In the wake of January's events, Borgata Casino Hotel & Spa has introduced new, state-of-the-art chips for the 2014 Borgata Spring Poker Open.
Tournament Director Tab Duchateau tweeted a picture of some of the new chips under a blue light this morning, and they have special markings on them to confirm they are legitimate. During the first break of the day, members of the tournament staff verified the chips at every table using a blue light.
A member of the Borgata staff also told the PokerNews Live Reporting Team that there are "other" ways to verify these new chips. For obvious reasons, this verification process was not explained further.
We've spotted a few more familiar faces among the masses, including a winner from the previous Borgata Winter Poker Open, and a member of that series' World Poker Tour Main Event.
Joe McKeehen is an accomplished local player with numerous big scores to his credit. One of those scores occurred right here at the Borgata in January, when McKeehen took down Event 3 for nearly $70,000.
Finally, Aaron Mermelstein is an up-and-coming young tournament pro who has made multiple deep runs in World Series of Poker events over his brief but bright career.
Chris Tryba is an accomplished professional player who has earned nearly $1.5 million in live play during a storied career on the felt.
With a World Series of Poker bracelet to his credit, in addition to dozens of final table appearances in regional events around the country, Tryba is one of the more experienced players spotted in today's field. With a $1 million guarantee at stake today, everybody with a stack to work with has high hopes, but a recent tweet issued by Tryba indicates that today is more than just another tournament on the schedule:
When we arrived at the table, a severely short-stacked player was already all in, and Micah Raskin and an opponent were playing for a much bigger side pot on a board of .
The player led out for 800, and Raskin bumped it up, raising to 2,500. Raskin's opponent grinned, to which Raskin shrugged innocently, and the player made the call. Raskin showed for a rivered flush, and raked in the entire pot.
We've spotted a few familiar faces in attendance already, with local grinders Megan Milburn, Natale Kuey and Michael Marder mixing it up in the first level of play.
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The Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in Atlantic City
In just under an hour one of the most anticipated series on the tournament circuit kicks off, as the Borgata Spring Poker Open begins in grand fashion. Event 1 of the series - which spans nearly three weeks of flops, folds and fun - is set to start at 11am local time, with a $1 million guaranteed prize pool awaiting the thousands of hopefuls who are sure to show up.
Sporting a $560 buy-in and offering unlimited re-entries over four starting flights, the size and scope of Event 1 demonstrates the Borgata's ongoing commitment to running the best tournaments on the East Coast. Thousands of individual players are expected to try their hand over the course of the four starting flights, and with unlimited re-entries during the first nine levels of each, those with big bankrolls will be firing multiple bullets as they attempt to bag and tag a big stack.
We expect a packed house here today despite the inclement weather outside, with accomplished local players like Amanda Musumeci, Will "The Thrill" Failla, Joe McKeehen, Joseph Stiers, Alyson Parker, and several others likely to be in attendance. As concurrent tournament series on the national schedule come to a close, the poker world's elite will eventually converge at the Borgata, with the World Poker Tour World Championship set to close out the Borgata Spring Poker Open.
The tournament staff is busily setting up for the stampede of players which will begin at any moment, and PokerNews is proud to provide continuous live coverage of the entire series, so keep it here throughout the day to follow the action.
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for a rivered flush, and raked in the entire pot.
