunningham 14,000
Clonie Gowen 14,000
Curt Kohlberg 10,000
Erik Seidel 9,000
Mike Sica 9,000
Dan Heimiller 4,000

9:10 PM Blinds increase to $200-$400, $75 ante. This will be the final level of the evening.
9:00 PM
It occurs to me that when you hear somebody celebrating like crazy in a poker tournament, that person has almost always put a painful beat on somebody else. They're cheering for the unlikely, come-from-behind card that just spiked on the river. Whenever I hear such a display, I try to look for the tormented person who is silently seething about their misfortune and their opponent's presumed idiocy.
I witnessed this scene earlier. The owner of pocket aces was disturbed when his opponent moved all in on a KJ4r flop. He called with extreme reluctance, and was shown KJ. A counterfeiting 4 hit the turn, and KJ was busted. AA began shouting "Yeah! That's how we do it!" or some such.

8:35 PM
There are now 39 tables remaining. People are lasting a little longer than the tournament staff expected, so we may have to play late tomorrow.

8:25 PM
There's a pretty strong table right now that has Cyndy Violette in seat 3, Mike Matusow in 7, Allen Cunningham in 9, and Steve Zolotow in 10. A combined seven bracelets between that crowd. It's also an extraordinarily versatile group, unusual in this age of Texas Hold 'Em specialists. Violette's bracelet is Stud 8-or-better. Matusow has bracelets in NLHE and Omaha Hi/Lo. Cunningham won titles in Stud, NLHE, and Deuce-to-Seven. And Zolotow, the most old-school of them all, has bracelets in Pot-Limit Hold 'Em and Chinese Poker.

7:50 PM
Play resumes. Blinds increase to $150-$300, $50 ante.

7:10 PM
All remaining players received a coupon for a free dinner at the buffet. However, it seems unlikely that the buffet will be able to accomodate a mob of nearly 400 poker players within one hour.

7:00 PM
Partial chip count (approximate):
Player Chip Count
David Pham 80,000
Barry Greenstein 75,000
Ross Mallor 74,000
Carlos Mortenson 66,000
Bryan Mogelefsky 60,000
Mike Matusow 53,000
Jean-Robert Bellande 48,000
Kathy Liebert 47,000
Hoyt Corkins 47,000
Evelyn Ng 36,000
Layne Flack 33,000
Chip Jett 33,000
Mickey Appleman 27,000
Chris Ferguson 26,000
Clonie Gowen 25,000
JC Tran 25,000
John D'Agostino 25,000
Jennifer Tilly 22,000
Gavin Smith 20,000
Barry Berger 20,000
Bill Gazes 20,000
Steve Hudak 18,000
Phil Laak 17,000
Erik Seidel 17,000
Mike Sica 16,000
Cyndy Violette 15,000
Erick Lindgren 15,000
Alan Ehrenworth 13,000
Robert Toft 12,000
Curt Kohlberg 11,000
Ted Lawson 11,000
Dan Heimiller 10,000
Joseph Hachem 10,000
Mimi Tran 10,000
Antonio Esfandiari 9,000
Phil Ivey 6,000

6:40 PM
Dinner break. Play will resume in one hour.

5:20 PM
There are now 43 tables remaining.

On the back of the press pass that we (press) are issued, there is an ominous warning: "#6: Online written reporting will be permitted until further notice." Is internet final-table coverage under suspicion? I'm hurt.

5:15 PM
All players must now ante $25. The blinds remain at $100-$200.

4:20 PM
Here is the complete entry list for this event (scroll down for a list sorted by starting table):
Name Table Seat
Abramowitz, Ari 45 2
Ackerman, Bret 13 2
Allen, Joe 27 6
Alster, Assaf 1 1
Anderson, Dennis 34 6
Anthony, Richard 15 7
Appel, Michael 50 4
Appleman, Mickey 23 10
Aprea, Thomas 51 8
Ardebili, Al 46 7
Arieh, Josh 35 5
Arnold, Todd 11 5
Arzoin, Sammy 2 3
Azen, Arthur 6 1
Baker, David 30 8
Balandin, Alex 52 3
Balletta, Anthony 38 10
Barch, John 33 1
Bardah, Ronnie 47 8
Barnes, Russell 33 4
Bell, Christopher 10 8
Bellande, Jean-Robert 46 4
Bellantoni, Frank 37 10
Bennett, Donald 22 3
Benton, Stephen 36 8
Benyamin, David 32 5
Berardi, Salvatore 8 4
Berger, Barry 32 3
Berger, Seth 8 1
Bezant, San 40 3
Bigler, Christian 11 9
Black, Andrew 20 8
Blanda, William 50 1
Bloch, Andrew 36 1
Blount, Edward 10 10
Boich, Emeline 28 4
Boich, Wayne 3 5
Bonyadi, Farzad 35 2
Borovetz, H. 36 6
Bovino, Joseph 25 5
Bradley, Stephen 26 5
Brandt, Thomas Martin 16 5
Brannen, William 27 3
Brecher, Steve 9 8
Brindise, William 24 4
Brite, Stephen 22 2
Brooks, Joseph 23 8
Bucci, Rocco 33 3
Buchalter, Ari 41 7
Buchman, Eric 50 9
Buckner, Steven 15 1
Burgess, Jerry 7 10
Busacca, Salvatore 41 2
Caldwell, Franklin 42 6
Cameron, Scott 22 6
Cason, Tony 8 8
Cassidy, David 36 5
Cassidy, Joseph 51 5
Castellano, Carmine 2 10
Celii, John 33 8
Cernuto, "Miami" John 30 4
Cerullo, Lawrence 13 8
Cervone, Michael 1 5
Chaconas, Shawn 13 1
Chan, Feming 12 2
Chandler, Larry 44 1
Demetriou, Charidimos 9 3
Chasen, Robert 21 9
Chatham, Michael 29 8
Cheng, Herbert 15 5
Cheung, Yee Mau 21 2
Chiappetta, Michael 49 5
Chiodini, Andrew 48 7
Cho, Donald 35 3
Chung, Luke 22 7
Cipolla, Gerald 42 3
Clarm, Raymond 14 1
Clements, John 37 8
Cloutier, T.J. 32 9
Coan, Thomas 41 6
Coelho, Vitor 19 7
Cohen, Richard 32 4
Cohen, Robert 3 1
Cole, Montgomery 28 8
Collinsworth, Matthew 31 3
Colombo, James 12 1
Colon, Alan 14 8
Comegys, Charles 30 5
Comis, Jason 30 1
Corkins, Hoyt 18 8
Cossio, David 18 9
Cousineau, Anthony 7 8
Creagh, Geoffrey 9 10
Cullen, John 8 5
Cunningham, Allen 9 9
D'Agostino, John 11 7
Dannenmann, Steven 19 4
Dansky, Michael 13 7
Darden, Paul 52 6
Davis, Bryan 12 6
DeGuzman, Daniel 23 6
Deeb, Freddy 33 6
Delio, John 9 5
Dellanno, Mario 3 2
Devitis, David 16 1
DeVito, Richard 45 3
Dias-Porter, Joel 14 6
Diaz, Russell 11 4
Dickstein, Mark 19 8
DiClaudio, Scott 50 6
Do, Cong Van 22 4
Do, Quinn 44 9
Donohue, Brian Thomas 48 8
Duley, John 10 9
Dvorkis, Alan 10 9
Dykshteyn, Ruslan 4 7
Ear, Hortu 30 6
Edler, william 13 10
Eisner, Aaron 20 5
Elliott, Doyle 39 10
English, James 41 9
Engly, Keith 23 5
Erna, Salvatore 31 6
Esfandiari, Antonio 45 8
Etheir, Denis 17 4
Fagioli, Kenneth 15 8
Failla, William 4 10
Fallows, Joseph 47 1
Farinella, Ralph 8 7
Farrell, Matthew 25 9
Feldherr, Craig 22 8
Feldman, Peter 4 9
Ferguson, Chris 28 1
Ferriola, Glenn 24 3
Fessler, Eric 48 4
Festejo, Ricardo 26 4
Fidellow, Alan 30 2
Filippi, Amnon 19 5
Fiorentini, Steven 48 5
Firth, David 16 7
Flack, Layne 43 8
Fondacaro, Greg 7 7
Fooks, Gary 30 9
Fooladi, John 45 1
Forrest, William 51 10
Forrestei, Mark 7 2
Fox, Russell 5 2
Frame, Judith 51 6
Frampton, John 42 1
Francisco, Noli 22 9
Frank, Joel 23 3
Frymer, William 25 8
Fuller, Tom 38 3
Furey, Charles 16 10
Salerno, Anthony 10 2
Garett, Steven 40 4
Gazes, Bill 22 10
Gazes, Kristy 40 8
Gerard, Daniel 25 10
Gersony, Neal 34 9
Giacobbe, Michael 27 10
Giang, Chau 17 3
Giaramida, Frank 47 2
Gillis, George 12 5
Giordano, James 47 4
Giufre, Stephen 29 10
Glantz, Matthew 8 6
Goehring, Alan 20 4
Goldberg, Daivd 26 2
Goldin, Ken 11 8
Gonzalez, David 39 9
Goodman, Alan 40 10
Goodman, Scott 46 1
Gorbea, Peter 13 9
Gordon, Jonathan 50 8
Gowen, Ann 37 2
Gracz, Maciek 31 10
Graffeo, Michael 44 6
Gray, Abraham 37 1
Graziano, Joseph 31 1
Green, Leonard 6 5
Greenberg, Steven 48 6
Greenhut, Eric 48 9
Greenstein, Barry 40 2
Grigorian, Chris 51 3
Gross, Ed 42 10
Grottschneid, Max 19 1
Guertin, Paul 36 9
Guinta, Rocco 3 6
Haber, Eric 3 10
Hall, Richard 35 7
Hanson, John 42 9
Harrison, Kevin 10 4
Haveson, Brian 20 9
Heimiller, Daniel 46 3
Heimowitz, Jay 29 9
Hemsley, Martin 41 5
Hennigan, John 40 7
Hirsch, Yako 36 10
Hoang, Lam Ha 28 9
Hollander, Walter 47 10
Honig, Jonathan 26 7
Housden, Vincent Lee 14 5
Krisafinis, Vasillios 39 7
Hseih, Michael 24 5
Huang, Hubert 38 5
Hudak, Steven 43 10
Huynh, Thomas 21 8
Hwang, Robert 18 1
Hyett, Michael 19 2
Inselberg, David 16 4
Isranpour, Darius 3 9
Ishige, Akio 17 7
Israelashvili, Roland 29 1
Ivey, Phil 42 7
Jablonski, Stan 39 3
Jacques, Ronald 29 3
Jaffe, Robert 3 7
Jason, Taylor Dwayne 5 8
Jett, Chip 34 3
Ju, Eugene 33 10
Johnson, Benjamin 38 6
Johnson, Douglas 39 2
Jones, Brian 25 7
Jones, Jesse 25 2
Jorgensen, Dane 33 2
Josephy, Cliff 50 5
Judah, Mel 11 2
Kamalzadeh, Mohamad 28 10
Kassela, Frank 40 9
Kelemencky, Paul 24 8
Kerby, Theodore Barrett 15 4
Kessler, Allen 40 6
King, David 8 10
King, Jeffrey 32 8
King, Robert 1 3
Kingsbury, George 4 1
Kingsley, Steven 26 1
Kirk, Ronald 1 9
Kirsch, Richard 11 10
Kitsos, Paul 42 8
Kohlberg, Curt 35 4
Kojic, Goran 33 7
Koliner, John 35 6
Kolo, Gregory 45 4
Kondracki, Bradley 48 10
Koons, Joseph 37 6
Koral, Thomas 4 3
Kornfeld, Sanford 4 5
Korotki, Abraham 5 10
Koslosky, John 36 2
Kovacevic, Mirsad 16 6
Krackomberg, William 48 2
Kremenliev, Peter 51 7
Kwon, Christoph 2 2
Laak, Phil 36 3
Labounty, William 10 7
Lang, Grant 38 4
Lanier, James 22 5
Lankin, Ronald 18 4
Lanzilllo, Christopher 49 9
Laughlin, Steven 24 9
Lawson, Ted 25 4
Lazzinnaro, Louis 44 4
Le, Nam 31 5
Lecomte, Matthew 20 3
Lee, Bernard 34 2
Leonidas, Toto 21 7
Leszczynski, Michael 24 6
Leventhal, Barry 1 4
Leveson, Stephen 1 7
Levi, David 25 1
Levy, Barry 23 4
Levy, Eliyahu 26 10
Levy, James 19 6
Liebert, Kathleen 36 4
Lieu, Elizabeth 14 9
Lin, Benjamin 34 10
Lin, Dao 24 10
Lin, Wooyang 18 7
Lindgren, Erick 6 10
Livia, Thomas 35 9
Lober, Nelson 14 4
Lopes, Joseph 2 1
Lopez, Karlo 11 3
Lorenzo, Christopher 2 6
Lorenzo, Irving 31 8
Losik, Brandon 6 2
Lux, Jason 20 7
Lynn, Angus 49 2
Mackie, Robert 28 3
Madden, Patrick 24 2
Madoff, Harry 50 7
Maher, Jerry 6 4
Malinasky, Doron 47 5
Mallor, Ross 20 6
Mantuano, Silvio 15 2
Manzi, David John 1 6
Mao, Nick 19 10
Marianik, Charles 5 7
Markatos, Spiros 12 7
Marley, Heather 20 2
Marshall, Jeffrey 12 4
Martelli, Thomas 46 9
Martin, Jesse 42 2
Martin, Vernon 21 10
Masi, Vito 34 1
Massie, James 21 4
Matheys, Mark 2 4
Mattera, Anthony 17 1
Matties, Paul 52 1
Matusow, Mike 39 6
McCaffrey, Michael 23 7
McCann, John 3 4
McCormack, Chris 34 7
McCormick, Tom 29 7
McCutcheon, William 50 3
McDonald, Greg 7 9
Meskin, Mike 17 6
Michael, Chris 17 10
Michael, Loukas 16 9
Michael, Todd 4 8
Miguel, Mateo 49 6
Miller, Alan 27 8
Miller, Greg 10 6
Miller, Rathe 13 5
Miller, Robert 16 2
Miller, Sidney 4 6
Mizrachi, Robert 43 6
Mogelefsky, Brian 12 8
Moncada, Edward 37 4
Montgomery, Steve 7 3
Moody, Clay 23 2
Moore, Chad 3 8
Moran, Brandon 18 3
Morgan, Jordan 19 9
Morgenstern, Andrew 33 5
Mortensen, Juan Carlos 39 8
Mosseri, Abraham 37 9
Moyers, Dwayne 28 7
Muller, Peter 46 2
Mumbach, Jason 27 9
Munoz, Ellianne 35 10
Myung, John 37 3
Napolitano, Vincent 16 3
Nappi, Gregory 12 3
Nargi, Michael 29 6
Negreanu, Daniel 46 10
Nelson, Joseph 18 5
Neuman, Scott 1 2
Newman, Anthony 12 9
Ng, Evelyn 30 10
Nguyen, Minh Van 43 2
Nyman, Thomas 45 10
O'Brien, Kevin 29 4
O'Dea, Donnacha 28 6
O'Neal, Troy 13 6
Oniske, Steven 23 9
Ozello, Robert 41 1
Panayiotou, Eracles 9 7
Parisi, John 15 6
Parkinson, Padraig Vincent 4 2
Paul, Joseph 1 8
Pearl, Eric 26 8
Perry, Robert 43 3
Peters, Casey 11 1
Pham, David 14 3
Phan, John 23 1
Phan, Thien 6 6
Pietrobono, Romano 49 7
Pinchot, Dale 32 2
Pino, Michael 38 7
Plyler, Earl 14 2
Pollaro, Ronald 26 9
Poma, Salvatore 47 3
Poolos, Bob 2 7
Powell, Brian 4 4
Powell, Charles 5 9
Pratt, Robert 21 1
Ramdin, Annand 52 7
Rao, Lawrence 17 5
Rashid, Sam 32 10
Renzi, John 43 7
Reslock, Chris 25 3
Robinson, Ronald 7 6
Rodio, John 5 3
Rodman, Blair 32 6
Rogers, John 12 10
Rosen, Steven 49 1
Rosenberg, Ron 49 4
Rosenblum, Russell 21 5
Rouhani, Farzad 45 5
Rudd, Ralph 42 4
Russo, Louis 21 6
Sadoff, Jordan 31 7
Salters, James 9 2
Saltzburg, Michael 27 1
Santangelo, Leonard 41 4
Santoro, Michael 34 8
Sarrafzadeh, Steve 42 5
Sazer, Jonathan 5 4
Scala, Tracy 7 4
Schaech, Mark 44 2
Schein, Alan 13 3
Schoengold, Gary 38 8
Schreiber, Thomas 16 8
Schulman, Nicholas 44 3
Schultz, Dean 41 8
Seidel, Erik 44 8
Shackelford, Ray 10 1
Shak, Daniel 24 7
Shecter, Jonathan 50 2
Sheets, Thomas 46 6
Shelton, Kevin 14 10
Shlez, Vadim 46 5
Shore, Michael 29 5
Sica, Mike 39 4
Silver, Howard 41 3
Silvestri, Alfonso 45 6
Simkins, Michael 43 4
Simmons, Joseph 50 10
Singer, David 43 9
Skyllas, Pete 19 3
Smith, Gavin 35 1
Smith, John 6 7
Smith, Ken 41 10
Smith, Matthew 10 3
Smurfit, Peter 10 5
Snead, Paul 20 1
Sorensen, Jan 26 3
Sorrentino, Michael 6 8
Spee, Arnold 5 5
Spiegelman, Josh 31 2
Stonehill, Michael 40 5
Stoner, Fritz 15 3
Storakers, Johan Martin 38 1
Strakowski, Walter 18 6
Studley, Julien 36 7
Stupak, Bob 30 3
Sukonik, Michael 8 2
Sullivan, John 9 1
Summers, Dannis 49 3
Sunar, Surinder 31 4
Sutherland, James Kirk 45 7
Szymasek, Matthew 43 1
Thai, Minh 15 10
Thomas, Joseph 49 8
Threadgould, Charles 2 8
Thung, Roy 31 9
Tilipman, Daniel 17 2
Tilly, Jennifer 39 5
Tilston, Keith 37 5
Ting, Edwin 49 10
Tirone, Carmine 38 9
Todd, Alex 51 2
Todd, Eugene 45 9
Toft, Robert "Bo" 29 2
Tosti, Nicola 32 1
Townsend, Charles 7 1
Tran, Hung 20 10
Tran, Justin 28 2
Tran, Thanhdat 1 10
Tran, Thithi 22 1
Tran, Tuan 18 10
Trutwin, Donald 27 5
Tsiprailidis, Chris 44 10
Tufaro, Michael 27 4
Turk, Gregg 38 2
Uomini, Robert 8 9
Urpsis, John 11 6
Urzia, Nicholas 18 2
Vaccaro, Anthony 28 5
Vahedi, Amir 32 7
Vanstratum, Caywood 52 2
Vera, Phillip 37 7
Vinh, Quoc 47 9
Violette, Cyndy 51 1
Vizza, Francis 3 3
Walker, Leo 6 9
Wall, Robert 7 5
Wang, Lin 25 6
Washington, Kent 2 9
Waters, Michael 9 4
Wattel, Michael 51 9
Weiner, Eric 2 5
Weisberger, David 34 5
Welde, John 48 3
Westfall, Jeffrey 24 1
Weston, Howard 17 8
White, Adam 6 3
White, Carl 27 7
White, Patrick 51 4
White, william 9 6
Whiting, Gregory 43 5
Whiting, John 30 7
Williams, Bruce 13 4
Williams, David 21 3
Williams, Scott 26 6
Winters, Robert 34 4
Wisiak, Robert 5 6
Womack, Jerry 48 1
Worth, James 47 6
Wrublik, Michael 17 9
Yamron, Bruce 8 3
Yanofski, Daniel 14 7
Zambannini, Matthew 27 2
Zhou, Jianhua 5 1
Zimmerman, Brett 44 5
Zimmet, Jay 47 7
Zoine, Steven 44 7
Zoldak, John 39 1
Zolotow, Steve 40 1
Zuccarello, Cero 33 9

Here is an entry list sorted by starting table:
Name Table Seat
Alster, Assaf 1 1
Neuman, Scott 1 2
King, Robert 1 3
Leventhal, Barry 1 4
Cervone, Michael 1 5
Manzi, David John 1 6
Leveson, Stephen 1 7
Paul, Joseph 1 8
Kirk, Ronald 1 9
Tran, Thanhdat 1 10
Lopes, Joseph 2 1
Kwon, Christoph 2 2
Arzoin, Sammy 2 3
Matheys, Mark 2 4
Weiner, Eric 2 5
Lorenzo, Christopher 2 6
Poolos, Bob 2 7
Threadgould, Charles 2 8
Washington, Kent 2 9
Castellano, Carmine 2 10
Cohen, Robert 3 1
Dellanno, Mario 3 2
Vizza, Francis 3 3
McCann, John 3 4
Boich, Wayne 3 5
Guinta, Rocco 3 6
Jaffe, Robert 3 7
Moore, Chad 3 8
Isranpour, Darius 3 9
Haber, Eric 3 10
Kingsbury, George 4 1
Parkinson, Padraig Vincent 4 2
Koral, Thomas 4 3
Powell, Brian 4 4
Kornfeld, Sanford 4 5
Miller, Sidney 4 6
Dykshteyn, Ruslan 4 7
Michael, Todd 4 8
Feldman, Peter 4 9
Failla, William 4 10
Zhou, Jianhua 5 1
Fox, Russell 5 2
Rodio, John 5 3
Sazer, Jonathan 5 4
Spee, Arnold 5 5
Wisiak, Robert 5 6
Marianik, Charles 5 7
Jason, Taylor Dwayne 5 8
Powell, Charles 5 9
Korotki, Abraham 5 10
Azen, Arthur 6 1
Losik, Brandon 6 2
White, Adam 6 3
Maher, Jerry 6 4
Green, Leonard 6 5
Phan, Thien 6 6
Smith, John 6 7
Sorrentino, Michael 6 8
Walker, Leo 6 9
Lindgren, Erick 6 10
Townsend, Charles 7 1
Forrestei, Mark 7 2
Montgomery, Steve 7 3
Scala, Tracy 7 4
Wall, Robert 7 5
Robinson, Ronald 7 6
Fondacaro, Greg 7 7
Cousineau, Anthony 7 8
McDonald, Greg 7 9
Burgess, Jerry 7 10
Berger, Seth 8 1
Sukonik, Michael 8 2
Yamron, Bruce 8 3
Berardi, Salvatore 8 4
Cullen, John 8 5
Glantz, Matthew 8 6
Farinella, Ralph 8 7
Cason, Tony 8 8
Uomini, Robert 8 9
King, David 8 10
Sullivan, John 9 1
Salters, James 9 2
Demetriou, Charidimos 9 3
Waters, Michael 9 4
Delio, John 9 5
White, william 9 6
Panayiotou, Eracles 9 7
Brecher, Steve 9 8
Cunningham, Allen 9 9
Creagh, Geoffrey 9 10
Shackelford, Ray 10 1
Salerno, Anthony 10 2
Smith, Matthew 10 3
Harrison, Kevin 10 4
Smurfit, Peter 10 5
Miller, Greg 10 6
Labounty, William 10 7
Bell, Christopher 10 8
Duley, John 10 9
Dvorkis, Alan 10 9
Blount, Edward 10 10
Peters, Casey 11 1
Judah, Mel 11 2
Lopez, Karlo 11 3
Diaz, Russell 11 4
Arnold, Todd 11 5
Urpsis, John 11 6
D'Agostino, John 11 7
Goldin, Ken 11 8
Bigler, Christian 11 9
Kirsch, Richard 11 10
Colombo, James 12 1
Chan, Feming 12 2
Nappi, Gregory 12 3
Marshall, Jeffrey 12 4
Gillis, George 12 5
Davis, Bryan 12 6
Markatos, Spiros 12 7
Mogelefsky, Brian 12 8
Newman, Anthony 12 9
Rogers, John 12 10
Chaconas, Shawn 13 1
Ackerman, Bret 13 2
Schein, Alan 13 3
Williams, Bruce 13 4
Miller, Rathe 13 5
O'Neal, Troy 13 6
Dansky, Michael 13 7
Cerullo, Lawrence 13 8
Gorbea, Peter 13 9
Edler, william 13 10
Clarm, Raymond 14 1
Plyler, Earl 14 2
Pham, David 14 3
Lober, Nelson 14 4
Housden, Vincent Lee 14 5
Dias-Porter, Joel 14 6
Yanofski, Daniel 14 7
Colon, Alan 14 8
Lieu, Elizabeth 14 9
Shelton, Kevin 14 10
Buckner, Steven 15 1
Mantuano, Silvio 15 2
Stoner, Fritz 15 3
Kerby, Theodore Barrett 15 4
Cheng, Herbert 15 5
Parisi, John 15 6
Anthony, Richard 15 7
Fagioli, Kenneth 15 8
Thai, Minh 15 10
Devitis, David 16 1
Miller, Robert 16 2
Napolitano, Vincent 16 3
Inselberg, David 16 4
Brandt, Thomas Martin 16 5
Kovacevic, Mirsad 16 6
Firth, David 16 7
Schreiber, Thomas 16 8
Michael, Loukas 16 9
Furey, Charles 16 10
Mattera, Anthony 17 1
Tilipman, Daniel 17 2
Giang, Chau 17 3
Etheir, Denis 17 4
Rao, Lawrence 17 5
Meskin, Mike 17 6
Ishige, Akio 17 7
Weston, Howard 17 8
Wrublik, Michael 17 9
Michael, Chris 17 10
Hwang, Robert 18 1
Urzia, Nicholas 18 2
Moran, Brandon 18 3
Lankin, Ronald 18 4
Nelson, Joseph 18 5
Strakowski, Walter 18 6
Lin, Wooyang 18 7
Corkins, Hoyt 18 8
Cossio, David 18 9
Tran, Tuan 18 10
Grottschneid, Max 19 1
Hyett, Michael 19 2
Skyllas, Pete 19 3
Dannenmann, Steven 19 4
Filippi, Amnon 19 5
Levy, James 19 6
Coelho, Vitor 19 7
Dickstein, Mark 19 8
Morgan, Jordan 19 9
Mao, Nick 19 10
Snead, Paul 20 1
Marley, Heather 20 2
Lecomte, Matthew 20 3
Goehring, Alan 20 4
Eisner, Aaron 20 5
Mallor, Ross 20 6
Lux, Jason 20 7
Black, Andrew 20 8
Haveson, Brian 20 9
Tran, Hung 20 10
Pratt, Robert 21 1
Cheung, Yee Mau 21 2
Williams, David 21 3
Massie, James 21 4
Rosenblum, Russell 21 5
Russo, Louis 21 6
Leonidas, Toto 21 7
Huynh, Thomas 21 8
Chasen, Robert 21 9
Martin, Vernon 21 10
Tran, Thithi 22 1
Brite, Stephen 22 2
Bennett, Donald 22 3
Do, Cong Van 22 4
Lanier, James 22 5
Cameron, Scott 22 6
Chung, Luke 22 7
Feldherr, Craig 22 8
Francisco, Noli 22 9
Gazes, Bill 22 10
Phan, John 23 1
Moody, Clay 23 2
Frank, Joel 23 3
Levy, Barry 23 4
Engly, Keith 23 5
DeGuzman, Daniel 23 6
McCaffrey, Michael 23 7
Brooks, Joseph 23 8
Oniske, Steven 23 9
Appleman, Mickey 23 10
Westfall, Jeffrey 24 1
Madden, Patrick 24 2
Ferriola, Glenn 24 3
Brindise, William 24 4
Hseih, Michael 24 5
Leszczynski, Michael 24 6
Shak, Daniel 24 7
Kelemencky, Paul 24 8
Laughlin, Steven 24 9
Lin, Dao 24 10
Levi, David 25 1
Jones, Jesse 25 2
Reslock, Chris 25 3
Lawson, Ted 25 4
Bovino, Joseph 25 5
Wang, Lin 25 6
Jones, Brian 25 7
Frymer, William 25 8
Farrell, Matthew 25 9
Gerard, Daniel 25 10
Kingsley, Steven 26 1
Goldberg, Daivd 26 2
Sorensen, Jan 26 3
Festejo, Ricardo 26 4
Bradley, Stephen 26 5
Williams, Scott 26 6
Honig, Jonathan 26 7
Pearl, Eric 26 8
Pollaro, Ronald 26 9
Levy, Eliyahu 26 10
Saltzburg, Michael 27 1
Zambannini, Matthew 27 2
Brannen, William 27 3
Tufaro, Michael 27 4
Trutwin, Donald 27 5
Allen, Joe 27 6
White, Carl 27 7
Miller, Alan 27 8
Mumbach, Jason 27 9
Giacobbe, Michael 27 10
Ferguson, Chris 28 1
Tran, Justin 28 2
Mackie, Robert 28 3
Boich, Emeline 28 4
Vaccaro, Anthony 28 5
O'Dea, Donnacha 28 6
Moyers, Dwayne 28 7
Cole, Montgomery 28 8
Hoang, Lam Ha 28 9
Kamalzadeh, Mohamad 28 10
Israelashvili, Roland 29 1
Toft, Robert "Bo" 29 2
Jacques, Ronald 29 3
O'Brien, Kevin 29 4
Shore, Michael 29 5
Nargi, Michael 29 6
McCormick, Tom 29 7
Chatham, Michael 29 8
Heimowitz, Jay 29 9
Giufre, Stephen 29 10
Comis, Jason 30 1
Fidellow, Alan 30 2
Stupak, Bob 30 3
Cernuto, "Miami" John 30 4
Comegys, Charles 30 5
Ear, Hortu 30 6
Whiting, John 30 7
Baker, David 30 8
Fooks, Gary 30 9
Ng, Evelyn 30 10
Graziano, Joseph 31 1
Spiegelman, Josh 31 2
Collinsworth, Matthew 31 3
Sunar, Surinder 31 4
Le, Nam 31 5
Erna, Salvatore 31 6
Sadoff, Jordan 31 7
Lorenzo, Irving 31 8
Thung, Roy 31 9
Gracz, Maciek 31 10
Tosti, Nicola 32 1
Pinchot, Dale 32 2
Berger, Barry 32 3
Cohen, Richard 32 4
Benyamin, David 32 5
Rodman, Blair 32 6
Vahedi, Amir 32 7
King, Jeffrey 32 8
Cloutier, T.J. 32 9
Rashid, Sam 32 10
Barch, John 33 1
Jorgensen, Dane 33 2
Bucci, Rocco 33 3
Barnes, Russell 33 4
Morgenstern, Andrew 33 5
Deeb, Freddy 33 6
Kojic, Goran 33 7
Celii, John 33 8
Zuccarello, Cero 33 9
Ju, Eugene 33 10
Masi, Vito 34 1
Lee, Bernard 34 2
Jett, Chip 34 3
Winters, Robert 34 4
Weisberger, David 34 5
Anderson, Dennis 34 6
McCormack, Chris 34 7
Santoro, Michael 34 8
Gersony, Neal 34 9
Lin, Benjamin 34 10
Smith, Gavin 35 1
Bonyadi, Farzad 35 2
Cho, Donald 35 3
Kohlberg, Curt 35 4
Arieh, Josh 35 5
Koliner, John 35 6
Hall, Richard 35 7
Livia, Thomas 35 9
Munoz, Ellianne 35 10
Bloch, Andrew 36 1
Koslosky, John 36 2
Laak, Phil 36 3
Liebert, Kathleen 36 4
Cassidy, David 36 5
Borovetz, H. 36 6
Studley, Julien 36 7
Benton, Stephen 36 8
Guertin, Paul 36 9
Hirsch, Yako 36 10
Gray, Abraham 37 1
Gowen, Ann 37 2
Myung, John 37 3
Moncada, Edward 37 4
Tilston, Keith 37 5
Koons, Joseph 37 6
Vera, Phillip 37 7
Clements, John 37 8
Mosseri, Abraham 37 9
Bellantoni, Frank 37 10
Storakers, Johan Martin 38 1
Turk, Gregg 38 2
Fuller, Tom 38 3
Lang, Grant 38 4
Huang, Hubert 38 5
Johnson, Benjamin 38 6
Pino, Michael 38 7
Schoengold, Gary 38 8
Tirone, Carmine 38 9
Balletta, Anthony 38 10
Zoldak, John 39 1
Johnson, Douglas 39 2
Jablonski, Stan 39 3
Sica, Mike 39 4
Tilly, Jennifer 39 5
Matusow, Mike 39 6
Krisafinis, Vasillios 39 7
Mortensen, Juan Carlos 39 8
Gonzalez, David 39 9
Elliott, Doyle 39 10
Zolotow, Steve 40 1
Greenstein, Barry 40 2
Bezant, San 40 3
Garett, Steven 40 4
Stonehill, Michael 40 5
Kessler, Allen 40 6
Hennigan, John 40 7
Gazes, Kristy 40 8
Kassela, Frank 40 9
Goodman, Alan 40 10
Ozello, Robert 41 1
Busacca, Salvatore 41 2
Silver, Howard 41 3
Santangelo, Leonard 41 4
Hemsley, Martin 41 5
Coan, Thomas 41 6
Buchalter, Ari 41 7
Schultz, Dean 41 8
English, James 41 9
Smith, Ken 41 10
Frampton, John 42 1
Martin, Jesse 42 2
Cipolla, Gerald 42 3
Rudd, Ralph 42 4
Sarrafzadeh, Steve 42 5
Caldwell, Franklin 42 6
Ivey, Phil 42 7
Kitsos, Paul 42 8
Hanson, John 42 9
Gross, Ed 42 10
Szymasek, Matthew 43 1
Nguyen, Minh Van 43 2
Perry, Robert 43 3
Simkins, Michael 43 4
Whiting, Gregory 43 5
Mizrachi, Robert 43 6
Renzi, John 43 7
Flack, Layne 43 8
Singer, David 43 9
Hudak, Steven 43 10
Chandler, Larry 44 1
Schaech, Mark 44 2
Schulman, Nicholas 44 3
Lazzinnaro, Louis 44 4
Zimmerman, Brett 44 5
Graffeo, Michael 44 6
Zoine, Steven 44 7
Seidel, Erik 44 8
Do, Quinn 44 9
Tsiprailidis, Chris 44 10
Fooladi, John 45 1
Abramowitz, Ari 45 2
DeVito, Richard 45 3
Kolo, Gregory 45 4
Rouhani, Farzad 45 5
Silvestri, Alfonso 45 6
Sutherland, James Kirk 45 7
Esfandiari, Antonio 45 8
Todd, Eugene 45 9
Nyman, Thomas 45 10
Goodman, Scott 46 1
Muller, Peter 46 2
Heimiller, Daniel 46 3
Bellande, Jean-Robert 46 4
Shlez, Vadim 46 5
Sheets, Thomas 46 6
Ardebili, Al 46 7
Martelli, Thomas 46 9
Negreanu, Daniel 46 10
Fallows, Joseph 47 1
Giaramida, Frank 47 2
Poma, Salvatore 47 3
Giordano, James 47 4
Malinasky, Doron 47 5
Worth, James 47 6
Zimmet, Jay 47 7
Bardah, Ronnie 47 8
Vinh, Quoc 47 9
Hollander, Walter 47 10
Womack, Jerry 48 1
Krackomberg, William 48 2
Welde, John 48 3
Fessler, Eric 48 4
Fiorentini, Steven 48 5
Greenberg, Steven 48 6
Chiodini, Andrew 48 7
Donohue, Brian Thomas 48 8
Greenhut, Eric 48 9
Kondracki, Bradley 48 10
Rosen, Steven 49 1
Lynn, Angus 49 2
Summers, Dannis 49 3
Rosenberg, Ron 49 4
Chiappetta, Michael 49 5
Miguel, Mateo 49 6
Pietrobono, Romano 49 7
Thomas, Joseph 49 8
Lanzilllo, Christopher 49 9
Ting, Edwin 49 10
Blanda, William 50 1
Shecter, Jonathan 50 2
McCutcheon, William 50 3
Appel, Michael 50 4
Josephy, Cliff 50 5
DiClaudio, Scott 50 6
Madoff, Harry 50 7
Gordon, Jonathan 50 8
Buchman, Eric 50 9
Simmons, Joseph 50 10
Violette, Cyndy 51 1
Todd, Alex 51 2
Grigorian, Chris 51 3
White, Patrick 51 4
Cassidy, Joseph 51 5
Frame, Judith 51 6
Kremenliev, Peter 51 7
Aprea, Thomas 51 8
Wattel, Michael 51 9
Forrest, William 51 10
Matties, Paul 52 1
Vanstratum, Caywood 52 2
Balandin, Alex 52 3
Darden, Paul 52 6
Ramdin, Annand 52 7

3:30 PM
Blinds increase to $100-$200.

2:25 PM
Prize structure follows. 1st place is nearly $1.5 million, a 50% increase from last year.

Place Player Prize
1st - $1,498,650
2nd - $799,280
3rd - $427,115
4th - $349,685
5th - $299,730
6th - $249,775
7th - $199,820
8th - $149,865
9th - $99,910
10th - $64,942
11th - $64,942
12th - $64,942
13th - $49,955
14th - $49,955
15th - $49,955
16th - $34,969
17th - $34,969
18th - $34,969
19th - $24,978
20th - $24,978
21st - $24,978
22nd - $24,978
23rd - $24,978
24th - $24,978
25th - $24,978
26th - $24,978
27th - $24,978
28th - $14,987
29th - $14,987
30th - $14,987
31st - $14,987
32nd - $14,987
33rd - $14,987
34th - $14,987
35th - $14,987
36th - $14,987
37th - $12,489
38th - $12,489
39th - $12,489
40th - $12,489
41st - $12,489
42nd - $12,489
43rd - $12,489
44th - $12,489
45th - $12,489

2:15 PM
Blinds increase to $75-$150.

1:45 PM
There is no poker player who can draw a crowd like Phil Ivey. Other famous players draw gawking spectators by mere celebrity, but Ivey's reptilian gaze produces a different reaction. I would go so far as to call it awe. People are enthralled by him, but in a wary, uneasy way, as if he were dangerous.

1:30 PM
WPT is taping an extended table-side interview with Phil Laak.

"This urge to acquire celebrity status is the ethic on which everything in our world now depends. Celebrity is the main currency of our economy, the prime value in our news and the main impetus in our charitable works. It is the predominant means of giving and receiving ideas, information and entertainment. Nothing moves in our universe without the imprint of celebrity." - Ziauddin Sardar

1:25 PM
"Notable" players than I have seen include:
Andy Bloch, Steve Brite, Eric Buchman, Mark Cole, Hoyt Corkins, Allen Cunnigham, John D'Agostino, Freddy Deeb, Alan Ehrenworth, Chris "Jesus" Ferguson, Layne Flack, Noli Francisco, Chau Giang, Alan Goehring, Clonie Gowen, Michael Gracz, Barry Greenstein (wearing an awesome new beard), Joseph Hachem, Phil Ivey, Chip Jett, Phil Laak, Ted Lawson, Kathy Liebert, Erick Lindgren, Mike Matusow, Robert Mizrachi, Evelyn Ng, David Pham, John Phan, Russell Rosenblum, Erik Seidel, Mike Sica, Gavin Smith, Jennifer Tilly, Robert Toft, "Syracuse" Chris Tsiprailidis, Cyndy Violette, and, always last on the list, Steve Zolotow.

12:35 PM
Blinds increase to $50-$100.

11:55 AM
There are over 500 players in this tournament, many of whom qualified through single-table satellites late last night, and early this morning. The last satellite went off at 5 am, which may explain the fatigue of some of the players, who probably aren't used to getting up by 11 am under normal circumstances. Also, many of the players went to a late night party at Mixx, the Borgata's nightclub. By all accounts it was a pretty good affair, and it probably accounts for more than a few sets of bleary eyes.

Up to this point, the Borgata Poker Open has been a rather sleepy local tournament. But now the tournament area is a scene of commotion. The players are dutifully focusing on the game, but flittering between them are swarms of recently-arrived media, vendors, entrepreneurs, and others trying to get a piece of the big pie that TV brings to the table.

11:35 AM
The Borgata, which strives to present itself as Atlantic City's youngest and hippest casino, has sent several of its "Borgata Babes" to the tournament area. One of the Babes - the casino's own name for the exceptionally attractive, exceptionally young girls that it hires - is walking the tournament floor holding a giant card that says "Level 1", like you would see at a boxing match. It's a good gag, and a good way to showcase the Babes. However, the most attractive women in the house are not the Borgata's made-up showgirls, but a group of eastern European girls who are toiling inside of the Stewart's hot-dog trailer.

11:25 AM
Here is the general information for this tournament:
  Ante Blinds
1st Level - $25-$50
2nd Level - $50-$100
3rd Level - $75-$150
4th Level - $100-$200
5th Level $25 $100-$200
6th Level $50 $150-$300
7th Level $75 $200-$400
8th Level $100 $300-$600
9th Level $100 $400-$800
10th Level $200 $500-$1,000
11th Level $200 $600-$1,200
12th Level $300 $800-$1,600
13th Level $300 $1,000-$2,000
14th Level $400 $1,200-$2,400
15th Level $500 $1,500-$3,000
16th Level $500 $2,000-$4,000
17th Level $1,000 $3,000-$6,000
18th Level $1,000 $4,000-$8,000
19th Level $1,500 $5,000-$10,000
20th Level $2,000 $6,000-$12,000
21st Level $2,000 $8,000-$16,000
22nd Level $3,000 $10,000-$20,000

General Rules:
1. Players will start with $20,000 in tournament chips.
2. Registration starts August 29, 2005, at 10:00 am thru Saptember 19, 2005, 12:00 pm.
3. Levels 1 thru 7 will last 75 minutes on day one. Levels 8 and beyond will last 90 minutes.
4. One hour dinner break after Level 5.
5. Day one will end after Level 7.
6. 15 minute break after each Level. 30 minute break after Level 14.
7. One hour dinner break after Level 11 on day two.
8. Day two ends after reaching the final 36 players.
9. Day three ends after reaching the final 6 players.
10. Redraw for seats and tables at the end of each day. All chips will be bagged and tagged for the next day. Redraw when we reach the money tables. Redraw after a money table breaks.
11. Day four, final table begins at 5 pm.
12. Management reserves the right to change or cancel tournaments.

11:15 AM
Shuffle up and deal.


< Prev Blog   Next Blog >