2014 Borgata Spring Poker Open

Event 14: $15,400 $5 Million Guaranteed WPT World Championship
Day: 1a
Event Info

2014 Borgata Spring Poker Open

Final Results
Winner
Winning Hand
a8
Prize
$1,350,000
Event Info
Buy-in
$15,000
Prize Pool
$4,852,400
Entries
328
Level Info
Level
31
Blinds
100,000 / 200,000
Ante
25

Tanks For Nothing

Level 7 : 400/800, 100 ante
John Racener
John Racener

It took over three minutes for John Racener to make his decision and in hindsight it's probably one he wished he could take back as it resulted in his elimination from todays flight and he'll have to come back tomorrow if he wants to make a deep run in this event.

It all started for Racener when he opened pre-flop to 2,000 and Jordan Cristos three-bet to 4,500 from the hijack. Racener made the call and the two players saw a flop of {A-Hearts}{J-Diamonds}{3-Spades}. Racener check-called a 3,000 bet from Kristos and the dealer put out the {10-Diamonds} on the turn.

Racener check-called again, this time for 11,500. The river was the {7-Spades} and Racener checked a third time and Cristos bet again... all in... which was enough to bust Racener if he lost the hand. After the aforementioned tank, Cristos would show {K-Diamonds}{Q-Diamonds} for the nuts, a Broadway straight, and Racener quietly pushed his cards into the center of the table and left the room.

Others joining Racener on the rail include Noah Schwartz, Jared Jaffee, and Mohsin Charania.

Player Chips Progress
Jordan Cristos us
Jordan Cristos
100,000
73,000
73,000
WPT 1X Winner
John Racener us
John Racener
Busted
WSOP 1X Winner
Mohsin Charania us
Mohsin Charania
Busted
WSOP 1X Winner
EPT 1X Winner
WPT 2X Winner
Jared Jaffee us
Jared Jaffee
Busted
WSOP 1X Winner
WPT 2X Winner
Noah Schwartz us
Noah Schwartz
Busted
WSOP 1X Winner
WPT 1X Winner

Matt Waxed by Wong

Level 7 : 400/800, 100 ante
Matt Waxman ran into Jerry Wong's aces for a 100,000 pot
Matt Waxman ran into Jerry Wong's aces for a 100,000 pot

We heard Jerry Wong announce himself all in and headed over to take a look, with a scan of the scene showing he had shoved for 29,100 after Matt Waxman checked the river.

The board read {3-Clubs}{6-Hearts}{j-Hearts}{2-Spades}{9-Diamonds} and the pot contained right around 47,000 at the time. Waxman held about 100,000 behind and could afford to make the call, but the experienced pro took his time to assess the situation from all angles. He shot Wong a couple of looks while tanking, before slowly cutting out a calling stack and moving it into the middle.

Wong quickly tabled his {a-Hearts}{a-Spades} secure in the fact that Waxman's tank was a one-pair affair, and sure enough the latter's hand went promptly into the muck.

Player Chips Progress
Jerry Wong us
Jerry Wong
116,000
WSOP 1X Winner
Matt Waxman us
Matt Waxman
67,000
3,000
3,000
WSOP 1X Winner
WPT 1X Winner

Tags: Matt WaxmanJerry Wong

Enter Hellmuth

Level 7 : 400/800, 100 ante
Phil Hellmuth - All smiles here on Day 1a
Phil Hellmuth - All smiles here on Day 1a

Thirteen-time WSOP bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth just took his seat in the $15,000 buy-in WPT World Championship, fashionably late as always. Hellmuth is sandwiched between Brian Lemke and fellow Wisconsinite Joe Kuether, and is directly across from Jeff Gross. Like the name-dropper he is, he immediately mentioned 18-time Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps.

Hellmuth has nearly $18 million in career live tournament earnings to go along with his collection of gold, but his highest finish in a World Poker Tour event was a third place finish at the WPT World Poker Finals in 2003 for $281,700.

According to the self-proclaimed "Poker Brat," this is the first time he's been in Atlantic City, New Jersey in seven years. The last time he cashed here was also 2003 - he finished third in the U.S. Poker Championships, earning $116,424.

Hellmuth said on Twitter that this is the only event he wants to win as much as a WSOP bracelet:

phil_hellmuthNow playing in #WPTourChampionship in Atlantic City. The ONLY Tourn I want to win as much as a WSOP Bracelet #BigOne #PokerHistory @WPT
Player Chips Progress
Phil Hellmuth us
Phil Hellmuth
50,000
WSOP Main Event Champion
WSOP 17X Winner
Poker Hall of Famer

Tags: Phil HellmuthJoe KuetherJeff GrossWorld ChampionshipWPT

Moorman Meets Shang Tsung

Level 7 : 400/800, 100 ante
Tony Gregg is the End Boss
Tony Gregg is the End Boss

A pot of 6,000 was already up for grabs when Chris Moorman and Tony Gregg saw the flop fall {k-Clubs}{j-Clubs}{4-Clubs}.

Acting from the hijack, Moorman led out for 3,300, only to see the "End Boss" coolly push out a raise to 9,000 from the cutoff.

The only player with more than $10 million in lifetime earnings on the virtual felt let his time bank tick down from 30 seconds to zero, before silently sliding his cards to the dealer.

Player Chips Progress
Tony Gregg us
Tony Gregg
133,000
58,000
58,000
Chris Moorman gb
Chris Moorman
57,000
-11,000
-11,000
WSOP 1X Winner
WPT 1X Winner

Tags: Tony GreggChris Moorman

Level: 7

Blinds: 400/800

Ante: 100

Dinner

Level 6 : 300/600, 75 ante

Level 6 is in the books, and the players are now on a 75-minute dinner break.

Steven's Spades

Level 6 : 300/600, 75 ante

Justin Young raised to 1,300 from under the gun, Brandon Steven called on his direct left, and Kevin Song three-bet to 3,600 from the hijack. Both Young and Steven called.

The flop fell {3-Diamonds}{2-Hearts}{8-Spades}, both Young and Steven checked, and Song continued for 7,000. Young folded, and Steven called.

Steven check-called another 15,000 on the turn ({10-Spades}), and the river was a third spade - the {2-Spades}. Steven checked, Song fired out 21,000, and Steven moved all in for an additional 19,175. Song called, then mucked when Steven showed {5-Spades}{4-Spades} for a rivered flush.

Song dropped down to 122,000 chips, while Steven chipped up to 136,000.

Player Chips Progress
Brandon Steven us
Brandon Steven
136,000
86,000
86,000
Kevin Song us
Kevin Song
122,000
-58,000
-58,000
WSOP 1X Winner

Tags: Brandon StevenKevin Song

Pre-Dinner Break Chip Counts

Level 6 : 300/600, 75 ante

Here are the chip counts from four of the tables remaining in the Signature Room (majority of players, but not all):

Player Chips Progress
Tom Dobrilovic
Tom Dobrilovic
132,000
David Paredes us
David Paredes
120,000
50,500
50,500
WPT 1X Winner
She Lok Wong us
She Lok Wong
115,000
6,000
6,000
Alexey Rybin ru
Alexey Rybin
105,000
42,000
42,000
WPT 1X Winner
Ravi Raghavan us
Ravi Raghavan
100,000
100,000
100,000
WPT 1X Winner
Brian Lemke us
Brian Lemke
85,000
14,000
14,000
WSOP 1X Winner
Joe Kuether us
Joe Kuether
85,000
-20,000
-20,000
Christian Harder us
Christian Harder
83,000
1,000
1,000
Joe Serock us
Joe Serock
75,000
12,000
12,000
WSOP 1X Winner
Justin Zaki us
Justin Zaki
75,000
25,000
25,000
Brock Parker us
Brock Parker
65,000
9,000
9,000
Orson Young us
Orson Young
65,000
-15,000
-15,000
Matt Brady us
Matt Brady
65,000
5,000
5,000
Jean Gaspard us
Jean Gaspard
60,000
-1,500
-1,500
WSOP 1X Winner
Dan Wach us
Dan Wach
60,000
20,000
20,000
Jeff Gross us
Jeff Gross
60,000
10,000
10,000
Byron Kaverman us
Byron Kaverman
60,000
18,000
18,000
WSOP 1X Winner
Tom Marchese us
Tom Marchese
55,000
-16,800
-16,800
WSOP 1X Winner
Cliff Josephy us
Cliff Josephy
54,000
39,000
39,000
WSOP 2X Winner
Greg Merson us
Greg Merson
51,000
-6,500
-6,500
WSOP Main Event Champion
WSOP 2X Winner
Amit Makhija us
Amit Makhija
43,000
-1,000
-1,000
Noah Schwartz us
Noah Schwartz
25,000
-4,600
-4,600
WSOP 1X Winner
WPT 1X Winner
Dani Stern us
Dani Stern
23,000
-29,000
-29,000
Mohsin Charania us
Mohsin Charania
12,000
-30,000
-30,000
WSOP 1X Winner
EPT 1X Winner
WPT 2X Winner

Assorted Counts

Level 6 : 300/600, 75 ante
Player Chips Progress
Scott Seiver us
Scott Seiver
212,000
17,000
17,000
WSOP 4X Winner
WPT 1X Winner
Joseph Cheong us
Joseph Cheong
115,000
-15,000
-15,000
WSOP 1X Winner
Matt Glantz us
Matt Glantz
103,000
-9,000
-9,000
Tony Gregg us
Tony Gregg
75,000
5,000
5,000
Eric Baldwin us
Eric Baldwin
75,000
25,000
25,000
WSOP 2X Winner
Chris Moorman gb
Chris Moorman
68,000
4,000
4,000
WSOP 1X Winner
WPT 1X Winner
Steven Silverman us
Steven Silverman
68,000
47,000
47,000
John Racener us
John Racener
65,000
6,000
6,000
WSOP 1X Winner
Todd Terry us
Todd Terry
55,000
-17,000
-17,000
Mukul Pahuja us
Mukul Pahuja
48,000
-2,000
-2,000
Jordan Cristos us
Jordan Cristos
27,000
-18,000
-18,000
WPT 1X Winner
Guillaume Darcourt fr
Guillaume Darcourt
23,000
-16,000
-16,000
WPT 1X Winner
Dan Perper
Dan Perper
17,000
-33,000
-33,000

A Round of Counts on Us

Level 6 : 300/600, 75 ante

With the dinner break fast approaching, here are a few updated counts from around the room.

Player Chips Progress
Paul Volpe us
Paul Volpe
136,000
100,200
100,200
WSOP 3X Winner
Shannon Shorr us
Shannon Shorr
129,975
25,975
25,975
WSOP 2X Winner
Micah Raskin us
Micah Raskin
123,500
-6,500
-6,500
Faraz Jaka us
Faraz Jaka
107,000
64,000
64,000
WSOP 1X Winner
Mike Leah ca
Mike Leah
73,000
23,000
23,000
WSOP 1X Winner
WPT 1X Winner
Roland Israelashvili us
Roland Israelashvili
69,000
11,000
11,000
Justin Young us
Justin Young
66,000
23,000
23,000
WPT 1X Winner
Tony Dunst us
Tony Dunst
64,000
-7,000
-7,000
WSOP 2X Winner
WPT 1X Winner
Ryan Riess us
Ryan Riess
61,000
7,500
7,500
WSOP Main Event Champion
WSOP 1X Winner
WPT 1X Winner
Tony Cousineau us
Tony Cousineau
53,500
-2,500
-2,500
Jared Jaffee us
Jared Jaffee
48,000
7,000
7,000
WSOP 1X Winner
WPT 2X Winner
Anthony Zinno us
Anthony Zinno
36,000
5,300
5,300
WSOP 4X Winner
WPT 3X Winner
David "ODB" Baker us
David "ODB" Baker
29,400
-23,600
-23,600
WSOP 3X Winner
WPT 1X Winner